For today’s adventure, we head north of Columbia to the Broad River. The Broad River originates in Western NC and flows through Lake Lure before it converges with the Green River. It eventually joins the Pacolet, Tyger, and Enoree River before meeting up with the Saluda in Columbia and becoming the Conagree; all part of the Santee Basin.
There is very little information on paddling the Broad. The best info we have found is in John Lane’s My Paddle to the Sea, which is a read we highly recommend. There is also an info flyer put out by the Sumter National Forest at: http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5275650.pdf
We put in at Neal Shoals, which is on the east side of the river in the Sumter National Forest. The written directions on the flyer linked above were very good. There are about 5-6 parking spots. Once you are parked, there is a trail off to the left that leads to the river. As an aside, if you are interested in coming down the Broad and portaging the Neal Shoals dam, there is a clearly marked portage trail on river-left.
Before we even got into the water, our experience was scenic. We put in near the base of the dam which was originally built between 1903 and 1905 and is now owned and operated by SCE&G. The spillway is 1,087 feet wide and had a steady trickle flowing down the face on the day we visited.
The water level just below the dam was right around 2,000 cfs. After getting pictures of the dam, we shifted our focus downstream. We heard something we don’t usually hear: the sound of falling water. We had counted on the low water, but were not expecting there to be rapids. Calm down; no Class V excitement here, but our canoe isn’t exactly built for whitewater and we didn’t much like the idea of punching a hole in the front of the boat, so we had to take things slowly.
Just before we approached the first rapid, we looked up and saw two bald eagles perched in a tree. Unfortunately, they didn’t hang around long enough for us to get a picture, so you will just have to take out word for it. The rest of the trip was more of the same: small rapids in shallow water and lots of exposed rocks. When we were in flat water, it was still relatively shallow and slow moving.
About halfway through, the clouds started moving in and we heard some thunder from a distance. Our pace picked up significantly from there, needless to say.
We cruised past the confluences of the Tyger and Enoree rivers, both of which were nothing more than a glorified trickle. With no more than a mile to go, the bottom fell out. Fortunately, the lightning and thunder was gone, so we gutted it out and took our soaking. Had we not been so close to the finish line, we definitely would have gotten off of the water. We ended up at Strothers Landing just below Hwy 34 on the east side of the river.
Miraculously, we made it down the entire river with no new holes or scratches on the boat. The weather did limit our ability to slow down and enjoy the surroundings, but it is a nice piece of water. We are looking forward to trying it again when the water is a little bit higher and the weather is more cooperative.
Wanna try it? There are plenty of sandbars for camping, but we suspect they disappear quickly with even a slight increase in water level. Some of the best camping spots were only several inches above the water level. Allow a full hour for a one-way shuttle trip. The river is very straight over this section, so the shuttle is stretched out as well. Enjoy!
Click here to se our route. Total distance: 33.30 km (20.7 mi) Total time: 4:16 Average speed: (4.8 mi/h) Average moving speed: 8.10 km/h (5.0 mi/h) Average pace: 7:41 min/km (12:23 min/mi)
And on our return shuttle, we were wondering: why did the turtle cross the road?
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