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 21 minutes | 770 cfsrunnable |
| Reach Info Last Updated | May 8, 2025 |
River Description
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
...River Features
Hope Ferry Landing / Saluda Shoals Regional Park
Upper run put-in. Saluda Shoals is on river left, Hope Ferry is on the South side of the river, river right.
Gardendale (Dominion Evergy) Put-In
Public Put In
Ocean Boulevard Rapids
Oh Brother Rapids
Creekline
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
Mill Race Rapids
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.
Shandon Rapids
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.
Blast o'matic
Awesome surf ledge just above Mill Race.
Stacy's Ledge
Moderate sized riverwide ledge. Good holes at some levels, good waves at higher levels.
White House Rapids
A riverwide shoal type rapid with lots of playable waves and holes. Run just left of the rocks in the middle of the river.
Pop Up Hole/Mosh Pit
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.
West Columbia Amphitheater Take Out
Standard Take Out
Senate Street Landing
Below Gervais Street Bridge. Off of Gist Street Downtown Columbia, SC.
Hampton Street Rapids
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportdelete spam links
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!
The Saluda can be run from the dam all the way to town varies flat and II-III white water - DO NOT run the cascade above the zoo play area unless you:
a: have a death wish
b: really know what you're doing, have a recovery team and paid up life insurance or a really good medical plan, sharp rock, rebar and misc mess from a destroyed dam fill the entire width of the river.
From the dam to town is 4-8 hours depending on motivation and water level. Good play water and fishing along the entire length.
Put in at Saluda Shoals Park and take out at Zoo or portage Zoo Rapids and float through a Cls II rock garden down to the confluence with the Broad and onto the Congaree to the Rosewood (Barney Jordan) boat ramp (another hour or so). My now 15 year old made the trip his first time at age 4 in a two seat Kayak. I've floated it with a troop of Scouts in 18' Grummans, two seat open kayaks, A 16' Explorer and in my own play boat. Every boat type has a slightly different experience but I enjoy it every time.
Pop up hole is the last rapid that is closest to the Zoo bridge. After you come through mill race there is a short section of flat water (at low water) and then the river narrows down and makes a hole/wave. That is pop up hole.
is pop up hole the hole right beside the zoo?
hrowing ends at low water.
For more information on the Saluda, please visit http://www.saludayakerz.com
Saluda stuff
-------------------------------
Some corrections to the names:
Radio Towers is at put-in. At high flows (15,000+) Maytag and Lap of luxury come into play (not rock of luxury :) )
Moshpit=Pop-up, just different names.
The creek currently has some ugly strainers, use caution.
Please note the importance of having a local show you down Millrace the first time, there are places you just DON'T want to be depending on water levels. plus, some more play stuff happens in the top of Millrace on the dreaded right side at up to maybe 3,000 that you
would not want to attempt if you didn't know just where you could and could not be.
There is no mention of the rest of the section. To run the river from the zoo to Gervais:
(class II-II+ (III) if you start below Millrace)
First rapid is Shandon Rapid (III-), .25 mi below Pop-up: as the river splits, 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.
There has been a foot entrapment death here.
River then widens and the Broad joins the Saluda. There is a riverwide shoal type rapid with lots of playable waves and holes. Run just left of the rocks
in the middle of the river.
From here down, read and run easy class II+. There are some more holes etc as you approach the first bridge, nothing scary unless the water is really high. Takeout just past the second bridge (not
counting the zoo bridge) on river left, there is a small beach. Access here may be iffy right now, tread lightly.
This is a good short beginner run. At higher flows most things begin to wash out and some holes form near the bridges. 3 mi. Can be run in an hour or less.
Directions to Gervais takeout from the zoo: get back on I-126 towards Columbia (east). Take the first exit (Huger St.) A mile or so down Huger, turn right on
Gervais St. Just before crossing the bridge, there is a parking lot on the left hand side with a bus stop in
front of it. Park here. Walk to the back corner of the lot, down that street just a bit, and you will see the short take-out trail down to the river.
http://www.americanwhitewater.org/safety/archive/id/518/
Accident report of a 1998 drowning at millrace
Gettin' Up!