Paddling Messervy to Good Hope on Fri 14 June 2024 and found the new course that Benjamin Brown commented on. Thank you...that did help. The new cut through is 1.25 mi downstream of Messervy and the water cuts through so forcefully that it produced rapids, yes rapids in the Lowcountry! Today's Givhans Ferry St Park staff gauge was 3.5 ft with a discharge of 950 ft^3/s. I was so distracted by these rapids that I did not notice access to the "old" channel that is likely becoming an oxbow lake now, but it may have been blocked by fallen tree(s). Paddling kayaks today we were able to get through these rapids though it did take great attention. This pathway remains inappropriate for floats due to the very tight and very rapid streamflow at this location, IMHO.
Benjamin Brown
May 31, 2021 8:58 am EDT
The river has cut a new course over the last year and no longer flows in that great curve by Norman Landing but takes the shortest path through the woods. This new path is choked with fallen trees and is quite dangerous. We ended up carrying our kayaks along the old riverbed for most of the curve before we came to deep enough water again. The new straight course for the river is probably here to stay but it will need a lot of work to get it clear.
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