It seems that my paddling group, Lowcountry Unfiltered, has fallen apart. We’ve all been pulled in different directions and Second Saturday trips are no longer a given. There’s another Facebook paddling group called Carolina Splash Mob that has paddling trips just about every weekend. My plan was to join them on Saturday for a trip out to Sixteen Island on Lake Marion. The weather was supposed to be great, I’d meet some new people, and I’d get to paddle past the old ruins at Ferguson.
Well, that didn’t happen.
I had everything loaded up and ready to go Friday night, but when I got up Saturday morning I found my rear hatch was left open and the car battery had run down. I was able to get the car started with a portable jumper, but it started acting weird, like it didn’t want to pull my boat trailer. I hoped things would smooth out as I went down the highway, but it didn’t. The car wouldn’t accelerate properly and kept jumping between gears. Not wanting another Lizard Man experience, I decided to limp on back home.
It seems that all the car needed was a reboot. Once I let it rest a bit and restarted it, it was running fine, with no issues at all. Sadly, it was too late for my rendezvous at Lake Marion, so I opted for a closer venue. I headed up Highway 11 to Keowee-Toxaway State Park.
It being a Saturday I was worried about parking. The canoe/kayak launch doesn’t have room for trailers. Fortunately the lot wasn’t too crowded, so I parked the car, then detached the trailer and put it in another space. I felt like a jerk for taking up two spaces, but I didn’t see any options. Plus, there were still several other spaces left.
By the time I got the boat unloaded and ready to launch it was almost noon. On this beautiful day the lake was already crowded with motor boats. The beach areas on the island across from the launch were already occupied by pontoon boats. The bigger problem was that the launch is on a narrow part of the lake and boats come speeding by. The wake tends to push the kayak back up the launch. It’s tricky. You have to wait until things settle down.
Every time I’ve launched from here I’ve paddled up Estatoe Creek, away from all of the boat traffic. This time I headed back up that way. As I rounded the Island I could see that this cove was quite busy, with jet skis and guys jumping off of the rocks nearby.
Most of the boaters, especially the jet skis, seemed oblivious to kayaks. I almost gave up headed back to the launch, but I had another idea. Instead of paddling back upstream, I’d head out toward the main part of the lake. With more open water I could stick to the edges, letting the motor boats have more room and giving the wake more time to diminish before it reached me. I had never paddled this direction, and I wanted to see if I could get up to the Jocassee Dam.
Golf courses and the ridiculous mansions of the Cliffs of Keowee line the north shore, but the state park owns the south shore. With no development along this section there are some nice coves with beaches that are perfect for just hanging out. I explored a couple of these.
There was still lots of boat traffic and wake, but it wasn’t as bad as long as I stayed near the edge. I still spotted a couple of boats whipping around a bend, unaware that there might be an obstacle, whether a kayak or something else. I found a deep cove with a beach and pulling in for a lunch break. It was nice to just hang out and watch the traffic.
There were already pops of fall color. The lake levels were low enough so that interesting geology emerges. The boat wakes and other waves erode the banks, creating deep cuts and interesting caves.
Pretty soon I reached the big water. I was surprised by how close I was to the Highway 11 bridge. After checking my GPS I was equally surprised at how far it was up to the Jocassee Dam. I decided that my new goal would be to paddle under Highway 11, then come on back.
I can’t count the number of times I’ve driven over this bridge, but this is the first time I’ve paddled under it. Laura and I have a running joke about me saying “I’ve paddled under this bridge!” when we go on a trip somewhere. Now I’ve got another one to add to that list.
From here I decided I’d head on back. I was tired of fighting boat wake. As I passed back under the bridge and headed north I spotted the Jocassee Dam in the distance. If I couldn’t paddle up to it, at least I could see it.
Earlier I had noticed a couple of boats hanging out in an interesting little cove on the south side of the Estatoe branch. When I came back by the boats were gone, but they left a rather interesting structure.
By this time clouds to the west were getting darker. The weather on these upstate lakes can be unpredictable, especially up on Jocassee. I started paddling a bit quicker to get back to the landing. I had been at a sea shanty singing on Thursday night, so I kept humming those tunes to myself to keep my pace.
There was boat traffic all the way back. I was a bit worried about landing and trying to get out of my kayak while fighting wake. Fortunately, there was a lull and I was able to get out with no trouble.
This was one of my shorter paddling trips, at 4.5 miles.
As usual, I had my GoPro running and made a time-lapse from those images.
A few final thoughts about this trip…
I’m not anti-motor boat. If I had a pontoon boat, ski boat, or jet ski, I’d probably be right there with them on a beautiful day like this. What I don’t appreciate are those that don’t care if they get too close or just don’t pay attention. It’s not unlike me watching out for bicycles when I’m driving. When I’m paddling I try to make sure I’m not in a position to cause problems for boaters, but it works both ways.
As far as the landing, I like Keowee-Toxaway because it’s close and it’s an easy paddle out to nice scenery. I’m not crazy about the landing itself. I think I would prefer just a sanding landing or something with an easy incline rather than the steps they have. There is a sandy beach just next to the landing and I’ve used that as an alternate.
I also wish there was more parking and a way to accommodate trailers. I felt guilty taking up two spaces, especially when I saw that they had “Park Full” signs out as I was exiting. I think I’ve figured out a way to take my trailer and move it over to the side so that it isn’t in the way of parking.
Finally, I wish that the park or someone could put up one of those warning buoys or cones near the landing so that boats know to watch out. There were several of them out marking underwater hazards, and I think this would help for the launch.
Those things aside, it was a great trip. This is one of the spots I like to bring new paddlers, and I’ll continue to come back here. It was also great seeing a different part of the lake.
I love that spot. We have kayaked to the island and to Raven Rock several times.
But my most memorable experience there was in 1993, long before the parking lot and kayak landing were built. I went with some of my older brother’s crazy friends to jump off Raven Rock. We walked down to the end of the paved road, and considered swimming across. Most of the group decided to take the trail instead, but 2 of us decided to swim. It’s only about 1/4 mile across, but I’m not a great swimmer, and it was the farthest either of us had ever swam. We had no flotation devices, which wasn’t too smart. But we made it across, and beat the walkers by at least a half-hour. Somewhere there is a Hi-8 video of us jumping off the rock. Good times…