March 14-15 - Congaree + Santee Rivers

If you have been reading along in the blog, you already know that our primary objective is to raise the awareness of the rivers in SC and give canoers and kayakers the information they need to feel confident about going out there and doing it themselves. That said, we admittedly went off-the-board on this trip. This one was more about finding our limits and really maximizing our seat time in the canoe.
The Congaree Blue Trail is something everyone should experience at least once in their lives. This river trail covers all but the first two and last two miles of the Congaree River, starting in downtown Columbia and ending at the Hwy 601 Landing near Fort Motte. The total distance is 50 miles (49 if you have high water and can cut off the corners, 52 if you take the long way around every bend).
Sounds like a pretty serious trip, but we had done this trip a couple of times already, so we knew we could pull it off. The first time was non-stop for 8 ½ hours (not recommended) and the second was over two days (highly recommended). But since we were playing hooky from work, we decided to challenge ourselves and spend as much time on the water as we could reasonably squeeze in. To do that, we tacked on an extra twenty miles by continuing past the end of the Blue Trail, through the Santee River, and on into Lake Marion.

Day 1
It seems to be a theme this year, but the lords of water (aka the engineers at the upstream dams) were kind to us yet again and gave us some water from the Lake Murray dam. We set out Friday morning with water flowing at about 16k, which is just about ideal for this run. You can see from the picture below that it was just enough to come up to the last step at the Riverwalk Park steps below the amphitheater.

As ideal as the water level may have been, there was one rock we couldn’t dodge and put the first scratch on an otherwise spotless boat. But she remained more than seaworthy, so we carried on. There is no better place to witness the hustle and bustle of Columbia than from a boat in the Congaree . You gotta try it! Look up Canoeing for Kids and ask them if they can schedule a guided trip for you!
Soon after we zipped under the I-77 bridge, we had our first real brush with the wilderness when a medium-sized bald eagle flew directly over us at no more than 50 feet. We didn’t even bother scrambling for camera; we just sat back and enjoyed watching him (or maybe her) cruise overhead, looking for some breakfast, no doubt. We knew we had a long way to go, so we tried to put our heads down and paddle, but we did look up long enough to see lots of deer, a muskrat or two, hawks, and osprey.
We paddled for a total of about 8 hours and decided it was time to set up camp. Our original campsite was washed out (the sandbar on river right just after mile 35), so we found a spot on the left to string up our hammocks and crash.
Click here to see our Day 1 route

Day 2
After a night of being serenaded by turkey and owls, we kicked it back into gear so we could get a jump on the 30 miles ahead of us.  The water had been turned off from the Saluda River at around noon the day before, but fortunately we were so far down the river that the water was still running strong. By 9am, we were peeling out. After a relatively short time on the water, we were approaching the train trestle, which comes at around the 48 mile mark. We hung around long enough to catch a train crossing the river (you can see on our route map were we circled back to wait for it).

A couple of more miles downriver, something felt odd about passing underneath the Hwy 601 bridge without ever slowing down. Most sane people would have stopped here, but our determination made us keep going. Passing under the 601 bridge also signaled the end of our quiet, peaceful trip. Every bass fisherman with a jon boat in the in the state of SC congregated on the Santee River on this morning for a fishing tournament. Evidently, “the stripers was bitin.’” For those of you unversed, this means that there were way too many excited fishermen out there trying to catch a striped bass or two. We are here to tell you that the only living things inconvenienced on this day were two canoers (we didn’t see a single striper being inconvenienced) trying to avoid being plowed over by the most disrespectful group of boaters you will ever encounter.
We couldn’t wait to be done with the chaos, so we ducked over to Stumphole Swamp as quickly as we could. Finally, we were on the home stretch. Off in the distance, we could see the Santee State Park, which is the most visible landmark that happens to be close to our takeout point. But, as it was so eloquently said/sung by Bob Dylan, “they say the distance is not near.” Without the help of the river current, lake paddling sometimes feels like paddling in a bowl of pudding. We found ourselves giving every last bit of energy we had left to cross the finish line. After 14 ½ hours of paddling over two days, we stretched our legs and declared ourselves the winners of our one-boat race.
Click here to see our Day 2 route

While this run is definitely more than the average paddler would want to attempt, we would strongly encourage you try to get down the entire Congaree Blue Trail, even if it takes you several days to finish. You can camp anywhere on the left side of the river once you have passed the national park boundary. You do need to get a backcountry camping permit, which you can get by calling the park. If the water is any higher than 6-7k, don’t count on there being any sandbars for camping. They disappear quickly when the water rises. It is easy to take out at the Hwy 601 bridge, but the parking lot can get covered if the level gets above 20k.
So now you know all you need to know. Now get out there and do it!