Without much water in any of the SC rivers right now, we decided to go for a river we already knew, but ventured out and took on a new section of it: the Enoree. We had done the lower section on New Year’s Day, so we knew a little bit about it, but there was also twice as much water that day. The Whitmire water gauge was showing a little over 400cfs for this trip.
Unlike some of our other destinations, the Enoree River does have some good river access information out there. The link below is a river trail map produced by the National Forest Service, which owns a large percentage of the land surrounding this stretch of the river.
http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5275654.pdf
We put in at the 336A access point described in the trail map linked above. There is a big disclaimer in the description of this access point in the trail map. There is no boat ramp here and getting into the boat was more difficult than normal, but it is definitely possible. To get there, turn off of Hwy 72 onto Ridge Road and follow the signs. Even the road to the river is scenic!
We did see another canoe at the put-in area that looked like the twin sister of our own canoe. We couldn’t help but snap a pic.
The first several miles were pretty slow because we were so busy snapping pictures. This is an absolutely gorgeous piece of water. At times, you are under a full canopy of trees. Imagine the Lower Saluda River, but about one-third the width. The river does have a very sandy bottom and it does get shallow on the inside of the bends. We would not recommend taking on this river at water levels below 400cfs. We could go on and on about the beauty of the surroundings, but for brevity’s sake, we will move on.
On the second half of the trip, things switched from “beautiful” to “interesting”. At times, we felt like we were trapped in a game of Frogger, dodging all sorts of things in the water. The first was man-made. We came up on what looks like a dredger anchored in the middle of the river. Based on the piping and large sand mound of the left bank, we are guessing that this is a sand mining operation with the dredger simply collecting sand as it flows downstream. Be careful as you pass by. There are anchoring cables that could be dangerous. The river deepens significantly after this point since there is much less sand downstream.
And then we come to the most noteworthy of the “interesting” things were encountered. A picture doesn’t do this complete justice, but you will have to trust us on this one. This logjam and trash pile would rank somewhere in the “epic” category. Needless to say, we could not get over or under this one, so we had to do a full-blown portage. This mess doesn’t show up on Google satellite, so I don’t think it is a permanent fixture, but if you do run into this one, portage on the right. We made the mistake of portaging on the left.
After getting past the dredger and then getting out of the boat three times for obstacles, we were finally on the home stretch. Again, we cannot put into words how great the setting and scenery is for this river. If you are willing to risk several portages, this is one of the best pieces of water you will find.
We took out at Brazzelman’s Bridge landing only to find that the brake line was busted on the truck! Nothing like riding the parking brake all the way home. But, we didn’t let it ruin an otherwise great trip. We enjoyed this trip enough to where we did not view the portages as a negative; it was just part of the fun!
And don’t forget:
http://www.canoeingforkids.org/raft-a-rama.html
Annual Raft-A-Rama is on May 17th, 2014
And if you do try this section of the Enoree, say hello to the friend we made on our trip.
Name: 4/5/2014 9:25AM
Activity type: Canoe
Description: -
Total distance: 25.83 km (16.1 mi)
Total time: 4:27:09
Moving time: 3:59:07
Average speed: 5.80 km/h (3.6 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 6.48 km/h (4.0 mi/h)
Max speed: 8.86 km/h (5.5 mi/h)
Hello, Nice write up. We did a 23 mile float Oct 4,5,6 2013. On the 6th, we had 6 portages and yes that most jam was there. We did go over it, one member of our party has great balance, He stood barefoot on two floating logs, found 3 balls and starting juggling. So he pulled the kayaks over the jam as we crawled over it. Still don't see how your ported that jam on right or left. The banks were pretty high.
ReplyDeleteJones Bridge Road, was the put in we used.
DeleteSounds like yall had all the adventure you could handle in one day! Luckily, the water was high enough for us to get out on the left. It wasn't easy though. Portages are just a fact of life on the Enoree. You think that's bad, go try the Lynches!
ReplyDelete