Month: October 2009

Paddling South Carolina’s Rivers

Posted on By Tom 22 Comments on Paddling South Carolina’s Rivers
Geocaching and Maps, Paddling

South Carolina Rivers

File – Paddling South Carolina Rivers (KMZ, 1.5 MB)

Google Earth has been one of the best resources for planning river kayaking trips, especially on new routes with which I’m not familiar. I’ll scan the route, locate put-in and take-out points, and put placemarks for certain landmarks such as rapids, powerlines, bridges, tributaries, or other interesting locations along the way. I would then use GPS Babel to convert my Google Earth files to GPX files then upload the data to my GPS so I would have it with me on the paddling trip.

Pretty soon I had a nice little collection of river trips in Google Earth. I began to wonder if anyone else was doing this. It seemed like it would be an excellent resource. There are some excellent books out there, such as Able and Horman’s Paddling South Carolina, and while the maps in these resources are fine for giving driving directions, there is no GPS information. SCTrails.net has started putting Lat/Long coordinates for some of their paddling trails, but not for all of them. So, I decided to make my own collection.

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Autumn Paddle on the Enoree

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Paddling

Heading downstream

Kayakers – 3

Weatherman – 0

This makes three trips in a row where there was an iffy weather forecast. In each case, if we had followed The Weather Channel’s advice and canceled the trip, we would have missed out on a fantastic day of paddling. You’ve got to pay attention to the weather, but a 60% chance of rain doesn’t necessarily mean a bad day on the river.

Following on the heels of our last successful Enoree trip, David and Rick wanted to paddle another stretch of the river. They had done some scouting, and found a stretch starting at Whitmire that had great river access points. Add to that the fact that David had a new kayak to try out, and we had to put together another trip.

This was going to be a much smaller group than last time. Since the paddle route was longer, this just made sense. We would be joined by Dave W, a good friend of Rick and David’s, bringing our number to four.

Paddling Crew

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Scenes from a Whitmire Truck Stop

Posted on By Tom 3 Comments on Scenes from a Whitmire Truck Stop
Restaurants, Things Overheard

NOTE: This restaurant has closed. I headed out early for my kayaking trip on the Enoree River this morning, with the intent that I would get breakfast in route somewhere. I didn’t have to meet my fellow paddlers until 9:30, so that gave me plenty of time. I knew there were several Waffle Houses along … Read More “Scenes from a Whitmire Truck Stop” »

Paddling Partners

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Paddling

The paddling group

I was pleasantly surprised at how many people went on our last paddling excursion on the Enoree and Broad Rivers. In addition to our regular Lowcountry Unfiltered group, we had seven others from the Upstate and Midlands. There are several others from fairly close by that would have gone if they hadn’t had prior conflicts. That got me wondering whether or not we should start an Upstate version of Lowcountry Unfiltered. I don’t think I’m ready for that, yet, but my inquiries yielded some interesting things.

My paddling associations have always been informal.  It’s always been just whoever was available on any particular paddling day.  I’ve done more paddling with my friends Bob and Alan than anyone else, but there are others that join us with some consistency.

nullThe Lowcountry Unfiltered group is the closest thing to a formal organization I’ve ever joined for paddling.  However, the thing that appeals to me most about it is its very informal nature.  Apart from having a website, logo, and a set Saturday of the month for outings, it’s a very loosely-defined group.  If it weren’t for the fact that some of the trips are a bit far away for me, and the fact that I’m not free every second Saturday, I’d join them on just about every trip.

While toying with the idea of an Upstate group, I decided to check the web to see what others might be out there.  These range from the informal to the anal retentive, based on who’s running the group and how many paddlers are involved.  Here’s are some observations I’ve made based solely on their websites…

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Two Rivers for the Price of One

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Paddling

Starting Out on the Enoree

This time our Lowcountry Unfiltered group got two rivers for the price of one, plus a few ghosts and goblins thrown in for good measure. On Saturday we paddled a portion of the Enoree River to its confluence with the Broad River, then down to our take-out at Strother’s Landing.

Planning this trip proved to be a challenge. The group wanted to paddle an Upstate river, but didn’t have the boats for whitewater. There was also the matter of distance. These guys would be driving for 3-4 hours just to get here, so the paddling trip couldn’t be too long. If they’re driving that far, then the trip needs to be worthwhile, and not a drag through the mud.

My first plan was to paddle a stretch of the Tyger River. It had all the elements I needed – it was remote, full of history, and even a ghost story. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much water when Bob and I paddled it last month. It was more of a muddy hike while dragging boats.

Fortunately, I was able to find a suitable route. We would put in at Keitt’s Bridge on the Enoree near Maybinton and float to its confluence with the Broad River, then paddle down to Strother’s Landing at the Highway 34 Bridge. According to Google Earth, the route would be about 7 miles. This route takes us through Sumter National Forest, so it’s suitable remote, and there’s even a ghost story – The Hound of Goshen.

Enore_Broad_River_Map

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Published in Charleston Magazine

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Photography

Check it out! One of my photos has been published in the October 2009 issue of the Charleston Magazine! The photo is one from our August 2008 trip with Lowcountry Unfiltered down the Edisto River. It appears (albeit tiny) in an article about outdoor activities in and around Charleston. Here’s the scanned page. It’s #2 … Read More “Published in Charleston Magazine” »