Edisto Reflection
This is a guest article from paddling enthusiast and SC native, Spencer Martel, written for Friends of the Edisto.
The coastal low country harnesses an unique magic. I am called down from the mountains every so often by some beckoning from the saltwater breeze in the Spanish moss. My most recent lure was the great blackwater of the Edisto River. In the twenty some years before I made my leave of South Carolina, I hadn’t acquainted myself with the ACE basin. July seemed as good a time as any to seek solace on its waters.
The trip was planned, and then re-planned, and then planned again. Embarking for days into an unknown place leaves ample room for some unexpected fun, but we tried to learn as much as we could prior to our launch date. I enlisted the opinion of Friends of Edisto and received marvelous river beta. So, with our re-planned plan and all our gear in dry bags, we launched from Colleton State Park on the very foggy morning of July 27th.
Unsure of the river flow, obstacles, or where the true tidal section began, four or five days sounded like a safe estimation for paddling our SUPs 59 or so miles. After chatting with Alan, a Friends of the Edisto board member, I decided that the push for the beach, though an appealing challenge, was not in our best interests. We would land at Willtown Bluff, 21 miles shy of Edisto Island. We also assumed there would be massive, agitated gators waiting at every bend, water moccasins dropping from every tree and nearly every tree laying across the river, pointy branches prepared to joust. Stella and I, having inflatable boards, considered these potentially dangerous aspects. Luckily, I chose to paddle the Board Works MCIT (Multi Chamber Inflatable Technology), so I wasn’t as nervous.
As it turns out, there were no encounters with gators or snakes and we cruised the mileage in half the time, but let's rewind to the why of the trip. In retrospect, it wasn’t just about finding my physical edge like I thought. It wasn’t just my attempt to get back to a clearer mind space, void of alarms, monotonous to-do lists and unnecessary stress. What I found on that tea stained water was something beyond me. What I found was the real why…
There was a rhythm I had become blind to, animating everything. It was as though the river below me was actually coursing through me and the sun on my face was radiating from somewhere inside myself. Feeling expansive, I began to connect again with something bigger. Some folks call that religious, others may call it yoga, but I call it living and at some point along the way of life, I had forgotten. The Edisto reminded me.
In two and a half days, we paddled about 54 miles. Our landing destination became Westbank, six miles short of Willtown, but we felt accomplished. I found my physical edge and I found that clear mind space. I found a handful of sharks teeth and some wonderful local folks. I found tree-choked sections as a sanctuary from the blazing sun, and I found small thrills as we navigated the log-made rapids. I found cypress trees standing tall out of the shallow water and I found hypnotic, rippled sand just below the surface. As we continued snaking our way down the river, I found moments where our only company was dragonflies and butterflies stopping to catch a ride on our boards. I found herons and egrets flying ahead, guiding us to our next sandbar destination. I found my way back to living when I found the Edisto River.
