Florence SC

ropatz · Post by **ropatz** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 9:51 pm

My wife may take a job in Florence SC. Any paddling near other than WNC area? I was also wondering if anybody lives in the area to paddle with or carpool elsewhere. Thanks a lot.

Post by **sbroam** » Wed Aug 17, 2011 2:52 am

I'm not very familiar with the east side of the state, but in your immediate area, you have some interesting *black* water - slower moving, tanning stained, meandering rivers. You are about 1.5 hours from our lone National Park - Congaree Swamp - there is canoeing to be done in there, too. You are not far from the coast - there is surf at Folly (Charleston) and Myrtle Beach and you are within a couple of hours of the Outer Banks.

For whitewater, your nearest will be the Saluda in Columbia (about 1.5 hours) - this runs from mild to class IVish (with rare high flows). There is good park and play and easy shuttle for longer runs. This is my home river and there is almost always somebody out there. The next closest would be the US National Whitewater Center in Charlotte at about 2.5 hours. There are some other occasional runs (Tyger) in the upstate, but you have to head over to the Chattooga, WNC, TN, etc for much more.

This is a good resource for all sorts of trails - hiking, paddling, biking : http://sctrails.net/

You're coming from Colorado? It'll be a little different for you

helloooo humidity...

Shoot me a PM or e-mail if you want more info or want to meet at the Saluda some time. I'm over in Lexington.