Wateree River Blue Trail Guide

12/17/08

About this guide

Dear Traveler,

Welcome to the Wateree River Blue Trail. South Carolina has been shaped by its rivers. So dominant are rivers to its history, economy, and health that entire regions of South Carolina are known by the rivers that course through them. Today, South Carolina’s rivers remain a vital resource.

The Wateree River is one the state's most precious resources. This guide will help you explore this gem and the area’s unique history, rich wildlife, and special natural and cultural places. It also provides important information on safety that should be reviewed before your adventure and used along with the Wateree River Blue Trail Map.

There is much to discover along the Wateree River Blue Trail. Starting near Camden, the oldest inland city in South Carolina, the blue trail offers paddlers opportunities to learn about the area’s rich history along its rocky shoals.

Continuing downstream, paddlers cross the fall line and enter the coastal plain known for its countless sandbars, high bluffs, and extensive floodplain. The Wateree River Blue Trail offers one of the best opportunities for multiple overnight trips east of the Mississippi River. Due to its extensive floodplain there is little development in the river corridor. It’s possible to paddle for days without seeing a soul.

Congaree National Park, a protected wilderness that’s home to the largest continuous tract of old growth bottomland hardwood forest in the U.S. The park boasts 90 tree species, roughly half the number found in Europe. The section along the Wateree River Blue Trail is the newest addition to Congaree National Park and offers paddlers opportunities to discover State and National Champion Trees.

The Wateree River Blue Trail is in an early stage of development. As support for this blue trail grows so too will recreational opportunities and a strong conservation ethic among its visitors. By connecting South Carolina communities with their rivers, blue trails enable residents and visitors to rediscover the benefits of their rivers. Blue trails like the Wateree will help ignite recognition that these rivers not only provide a great place for recreation, but are places worth protecting.

Sincerely,

Partners of the Wateree River Blue Trail:

American Rivers
City of Camden
Congaree Land Trust
Congaree National Park
Friends of Congaree Swamp
Kershaw County
Richland County Conservation Commission
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources
Sumter County
Kershaw County Historical Society
Kershaw Conservation District

Safety, planning, gear and weather

Safety

Avoid boating alone.
Always wear a U.S. Coast Guard approved life jacket.
Read safety information and national park rules before your trip.
Leave your route and return time with a relative or friend.
Learn to control your boat and be able to stop the boat at any time and land on shore.
Learn to recognize river hazards such as strainers, dams, and bridge piers.
When in a group assign a lead and sweep boat manned by experienced paddlers.
Stay in your boat if it becomes stuck and carefully shift your weight as you push off with your paddle or pole.
Never paddle farther from shore than you are prepared to swim.
In an emergency, stay with your boat.
Drink plenty of liquids to stay hydrated.

Planning

Review the Wateree River Blue Trail map.
Know where your trip will take you, where to get out, and emergency routes.
Make sure you identify and avoid hazards marked on the map.
Allow enough time to complete your trip within daylight hours.
Check river conditions. A flooded river can be dangerous and should be avoided. A low river may expose logs or rocks and require carrying your boat, which may make your trip slower and more difficult.
Wateree River flows are affected by hydroelectric power generation at upstream dams.
Water levels can change significantly due to operations of these dams even if there has not been any precipitation. Check flow information on the USGS website and look for “Wateree River near Camden.”

Gear

Always wear a properly fitted U.S. Coast Guard approved life jacket.
Dress for the weather and be prepared to get wet. Avoid cotton clothing.
Bring a spare paddle or pole.
Wear shoes with tops and sides for optimal protection. Avoid sandals.
Wear a sun hat on sunny days and a wool hat on cool days.
South Carolina state law requires each boat carry a noise making device. A flashlight, strobe, flares, horn/whistle, cell phone, VHF radio, bright flag, or a mirror are key items to bring.
Other essentials: a first-aid kit, plenty of drinking water, sunscreen, sunglasses, and bug repellent.

Weather

Check weather conditions before your trip. Do not go if the weather is beyond the ability of the least experienced person in your group.
During your trip, stay alert to changing weather conditions.
Get off of the water during electrical storms.
Paddle close to shore.

Trips and launch sites

The Wateree River Blue Trail offers excellent paddling opportunities for day and overnight trips. A trip starting below Lake Wateree Dam at the Lugoff Landing to the Highway 1 Landing will take 2 to 5 hours depending on your ability level, water levels, weather conditions, and other activities you may enjoy such as swimming, picnicking, or fishing.

Warning! The Highway 1 Landing is the last public landing before the Highway 378 Landing, 44 miles downstream. If you continue past the Highway 1 Landing be prepared to camp at least one night. The following is a brief description of the 2 public landings you can use for day trips near Camden on the Wateree River Blue Trail

Lugoff Landing: Located immediatly below Lake Wateree Dam. The landing is maintained by Duke Power Company and is located in close proximity to the City of Camden. This landing is the reccomended starting point on the Wateree River Blue Trail. It is an easy day trip to the Highway 1 Landing and is suitable beginners.

Highway 1 Landing: Located on river right at the Highway 1/601 bridge, this is the reccomended takeout for paddlers enjoying a day trip on the Wateree River Blue Trail. This is the last public landing or takeout for 44 miles.

Overnight trips are popular on the Wateree River Blue Trail. Below the Highway 1 Landing paddlers will enjoy a true wilderness experience. Most paddlers can make the trip from Camden to the 378 bridge in 2 days of hard paddling, but the trip can be extended to 3 to 4 days. Paddlers often use the numerous sandbars to camp below Camden, but beware of fluctuating river levels due to precipitation and upstream hydropower operations. If you camp on a sandbar, camp as high on the sandbar as possible and tie down your boat.

The reccomended last takeout on the Wateree River Blue Trail is located at the Highway 601 Landing on the Congaree River. The 601 Landing is also the end of the Congaree River Blue Trail. Warning! the 601 Landing is approximately 2 miles upstream of the Wateree River and Congaree River confluence. After the confluence, paddlers must head upstream for 2 miles to the takeout. There are several other takeout options below the confluence including Pack's Landing on the Santee River and Low Falls landing in the headwaters of Lake Marion. These takeouts are only reccomended for paddlers familar with the area or for those with advanced skills with GPS.

A journey down the blue trail

Here are some of the historical, cultural, and natural landmarks you’ll see during your adventure.

Camden: Established in 1732, Camden is South Carolina’s oldest inland city, and is known for its history, horses, and hospitality. Some of Camden’s best attractions include: the Revolutionary War Park; sights for the Battle of Camden (1780) and the Battle of Hobkirk’s Hill (1781); Kershaw County Chamber of Commerce located in the renovated 1812 Robert Mills Courthouse; Fine Arts Center; Camden Archives and Museum; National Stepplechase Museum; Carolina and Colonial Cup horse races; Quaker Cemetery established before the Revolutionary War; Cedars Cemetery; antique shops, art galleries, restaurants, annual jazz and blues festivals; and historic homes of the antebellum and Victorian eras.

Lugoff Landing: The start of the Wateree River Blue Trail. The landing is located below Lake Wateree Dam. Lake Wateree Dam is the last of Duke Power Company's 11 hydroelectric power dams on the Catawba/Wateree River system. Lake Wateree and Lake Wateree State Park are popular places for recreation with excellent opportunities for fishing and boating. For more information on Lake Wateree and the state park check out: http://www.southcarolinastateparks.com/

Wateree Canal (private property): As part of the early Catawba-Wateree River navigation system, the Wateree Canal was built in 1826 at a cost of $190,000. It had seven lifting locks and a guard lock where the canal left the river. At the time, the locks were costly to build and maintain and navigation along the canal ceased in 1838.

Love’s Shoals: A large rocky formation familiar to fishermen. One of the primary aims of the Wateree Canal, which cut into the opposite river bank, was to make the river navigable past these shoals. Much earlier this was a gathering place for neighboring Native Americans as it afforded excellent fishing and hunting.

Pine Tree Creek: Several attempts were made to improve navigation on Pine Tree Creek, which flows near the historic district of Camden.

Highway 1 Bridge: Although several bridges were built at this location, the bridge abutments seen today are the remains of the Wateree River Bridge that collapsed in a 1916 flood. The Camden Ferry operated from this site prior to and after that flood. Note the old ferry road and ferry works seen to the east. This is also the location of the Highway 1 Landing, the second public landing on the trail and the takeout for day trips from the Lugoff Landing.

Wateree (Gaunt’s) Ferry - Colonial Road: Quaker and Friends Neck settler Nebo Gaunt established Gaunt’s Ferry in 1750. Also called the Wateree Ferry and Camden Ferry, it was located approximately 2 miles east of Interstate 20, and operated from 1750 to 1827. On May 25, 1791, President George Washington took this route from Columbia to Camden. A bridge was built to replace the ferry in 1838, but burned when Union troops bypassed Camden in 1865. The bridge was repaired, but then abandoned in 1872. The new bridge was built 1 mile upstream in 1883.

Cary’s Fort: A small, earthen fort was built in the summer of 1780, by local Loyalist militia Col. James Cary. The fort guarded the western approach to the Wateree Ferry and the road that ran parallel to the west side of the Wateree River. South Carolina Patriot militia Col. Thomas Taylor, under the command of Gen. Thomas Sumter, captured Cary’s Fort on Aug 15, 1780.

Friends Neck: A large bend in the river located near the original Mulberry Plantation.

Mulberry Plantation: In the 1760s, James Chesnut migrated from Virginia and acquired tracts of land in the area of the original Fredricksburg (Camden) Township where he established Mulberry Plantation. The plantation grew under the management of his heir and nephew, James II. By the 1840’s, the plantation included more than 12,000 acres. Some lands sold following the Civil War were bought back by Chesnut family heirs who continue to maintain the property. Today, Mulberry continues to operate as a working farm.

Mary Boykin Miller Chesnut penned her "A Diary" at Sarsfield. Mary’s husband and Mulberry heir, Gen. James Chesnut III was a former U.S. Senator who became an aide to Confederate President Jefferson Davis during the war. James and Mary Boykin Chesnut moved to Camden in 1883, where they lived the remainder of their lives.

Belmont Neck: An oblong tract of land encircled, with the exception of a narrow causeway, by the Wateree River.

Devil’s Elbow: A large oxbow island with excellent camping on the sandbar.

Boykin: In 1756, William Boykin II came to the Fredericksburg (Camden) Township and laid claim to some 300 acres located 6 miles south of Camden. Since that time the area has become a small but vibrant farming community. By the 1840’s this area was known as Boykin, and a post office was established in early 1849 near the new railroad line at Boykin’s Depot. Boykin is the site of a final battle of the Civil War. Today, descendants of William Boykin II maintain the historic community which includes a grist mill, general store-post office (Boykin Grill), Swift Creek Church, a regionally know broom manufacturer, and Boykin Mill Pond Steakhouse, which overlooks the original mill pond.

Wateree Correctional Facility: Located on river left approximately 15 miles downstream of the Interstate 20 bridge and approximately 10 miles upstream of the 378 Landing. The property extends for approximately 5 miles. Although there are several sand bars suitable for camping, this is not a safe place to camp for obvious reasons. Plan your trip accordingly.

Cook’s Mountain: Paddling downstream from Camden, several miles before reaching Garner’s Ferry and just below where Spears Creek enters the Wateree River on your right, Cook’s Mountain rises above the river and surrounding land. The first European to comment on the remarkable mountain was John Lawson, exploring for the King of England in 1700. The abundance of Native American artifacts found here attest to its prominence in Wateree Indian society as well. In the mid 1700’s, surveyor James Cook purchased this property and lived here while he oversaw the survey and mapping of the colony’s navigable waters for England and the South Carolina Commons. Half of the very large, linen cloth original James Cook map, saved during a fire, presently hangs in the South Carolina Historical Society in Charleston. After the map was completed, James Cook returned to England, selling his property, including the mountain, to such famous South Carolinians as Henry Middleton, Arthur Middleton and Joseph Kershaw. Cook’s map, presented to the South Carolina Assembly in 1773, shows his house on the top of the mountain. There is presently one residence on Cook’s Mountain. The property is used for education, recreation and managed intensively for wildlife habitats. Cook’s Mountain is a uniquely diverse property, composed of heavy red clay with sandstone outcroppings, and many different ecosystems from the mountain itself to the tupelo-cypress swamp below. Several unusual plant communities are found here, along with an abundance of animals including deer, wild turkeys, waterfowl, wild hogs and occasionally bear and cougars.

Garner’s Ferry: A ferry site formerly known as Brisbane’s ferry. Originally, it was known as Simmons' ferry. The Highway 378 Landing is located near this former ferry site.

Highway 378 Landing: The third public landing downstream from the beginning of the Wateree River Blue Trail is located on river right. It is approximately 50 miles downstream of Dam and 30 miles upstream of the last takeout at the 601 Landing.

Kensington Plantation: Located on river right, the plantation is located eight miles east of the town of Eastover in Richland County. The plantation is believed to have existed since 1787 was owned by the Singleton family until 1925. The plantation is currently owned by International Paper who have restored Kensington Mansion. It is open for tours several days a week.

Manchester State Forest: The forest consists of 25,000 acres of mixed pine and hardwood species native to the midlands of South Carolina. The forest practices multiple use and sustained-yield forest management, which includes enhancing timber production, fish and wildlife habitat, air and water quality, soil conservation, scenic beauty, scientific research, and recreational opportunities including hunting. It is managed to yield a variety of forest products, from pulpwood and saw timber to poles and pine straw. Strands of non-native slash pine, planted in the 1960’s, are gradually harvested and replaced with longleaf pine. In 1989, the forest was severely damaged by Hurricane Hugo with 65% of the timber base destroyed. Since then hundreds of acres have been salvaged and replanted. Learn more about Manchester State Forest.

Poinsett State Park: The 1,000 acre state park was developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps, a New Deal Program created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The park is located a few miles from Wateree River Blue Trail and can be visited on the Palmetto Trail. Camping is available at the park. Learn more about Poinsett State Park visit.

Wateree Passage: A section of the Palmetto Trail, the 7.2 mile Wateree Passage begins in Poinsett State Park and runs to the Wateree River. The Wateree Passage crosses through Manchester State Forest and along the old South Carolina Railroad bed. The passage is one of the most diverse sections of the Palmetto Trail, traversing a variety of landscapes from near mountainous terrain down to a magnificent floodplain swamp. The trail asends to the "High Hills of the Santee", one of the highest elevations in Sumter County, before its decent to the Wateree River.

Congaree National Park: On river right, Congaree National Park borders the Wateree River Blue Trail for its final 4 miles above the confluence with the Congaree River. This portion of the Fork Swamp has only recently been part of Congaree National Park, and the park’s purchase of lands within its new boundary is not yet complete. When finished, the new tract will connect the previously-acquired 22,000 acres of Congaree National Park with the16,700-acre Upper Santee Swamp Natural Area, owned by the South Carolina Public Service Authority, creating a 45,000-acre natural corridor along the Congaree-Wateree-Santee river basins.

Though this area lacks the old-growth characteristics of other parts of the national park, it has several unique resources in its own right. The tract harbors dwarf cypress and planer tree communities not represented at all on existing park lands, and an unusual mix of sweetgum, bald cypress, water tupelo, and green ash dominates the Bates Old River ridge and swale system.

Researchers have proposed that sand ridges in the Fork Swamp could be the location of the town of Aymay (or Guiomae) visited by Hernando de Soto 1540, but its exact location remains unknown. The confluence of the two rivers may also be the site of the Congaree Indian village visited by John Lawson in 1700. Bates Old River, accessible via an unimproved boat ramp (outside the park) off Highway 601, is the longest oxbow lake (4 miles) on the Congaree River, and provides an excellent flat-water canoeing/kayaking experience with the opportunity to see alligators, large wading birds and osprey and Mississippi kites. A causeway traces the route of historic McCords Ferry (Bates Ferry) Road across the floodplain to the site of Bates Ferry

Congaree National Park was designated South Carolina’s first national park in 2003. Originally founded as Congaree Swamp National Monument in 1976, the park is home to more than 15,000 acres of wilderness and covers more than 22,200 acres total. Paddlers and hikers can enjoy the network of 20 miles of hiking trails within the park and take advantage of opportunities to camp, fish, watch birds, and study nature. Guided walks and canoe trips are offered free of charge. Learn about special events and programs.

The main section of the park adjacent to the Congaree River protects the largest contiguous area of old-growth bottomland hardwood forest remaining in the U.S. This unique and increasingly rare forest ecosystem depends on the health of the Wateree River for providing periodic seasonal flooding. The 10,000 acre section of the park on the Wateree River was secured in 2006. It offers paddlers opportunities to explore this rarely visited section and to discover undocumented champion bottomland hardwood trees.

The Harry Hampton Visitor Center is open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. except December 25. During daylight savings time, the visitor center is open from 8:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. An official park map and guide, a self-guided boardwalk brochure, species lists, and camping and fishing regulations are all available online or at the Harry Hampton Visitor Center.

Backcountry camping in Congaree National Park is a great way to experience the wilderness. Free camping permits (issued for up to 14 days) must be obtained in advance. Camping is primitive, with no designated camp pads or additional amenities. Campsites must be at least 100 feet away from backcountry trails, rivers, and streams. To protect the wilderness, campfires are not allowed so cooking must be with a camp stove only. Full camping regulations (including “Leave No Trace” principles) and permit applications are available online or at the Congaree Visitor Center.

History

The Wateree River originates in the fabled Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina where it is called the Catawba River. It flows through Charlotte before reaching South Carolina where its name changes to the Wateree River below Lake Wateree Dam.

The river supplies drinking water to 1.3 million people on its heavily populated lower reaches, including the towns of Morganton, Hickory, and Charlotte in North Carolina and Rock Hill, Lancaster, and Camden in South Carolina. The basin is home to threatened and endangered species such as the shortnose sturgeon, Schweinitz’s sunflower, and Carolina heelsplitter mussel. It sustains the world’s second largest population of the rare rocky shoals spider lily.

The Catawba-Wateree River has supported human communities for thousands of years. In modern times, the river has been heavily developed for energy production. It is impounded by 11 hydropower dams. Lake Wateree Dam, the last impoundment going downstream controls river flows for the 80-mile Wateree River Blue Trail. This section is the longest free-flowing section of river in the entire basin.

Rich in early Native American history, the area south of the Highway 1 Landing to below Belmont Plantation (private property), was home to the Cofitachequi Indians of the Mississippian period (A.D. 600-A.D. 1500). Archaeological evidence indicates that Hernando DeSoto visited this area in the Spring of 1540.

The Wateree Indians were one of the first groups on the East coast to encounter Europeans. They were first mentioned in writing in 1567. The Wateree Indians are believed to have been Siouan, speaking Siouan-Catawban languages. Interestingly, it is noted that their language was unintelligible to the nearby Congaree tribe. Unlike other tribes, Europeans observed that the chiefs of Wateree had a higher degree of power than other tribes in the region and that their society was matriarchal. They were ruled by female chiefs.

The Wateree are believed to have inhabited a wide area at different times in their history. The Spanish mention the Wateree far from the coast, near the settlements of the Cherokee. Later English colonists mention Wateree settlements in the upper Yadkin River area, and later settling on the Wateree River, south of present day Camden.

Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto explored the area in 1540, followed by Juan Pardo in 1567 and Englishman John Lawson in 1700. With the disappearance of the Wateree Indians, the new European settlers obtained land grants from the King of England until 1776, when the State of South Carolina assumed the right to distribute land to private owners. Early owners attempted to make the land suitable for planting as well as grazing through 1860. However, frequent flooding and minor changes in elevation stifled agricultural activity. This flooding, although detrimental to farming, allowed nutrients to renew the soil and enabled the area’s trees to thrive.

In the 18th century, King Haigler, leader of the Catawba Indian tribe, befriended the early settlers. King Haigler become known as Camden's patron saint.

In the late 1800’s, large tracts of land in the Congaree, Santee, and Wateree River systems were owned by Francis Beilder and the Santee River Cypress Lumber Company. Logging in the floodplain was confined to tracts near the main river and creek channels due to poor accessibility to the interior of the floodplain. In these areas, cypress trees were cut, girdled and dried while standing to prevent sinking during river transport before felling.

On river right, Congaree National Park borders the Wateree River Blue Trail for its final 4 miles above the confluence with the Congaree River. This portion of the Fork Swamp has only recently been part of Congaree National Park, and the park’s purchase of lands within its new boundary is not yet complete. When finished, the new tract will connect the previously-acquired 22,000 acres of Congaree National Park with the16,700-acre Upper Santee Swamp Natural Area, owned by the South Carolina Public Service Authority, creating a 45,000-acre natural corridor along the Congaree-Wateree-Santee river basins.

Though this area lacks the old-growth characteristics of other parts of the national park, it has several unique resources in its own right. The tract harbors dwarf cypress and planer tree communities not represented at all on existing park lands, and an unusual mix of sweetgum, bald cypress, water tupelo, and green ash dominates the Bates Old River ridge and swale system.

Researchers have proposed that sand ridges in the Fork Swamp could be the location of the town of Aymay (or Guiomae) visited by Hernando de Soto 1540, but its exact location remains unknown. The confluence of the two rivers may also be the site of the Congaree Indian village visited by John Lawson in 1700.
Bates Old River, accessible via an unimproved boat ramp (outside the park) off Highway 601, is the longest oxbow lake (4 miles) on the Congaree River, and provides an excellent flat-water canoeing/kayaking experience with the opportunity to see alligators, large wading birds and osprey and Mississippi kites. A causeway traces the route of historic McCords Ferry (Bates Ferry) Road across the floodplain to the site of Bates Ferry

The dry trees were then floated down river to saw mills. While operations were halted by 1915, most of the old-growth cypress trees were gone and much of the remaining forest was left relatively untouched.

Harry R.E. Hampton, outdoorsman and writer, started a long campaign in the 1950’s to protect the forests in the Congaree and Santee floodplains. In 1969, relatively high timber prices prompted private landowners to consider resuming logging operations.

As a result of an effective campaign launched by local citizens, Congress established Congaree Swamp National Monument in 1976. That designation was not enough to protect the area from the force of Hurricane Hugo in September 1989. The park lost several National Champion Trees, but the overall effect opened up the canopy and was a natural stimulus for growth.

On June 1983, Congaree Swamp National Monument was designated an International Biosphere Reserve. In July 2001, it was designated a Globally Important Bird Area. In November 2003, it was designated the nation’s 57th National Park and in May 2006, portions of Cedar Creek inside the park were designated Outstanding National Resource Waters.

Environment, geology and wildlife

Environment

The Wateree River Blue Trail, approximately 80-miles long from below Lake Wateree Dam to its confluence with the Congaree River is a bottomland hardwood forest ecosystem. Bottomland hardwoods are one of the lowest and wettest types of forests, characterized by frequent flooding and the deciduous trees that thrive in these wetlands. Bottomland hardwoods support a diverse number of plant and animal species that rely on periodic flooding, abundance of natural cover, and foraging opportunities year round.

Two hundred years ago, virgin and old growth bottomland hardwood forests covered almost thirty million acres across the Southeast. Today, only a small percentage remains due in part to river impoundment, development, and the conversion of forest to farmland. Congaree National Park is home to one of the nation’s last significant tracts of old growth bottomland hardwood forest.

Geology

The fall line is a narrow zone of transition between the Piedmont and the Coastal Plain and is so named because it marks the last appearance of bedrock waterfalls in river channels along the Atlantic Coast. Upstream from this point, river channels are rocky and straight, with abundant rapids. Below the fall line, rivers tend to open up and bend gently back and forth as they flow over the coastal plain. From a geological perspective, it represents the contact between outcrops of crystalline Piedmont rocks (like granite) and the sedimentary deposits of the Coastal Plain.

The modern fall line crosses the Wateree River just north of the Highway 1 Bridge. If you watch closely you will see the character of the river, as well as the vegetation, begin to slowly change within a half-mile of the Highway 1 Bridge. Historically, the fall line marked the inland limit of major river travel, and is the reason for the location of Columbia, as well as several other major cities including Raleigh, NC, Richmond, VA, and Washington, D.C.

The Wateree River Valley is a broad notch cut into the Upper Coastal Plain and filled with river deposits. These deposits are shaped into more than14 terraces, which are flat surfaces representing old floodplains. Terraces are separated by fluvial scarps, which represent periods of significant erosion when the river cut deeper down into the earth. The younger terraces were deposited by rivers emptying into shorelines of the Middle and Lower Coastal Plains over the last 3 to 3.5 million years.

The Wateree River floodplain contains many old river courses dating back at least 21,000 years, during the last ice age. From this colder time, we have pollen, which acts as a fingerprint for plants, from spruce trees. In order to find spruce trees growing at this elevation today, one needs to go as far north as Eastern Canada. Other deposits in the Wateree River floodplain include old river courses that formed at a time when the river was not a single channel but a network of braided channels. This deposit, which formed under cold, ice age conditions, may be as old as 60,000 years. Other places in the Wateree River Floodplain contain sand dunes that were forming during the last ice age, likely as recently as 15,000 years ago. Learn more about South Carolina’s geology.

Wildlife

The Wateree River corridor is home to many mammal species. On a trip down the blue trail you are likely to encounter white tail deer, beaver, river otter, bobcat, and the invasive feral hog. Migrant species include striped bass, American shad, and blueback herring. Learn more about endangered and threatened species in South Carolina.

America’s national symbol, the bald eagle, often visits the Wateree River. The eagles fish for food among the river’s rocky shoals in the upper section of the trail. Another stately bird, the swallowtail kite, is a rare sight in the lower river near Congaree National Park. Mississippi kites and red-shouldered hawks are fairly common sightings. Species you may see or hear include barred owl, pileated woodpecker, yellow-billed cuckoo, northern flicker, chimey swift, and the belted kingfisher. Get a checklist of birds you may spot in Congaree National Park

Fishing is a popular activity on the Wateree River. A healthy population of redbreast sunfish and largemouth bass provide good angling opportunities year round. The Wateree River is known regionally for huge flathead catfish.

Stewardship

The Wateree River Blue Trail asks visitors to follow the National Leave No Trace Code of Outdoor Ethics that promotes the responsible use and enjoyment of the outdoors: