This 1,067 acre park features a 4 acre lake fed by artesian wells. These wells feed fountains located throughout the park. This park offers boating, swimming, camping, hiking , biking, geocaching, horseshoes, playground, and picnicking areas.
This park sits along the South Edisto River and has a 1.7 mile canoe and kayak trail with canoes available for a rental fee. This is how myself and 2 other ladies got lured into our canoeing adventure.
Who could say no to this adventure ? A relaxing and scenic paddle down the South Edisto River to take in all the beautiful flora and fauna of this park. Oh, we were going to be in for a surprise.
We we parked the car at the let out spot and a park ranger drove us to the put in spot. She then issued us our canoe , 3 paddles and 3 life vests ( 2 of which were equipped with whistles, mine was not. ) But that was OK, what could possibly go wrong?
As we started down the river we quickly realized that the water level was very high and the current was very strong due to the recent rains. This river is very twisty with many S and U shaped turns.
We quickly learned we were in way over our heads as the current was so strong it kept pulling our canoe into branches of large downed trees.
As we rounded a turn our canoe heading straight for a large branch that was sticking out of the water horizontally which would have struck us directly in the chest. I leaned to avoid getting struck and capsized the canoe.
The water was very cold and 2 of us were trying to hold onto the upside down canoe while making sure we didn't lose visual contact with the lady floating behind us.
I scrambled to stay afloat because when I hit the water I almost slipped completely through my life vest . My failure to tighten my starts properly now had me in a position where the chest staple was the only thing holding my up from under my chin.
We swam as hard as we could to get to a spot on the river bank where we could get out and regroup. This was more difficult than expected as the overgrown vegetation prevented us from getting to the bank for quite a distance.
We were able to scramble ourselves onto the bank. Remarkably we were able to grab our paddles and personal items less one water bottle and most impotent lyrics the dry bag with the car keys in it.
One lady, very wisely, blew her emergency whistle and in no time at all a man papered in a boat. He was our knight in shining armor and rescued us from our dilemma. Even with the assistance of his motorboat , it took us another half hour to maneuver through the branches of all the downed trees.
Although we did sustain some cuts and scrapes....we SURVIVED !
What I learned :
1. Mother nature is a force to be recon ed with.
2. Always wear your life vest and tighten your straps.
3. Canoes are heavy.
4. Canoes are really heavy when they have 100 gallons of water in them.
5. If you keep calm, think positive and don't panic, you can get yourself out of almost anything.
1. Mother nature is a force to be recon ed with.
2. Always wear your life vest and tighten your straps.
3. Canoes are heavy.
4. Canoes are really heavy when they have 100 gallons of water in them.
5. If you keep calm, think positive and don't panic, you can get yourself out of almost anything.
Happy camping, hiking, and canoeing,
Trail Hiker Chick
Trail Hiker Chick
