It had been far too long since I’ve had a kayak out on a river. Hurricane Helene brought a halt to most of my paddling activities. I did some trips down in Florida over the holidays, but I was in need of some Edisto time. When I saw that the Edisto River Canoe and Kayak Trail Commission (ERCK) had a trip scheduled from Givhans Ferry to Good Hope Landing, I jumped at the chance. It was a second Saturday, and since Lowcountry Unfiltered is now defunct, this seemed like a perfect opportunity to get back on the water.
ERCK has monthly trips down the main stem of the Edisto during the winter months. The Bamberg Chamber of Commerce and Denmark Baptist Church sponsor monthly trips on the South Edisto from spring through fall. I’ve paddled with both of these groups and found the trips to be well organized and enjoyable. Last month’s ERCK trip was cancelled due to weather, so I was looking forward to this one.
Then there was the challenge of gathering my paddling gear. When we moved into temporary housing my stuff got scattered to the far winds. It was a fast move, so things got thrown into boxes that we have yet to unpack. The movers were quite thorough, but their method was confusing. For example, we found one Luden’s cough drop neatly wrapped in a full sheet of wrapping paper and placed in a box. We figured that they must be getting paid by the box. As for the gear, I thought I would have to abandon my GoPro, but I finally found its charger in a random box.
I retrieved my kayak and trailer, loaded up the gear, then headed down to Givhans Ferry very early on Saturday morning. It was foggy all along the way, and the Edisto was bathed in fog when I got to the state park. I was kind of hoping it would stay like that. I love paddling in the fog.
I had gotten there very early, so I had time to get a state park stamp in my book and snooze a bit until the others arrived. Soon other paddlers arrived and started unloading boats. Givhans has upgraded their river access with a paved road down to their launch. It’s world’s better than the rough dirt trail they used to have, but I was still glad I had my kayak cart to haul the boat down from where I had to park.
Jon Burroughs from ERCK arrived in a van pulling a trailer full of kayaks. While most of the paddlers brought their own, some had rented from ERCK. In all, their would be 18 paddlers. Some of these were friends from previous Bamberg and ERCK trips, for some it was their first time on the Edisto, but all of them seemed to be fairly experienced paddlers. In that number were four ERCK employees who would be facilitating the trip and acting as guides.
I drove on down to Good Hope Landing while others were getting their boats and gear down to the water. I had plenty of time to find good parking and take another snooze until the shuttle van arrived. Some young men had set up a tent and were fishing nearby and making a racket, as young men are want to do, but I didn’t find them threatening. Just annoying. Soon the others arrived and parked and we all loaded into the van for the shuttle back.
Back at Givhans Jon gave everyone a safety briefing and told us about river conditions, then introduced us to the ERCK team. By 10:30 we were off, paddling out into a nicely swift river.
I’ve paddled from Mars Old Field to Givhans Ferry, from Mars Old Field to Messervey Landing, and from Messervey Landing down to Long Creek Landing, downstream from Good Hope. While I’ve paddled this stretch of the Edisto, I had never used this particular combination of put in and take out. The only time I’ve done this stretch we stopped for lunch at Good Hope, but kept going.
At this point the river is fairly wide down below the Highway 61 bridge. River homes line the edges and coves.
The three mile stretch from Givhans Ferry to Messervy Landing is an easy float, and is popular with tubers in the summer. About a mile above Messervy is a wide sandbar that is a popular stop and turns into party heaven for floaters. There are posted signs above the high water mark, but the sandbar itself is wide open. Along the southern edge of this sandbar Earle Johnson operates Edisto River Adventures. Earle used to do these ERCK trips with us, and today we had his permission to stop at his place.
This would be the the first of many stops. Jon likes to keep the group together, so there would be several times that we would pause to regroup. I’m very much OK with that. Things can get dicey when the group is spread out, especially when you’re responsible for the group making it safely down the river. At Earle’s several pulled out snacks. I took the time to double-check my camera batteries.
Back on the river we continued on down, passing more houses and eventually reaching Messervy. A boat was launching from there, but we didn’t stop.
In preparation for this trip I had loaded my Tsunami 145 onto the trailer. After reading the description of my last trip, I changed my mind and loaded my Dagger Axis. I’m glad I did. Not long after passing Messervy the river narrows and the current picks up. I’m sure I would have been fine in the longer Tsunami, but the Dagger is much more maneuverable.
Jon took another pause for the paddlers to regroup. This time we were back in a small cove with massive cypress trees. I pulled up next to a large cypress knee that had a nest of some kind.
This section of the river flows through a wildlife management area, so there is no development on the east bank. It has a much wilder feel than some of the other sections.
We reached a point where the river branched off in three directions. An oxbow had been cut off by a shorter route and another route led to the west. Jon said that the middle route was the clearest, so most of us decided to go that way. There were some branches to maneuver around and the current was swift, but we managed without incidence. Not long after that we made another stop for lunch. I decided not to get out of the boat, but ate my sandwich while sitting there.
We continued on our way. The river became wider. We found a nice cove that we paddled back into to observe more cypress trees.
The rest of the trip was a pleasant float down to the Good Hope Landing. A couple of jet skis passed us and we saw one fishing boat, but for the most part we had the river to ourselves. As we approached the landing a couple of kayakers were paddling upstream.
There was a small cove next to the landing. I pulled my boat around there and found a landing, which meant that all I had to do was pull my boat up a hill to the trailer. The others found spots to land and started gathering their gear together.
This route was 7.2 miles long with our side trips. It was a great day out and I made several new friends.
I was able to create a time lapse of the trip. Here is that video.