Saluda
4 - Lake Murray Dam to Broad/Congaree confluence(Saluda Shoals County Park to Senate Street Boat ramp off US #1)
| Difficulty | I-III+(IV) |
| Length | 8.9 mi |
| Avg Gradient | n/a |
| Gauge | Saluda River Below Lk Murray Dam Nr Columbia, Sc |
| Flow Rate as of 42 minutes | 806 cfsrunnable |
| Reach Info Last Updated | May 8, 2025 |
Great play run located in downtown Columbia. Lots of cool routes and playspots at a wide variety of levels. Radio Tower, Stacys Ledge, Maytag, Lap of Luxury, Mill Race, Cookie Monster, Blast'o Matic, Pop Up Hole/Mosh Pit are some of the named spots near the zoo. On the right side of the island near the zoo is a popular creek line with a small slide and some cool moves. Typical run options are: Hopes Ferry to Gardendale for beginners, Hopes Ferry to above Millrace for intermediates, and Hopes Ferry or Millrace to the Ampitheater for more advanced boaters, or park and play based out of the city park above Millrace utilizing the trail system.
Mill race rapid is just to the left of the Island under the power lines. Beware of the right side of the Mill Race at higher flows. A dangerous hole forms, and there is some very sharp rock and re-bar in the streambed.
There is a nice trail below pop up hole on river right that can be used to walk back up to the top of the mill race. There is good river access on river left at pop up hole.
Pop up hole is munchy 2500-3500cfs
Pop up is optimal at 4000-4500 cfs
It can range from a pourover to a meaty ledge hole. It is best around 3500 to 4500 cfs (easy to link moves). Most of the time you can only cartwheel to the left but at higher flows you can wheel either way. It has a good access eddy.
At low flows it is perfect to practice your enders, pirouettes, cartwheels, and mystery moves.
The water is cold all the time (around 50 degrees) and is always running (dam controlled), so you can count on a playspot there in one form or another. Water can raise rapidly.
How to get there:
Heading towards Columbia on I-26 get onto I-126 towards Columbia. Take the River Bank Zoo exit. Turn left at the stop sign. Turn left towards the zoo. Turn right into the parking lot. Take another right after you cross over the railroad tracks. Then head to the end of the parking lot. There
...Upper run put-in. Saluda Shoals is on river left, Hope Ferry is on the South side of the river, river right.
Public parking area. Take out here to avoid Millrace Rapids.
Creekline is the far river right rapid across from Millrace. It is only runnable over 4k CFS, and has a shallow hole at lower levels. There are two slots on either side of a brick column, each with a small slide/ledge drop. At levels above 12,000, the right slot becomes gnarly and the hole on the left slot becomes pretty retentive, so skirt to the left corner of it or boof hard. There is often wood downstream of the slides so keep on the lookout in case of a swim at one of the holes
When the water is above about 800 cfs it's a class III (technical). The water can be as high as 20,000 cfs. At that point, it's a monster and I'd seriously think twice about running it. It's easily a class IV. The problem with millrace is that it's an old dam that was dynamited years back and is rumored to have rebar (steel rods that reinforced the concrete) all through the area.
Lines here are very much open to your discretion, not a whole lot of consequence and very easy to practice eddy hopping at normal levels. Anything center right all the way to river left is usally ok.
Millrace is often park and hucked, using the riverwalk on the river left side at the bottom of the rapid.
Awesome surf ledge just above Mill Race.
Moderate sized riverwide ledge. Good holes at some levels, good waves at higher levels.
Take the right fork. Run the rapid on river right. A straight shot, with a decent hole and a side surfing wave at some levels.
A riverwide shoal type rapid with lots of playable waves and holes. Run just left of the rocks in the middle of the river.
Good down to 300 cfs. Munchy from 2500-3500 cfs. Optimal at 4000-4500 cfs, above that it turns into a wave and then quickly washes out.
Below Gervais Street Bridge. Off of Gist Street Downtown Columbia, SC.
Aug 19, 2012
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Dec 16, 2009
Ran it again, this time at 12,500 on the 5th of DEC. Cookie Monster was in and beautiful! Staceys was in on river right and huge, holes were shallow though. Gervais st wave was in pretty great. It was washed out at 17,000. Blastomatic had some super sticky spots. I got worked for a solid minute and thought about swimming right on down through the monster of Mills Race. Cookie and the massive 9+ ft haystack after it were awesome, not sticky, and totally runnable (they were scary at 17,000). Shipwreck Rock just downstream of Mills on far river left was fun, fast,and retentive just enough to throw a move or two, but not 'loop-able' like 17,000. Shandon also had some decent play..
All in all, 12,500 is a good level, especially for Staceys Ledge wave, Cookie Monster, and Gervais. But as apposed to 17,000, it has ALOT more sticky pourover and ledge holes. Especially Blastomatic and Shandon Rapids. I'd say that Mills Race was a class IV+ with some avoidable Class V on river right, but the main tongue of it is just a bumpy roller coater and a solid Class III boater would not have a problem with it. Shandon had a few spots I'd call 3+. And Blastomatic told me personally that it was a Class IV.
Pray for more rain and subsequent releases!
Dec 22, 2004
For more information on the Saluda, please visit http://www.saludayakerz.com
