Saluda River (Central): Buzzard's Roost to Chappells Hwy

Skill Level: Easy

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Rapids: Class I

Length: 7.30 miles

Duration: 2.5 - 4 hours

Portaging: No

What to Expect

This is an leisurely float along a secluded stretch of the Saluda River between Lake Greenwood and Lake Murray. Expect mostly flat water with a few small riffles that make for good lunch spots.

Access

Put in:

Buzzard's Roost

SC Hwy 34 (Ninety Six Hwy) Bridge over Saluda River

Access Details

Access is available from either side of the river. Both access sites require about a 0.2 mile walk with your boat. The west bank path is a series of switchbacks down a steep slope, while the east bank is slightly longer, but a more level walk. See the map for parking lot locations.

Take out:

Chappells Hwy Bridge Boat Ramp

Chappells Highway Bridge - SC 39

Access Details

This is a developed boat ramp with a large parking lot. The ramp is on the south side of the river. There is a road to the boat ramp about 0.3 miles south of the river.

Trip Details

This stretch starts just downstream of Buzzard's Roost Dam, which makes Lake Greenwood. It is mostly flat, with a few riffles. The rural scenery is good, and the water is not often very crowded. This is an easy float, and a quick shuttle route makes planning easy. Fishing is also good on the river.

The put-in requires a somewhat lengthy walk down to the river. See the access details for more information.

Waterway:

Saluda River (Central)

Downstream Trip (1)

Saluda River (Central): Chappells Hwy to Higgins Bridge

Comments (12)

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Marie Nix

Feb 17, 2024 7:57 pm EST

Paddled the Buzzard's Roost to Chappell's bridge section again today. The river was at ~4200 cfs, good current, no obstacles, no rapids at this level, and virtually no riffles, just nice flat moving water. The current carried us at around 4 miles/hr with almost no effort. At this level many of the side creeks were accessible, so we explored one and stopped for a 20-30 min break. The trip took about 3 hours at a leisurely pace. Saw two eagles along the way. A great trip!

Marie Nix

Feb 04, 2024 11:24 am EST

Paddled the Buzzards Roost to Chappels section of the Central Saluda today, 1800 cfs, good current, few obstacles, just a few riffles (level too high to expose any rocks for more than that). Trip took around 2.5 hrs, paddling pretty constant but not hard, in crossover kayak, Liquid Logic Remix 9, with one short pause to check gps. Trip takes a bit longer in slower recreational kayaks and on paddleboards. Water was muddy from recent rains. A very pleasant trip overall.

Marie Nix

Feb 03, 2024 3:24 pm EST

Marie Nix

Jul 29, 2023 3:33 pm EDT

Completed this section of the Saluda twice this weekend--yesterday and today. CFS was 535 on Saturday and 495 today. Current was somewhat slow but it yielded 7 Class 1 rapids, which were fun and a nice variation on a quite paddle. Both trips took ~4 hours, with a short lunch break midway. This section of the river is always great, providing a relaxing paddle with some wildlife viewing (this is my 9th trip on the river, 3 of which were this summer). Great for both new and experienced paddlers. When the water is this low if you exit your boat unexpectedly most of the run is shallow enough to easily get back into your boat. Highly recommend this trip.

Ken Boone

Aug 06, 2022 2:08 pm EDT

I have now ran this river 4 times this summer. We fish it so keep that in mind. Twice when CFS is around the 1300 mark, we do it in 7-8 hours. One time, I am not sure what the CFS was but the river was about 2 feet higher than normal, with heavy rains the day before, we made it down in 4 hours. The last time we went the CFS was around the 600 mark and it took us 11 hours. It is a great river and it never disappoints. You can see the last video of us going down this river here: https://youtu.be/9tWTwvb7CgE

Ken Boone

Jun 09, 2022 5:48 pm EDT

So far this has been my favorite stretch of the Saluda River. I mostly kayak/fish the Upper Saluda but have been wanting to try this stretch. We ran this on May 14, 2022 and I believe the water was at about 1300 cfs. We fished the entire stretch and had a really good day wearing out the spotted bass. Even though it was a Saturday, once we got on the river we didn't see another soul. Saw a few otters, plenty of turtles and caught a good bit of fish too. You can check out my video of our trip here: https://youtu.be/FkO9tuOe3ro

bill michaud

Apr 03, 2022 7:15 am EDT

We floated this section 2 days ago with 10' kayaks. The flow was at 3200cfs. The current was good, and we completed the trip in 3 hours, even with one 15 min stop. There were no rapids at this flow rate. Great trip!

bill michaud

Jul 31, 2021 6:53 pm EDT

We floated this route today. We had two each 10 foot sit in kayaks. I estimated the current was about 1mph. The river flow was just under 700 cfs when we started. We put in at 10:40 am and took out at 1:45 pm. We leisurely paddled and as always picked up trash as we wet. We were surprised how trash-free the river was. We only had about 20 plastic bottles and plastic bags. That isn't allot over a 7 mile course. This is a great paddle for families. The three sets of shoals were all easily navigable. We would certainly do it again.

Kenneth Cohen

Jan 06, 2019 12:53 pm EST

Made this trip on New years eve from the roost to 121, which i have done many times. this day was the fastest, water was over side walk at put in, glad i still had bags in from white water run earlier, Very fun paddle at this level around 9000, not for everyone. eagles love this place.

Kyle Brown

Jul 16, 2018 4:10 pm EDT

Did this as part of a larger run from Buzzard's Roost down to the Saluda River Resort (maybe 1.5 miles downriver from HWY 121). The water was flowing in the area of 650 cfs and it was work to paddle through in a few places, as current wasn't much to speak of. There are a 3 sets of speakable shoals that I recall. Those should be scouted/portaged by those in heavy vessels and weighted canoes. Kayaks shouldn't have any issues at all. Beautiful wildlife. Mammals, fish, birds...we saw a lot of life, little of it human. I recommend the paddle, but I genuinely would love to do it again with a cfs >1000.

Jeff lollis

Jul 05, 2018 8:01 pm EDT

Floated on July 4th, 2018 at a little above a 1000 and it was great. That is as high as we have ever done.

Jim Edwards

Jun 04, 2018 8:02 am EDT

What is the maximum cfs for safe boating from Buzzards Roost to Chappells?