Upper Saluda River: Beacham Road to Souls Harbor (Lake Greenwood)

Skill Level: Easy

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Rapids: Class I

Length: 6.80 miles

Duration: 3.5 - 6 hours

Portaging: No

What to Expect

Paddlers can expect mostly flat water with an occasional Class I rapid along the way. This trip is very beginner friendly and takes paddlers from the Saluda River into the clear wide channels of Lake Greenwood.

Access

Put in:

Beacham Road / Ware Shoals Community Foundation River Access and Parking Area

Beacham Road, Ware Shoals, SC 29692

Access Details

From US Highway 25, turn west on to Beacham Road. Continue for 100 feet, then bear right into a dirt parking area. From the parking area, a trail leads 300 feet through the woods to a small beach along the river. The river is flatwater from this bridge in to Lake Greenwood.

Take out:

Souls Harbor Access and Roadside Parking

1618 Hodges Road, Hodges, SC 29653

Access Details

This access features a one-lane boat ramp off Ridge Road on Lake Greenwood. Parking is available along the road's shoulder. Overnight or extended parking is not recommended.

Trip Details

Souls Harbor on Lake Greenwood is 15 minutes away from the Beacham Road access. To get to the Beacham Road access, turn west onto Beacham Road off of US Hwy 25. Continue for 100 feet and then bear right into a dirt parking area. From the parking area, a trail leads 300 feet through the woods to a small beach along the river. Paddlers will see a set of stairs leading from the trail to the river, river right, and should enter the river here, upstream of the US Hwy 25 bridge.

Waterways:

Lake Greenwood
Upper Saluda River

Downstream Trip (1)

Lake Greenwood: Souls Harbor

Comments (1)

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bill michaud

Oct 16, 2021 3:25 pm EDT

The parking area at Beacham Road is dirt and gravel. This area could use some TLC. There was allot of trash. We put in at 1030 am, with two each 10 foot sit-in kayaks. Flow was 940 CFS. We had a good current pulling us down stream. It was a good ride with no rapids. To judge your distance you are about mid way when you pass under the utility wires. The last mile we had a cross breeze from right to left. Additionally, the water gets very shallow, and it got choppy. This stretch took a little more effort then earlier. We have paddles the central Saluda before. In comparison the central section is much cleaner. Unfortunately we forgot our gear to retrieve the trash. The take out point and parking area is gravel. Good float for families, since its easy and flat, except for the last mile being more open lake. It took us just under three hours to complete.