If South Carolina has a signature outdoor activity, it is this one. The state has more paddling water than it has any right to – blackwater rivers, cold mountain reservoirs, tidal creeks, cypress swamps, and 187 miles of coast with barrier islands strung along it. Most of it is flat, warm and forgiving, which makes this one of the best places in the country to learn.
Our complete list of South Carolina paddling trails is the deep version. This page is how to choose.
Tannins leached from cypress and tupelo stain the water the color of strong tea. It looks alarming and it is entirely natural. Blackwater paddling is slow, shaded, quiet and strange, and it is the most South Carolina thing you can do on a boat.
The Black River near Georgetown runs past bald cypress that were standing before Columbus sailed – some of the oldest known trees in eastern North America. The Edisto at Colleton State Park is the longest free-flowing blackwater river in North America and the easiest overnight trip in the state. The Lynches at Lynches River County Park has a gentle landing and a canopy walk for anyone in your group who does not want to get in a boat.
Strainers – fallen trees across the channel – are the actual danger on these rivers, not the current. Scout, portage, and never try to duck under one.
Paddling the marsh along the Coast is a different sport with a different clock. The tide runs your day. Go out on an outgoing tide and you will come back against it, tired, into wind, in the dark. Learn to read a tide chart before your first trip, not during it.
Folly River kayak and SUP is the accessible introduction, close to Charleston with outfitters on the water. Cape Romain and Bull Island is the serious version – a crossing to a barrier island wilderness with a boneyard beach, and one that deserves respect and a ferry option if conditions are wrong.
Dolphins will surface next to you. Do not chase them. They are wild animals and they were there first.
Cold, clear and deep. Lake Jocassee in the Peaks is the best-looking paddle in the state – waterfalls dropping straight into the lake, boat-access-only coves, water clear enough to see your paddle blade. Keowee, Hartwell and Murray offer flatter, warmer, easier days, and Lake Murray is twenty minutes from Columbia in the Midlands.
Wind is the lake hazard nobody plans for. Open water builds chop fast in the afternoon. Paddle mornings and stay near a shoreline you could land on.
The Chattooga on the Georgia line is Wild and Scenic and it is the real thing – Section III and IV are not places to teach yourself. Go with an outfitter your first time; everyone does, including people who have paddled for years. The Lower Saluda below the dam in Columbia gives you cold water and genuine rapids inside the city limits, with a release schedule you need to check before you put in.
You do not need to buy anything. Outfitters across the state rent kayaks, canoes and paddleboards by the half day and most will run a shuttle so you can paddle downstream instead of out and back. Our directory is where to find them, and they will tell you what the water is doing today, which no website can.
If you want the gentlest possible start, 5 rivers you can float without a guide is the list. If you want the most memorable, full moon paddles run all over the state in summer.
You do not need to agonize over this, but the wrong boat makes a good day tiring. A sit-on-top kayak is the right default for almost everything in South Carolina – warm water, easy to get back onto if you come off, forgiving in the marsh, and the one nearly every outfitter rents.
A sit-inside tracks better over distance and keeps the sun off your legs, which matters more than people expect on an open lake in July. A canoe carries gear, a cooler and a dog, which makes it the right call for an overnight sandbar trip on the Edisto. A paddleboard is wonderful in a sheltered creek at slack tide and miserable in wind.
Whatever you are in, dress for the water rather than the air. Mountain lakes stay cold all year and a spring day that feels warm on the bank does not feel warm after a capsize.
A wearable life jacket for every person on board is required, and children under a certain age must wear one at all times – check the current rule rather than guessing. Carry a whistle and a light if there is any chance of being out at dusk. Tell someone your put-in, take-out and expected time.
And if you are fishing from the boat, you still need a license – see the fishing hub for which one.