May 26 - 27 - Edisto River - Hwy 21 to Givhans Ferry State Park

After nearly five whole months of paddling the rivers around the state nearly every weekend, we finally made our way to the granddaddy of them all, the Edisto River. Most of the areas we have paddled thus far (the Edisto is our ninth different river this year) have not been known to be paddlers paradises. Part of our objective with this blog is to raise awareness of lesser known paddling spots, so we have intentionally taken the water routes less travelled, but the Edisto was always in the back of our minds. It is probably the most paddled flatwater river in the state. And now we know why.

To sum it up, this river has it all. Great access points, great water, amazing scenery around every corner, wildlife out the ying-yang…you name it, this river has it.

We started our trip at the Hwy 21 landing (Whetstone Crossroads). This is a private landing, so it will cost you several bucks to park here for the day. It is right on Hwy 21 and has plenty of parking, an adequate ramp, and a small dock. We felt 100% OK with leaving our car there for the day.

There is a map of the most popular sections of the river at http://www.edistoriver.org/blog/wp-content content/uploads/2013/02/ERCKmap.png
According to the map, it is 21.6 miles to the Colleton State Park, which is where we overnighted for the trip. This is a relatively short paddle for us and we had all day, so we took our time. The water level (measured at Givhans) was around 1800cfs. We could have handled more water, but this level is perfect if you are interested in camping on sandbars. I can’t guarantee that they will all be flat sandbars, but they are plentiful.
On this first day of our two day tour, we saw a bobcat, a swallow tail kite, a dozen baby ducks, a Little Blue Heron (Look it up. It is different that a Great Blue Heron), and several other usual suspects. Around every bend, there was a different setting. The river is wide in some sections (maybe 120-150 feet) and narrow in others (maybe 35-40 feet).

This section of the river is very well maintained. You could see clean cuts on most all of the deadfall where someone has come through with a chainsaw and kept clear passage possible. At higher water, we would suspect that there are endless creeks and side-swamps deserving of exploring.

About 2-3 miles after passing under I-95, we arrived at Colleton State Park, our trip midpoint and stopping place for the night. It is right on the river and has a couple of places to take out a canoe or kayak.



The water level was continuing to fall on Day 2 of our trip, but there was still plenty enough to squeeze in some quality paddling. After breaking camp and running a shuttle vehicle down to Givhans Ferry State Park (about 30 minutes one way), we were on the water at 8:20am. The put-in area at Colleton State Park has a nice visitor information board about the section of river between the two state parks, so we felt pretty confident that this section was going to be as well-maintained as any river we have been on before, and it certainly was.

The river between the parks is an absolute case study in contrasts. There are sections where houses line the banks. Around the next bend, you feel like you are in a remote wilderness. Some stretches have a wide-open-lake feel. Other sections feel like mountain streams with a complete canopy overhead. Some sections are shallow, some are deep.

Perhaps the most impressive feature of this section of the river is the cypress trees. I mean, Congaree National Park, eat your heart out! There are cypresses around every corner and the knees are 9-10 feet tall in places.

Toward the end of our trip, the river took on an almost canal-like feel. There were steep clay banks on both sides of the river that almost look like concrete from a distance. Yet another different vista provided by this section of the river. The water speed did slow down significantly in this section, but we knew we were almost home, so we kept grinding. Givhans Ferry State Park’s canoe access landing was undergoing renovations and was technically closed, but we still had no problem getting out there. Once it gets finished, it will be a fantastic facility.

This blog post is intentionally short (if it has been boring, you may disagree about the “short” part). We want this to be nothing more than a teaser to get you to go and try some or all of this 40+ mile section of the Edisto River. You don’t need to be an expert to successfully get down this river. You will need to know how to steer your canoe to avoid deadfalls along the way, but the rest is easy. You could almost float (minimal paddling) as much as 20 miles in a day.
This really is THE place to go if you are interested in getting started in paddling or if you have been paddling for 30 years. There is an outfitter directly across the river from Colleton State Park that can put you in a canoe or kayak and get you on your way.

Here is a link to MOST of our first day's route.

Our GPS tracker overheated and shut down with about five miles to go. 

Here is a link to our second day's route.