04/28/2026
The Edisto River Carves Out a New Path
By- Brett Steinbrecher
The comparison of life being like a river has certainly been made before by people much smarter than me. The simplicity of the thought might seem elementary but the accuracy of the statement still stands. The most obvious of the comparisons between the two are that like the river, life is a flowing and ever changing thing. Both the river and life itself are riddled with ups and downs. The one thing that consistently stays the same is the constant change. In life we go through cycles and changes and the river does too. The river is like life and life is like the river much to the point that the two are synonymous with each other. In this narrative I want to share with y'all a very obvious change that I recently found on the Edisto river. If you read into this deep enough you might better understand the comparisons of river and life that I've alluded to previously. This is a short video instead of the usual pictorial timelines that I normally share with y'all, so this won't be quite like my regular stories. I also want this short video to serve as a warning. If you don't make it any further in reading this the warning is simple, be careful on the Edisto river. Be careful on any river for that matter, but this story is specifically for adventurers, floaters, kayakers, and boaters on the Edisto river. This information and this short video could have the potential to save a life.
Last summer I kayaked a lesser traveled section of the Edisto river that I hadn't paddled in probably close to 10 years. The spot I started was at a landing in Dorchester county called Messervy landing, also known as boat landing. This particular landing is one of the most popular spots for floaters to take out of the river after a day of summertime floating and fun. People that don't know or understand the Edisto river come from all over to enjoy tubing down the black water crown jewel and that is where the danger lies. I wanted to share this because something crazy happens every year and someone has to be rescued off the river and it's usually floaters. If these inexperienced floaters, boaters, or kayakers, mistakingly pass by Messervy boat landing, just a few river bends away down stream stands inherent danger. Even back years ago when this section of river was passable in a small jon boat, even back then it was still quite difficult and fairly dangerous to navigate. Last summer when I kayaked this section of river, I remember vividly how shallow the water was just up river from Norman landing. As I walked alongside the kayak I remember thinking that unlike the last time I came through here 10 years ago, there was no way a boat could make it through this section anymore. It was so shallow I had to get out the kayak and walk it through 3-4 inch deep water. Aside from that really shallow stretch of river nothing else really stood out to me on that trip other than how different the river looked after 10 years of changes since I had last seen it.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago, I had adventure on my mind. My young son at 8 years old lives for adventure as well. With my knowledge from last summer about the shallow water I told my son about this section of river I haven't taken him on yet. He understood we might have to get out the kayaks and walk through the water and he certainly wasn't scared of the prospect of adventure so he said "Daddy let's go!" So we got loaded up, put in at Messervy landing and set off for a father-son adventure I will remember for the rest of my life. After maybe 20 minutes of paddling, maybe 3-4 turns down river we came to the spot I recognized from last year as the shallow spot just up river from Norman landing. As we came up to that shallow spot we found that that shallow spot is now a big sandbar. That sandbar was actually the path of the river just last summer and is now completely dry. What was shallow flowing water just last year has now become a dry sandy path covered in fallen trees. We walked down the dry river bed climbing over huge trees and I realized there was no possible way for us to make it through the same path of the river as I took the summer prior. After we got back to our kayaks we saw that floating logs came to a stop and lodged themselves into the river channel and over time sand built up and blocked the water from traveling through it's normal path. Well the river didn't just come to a stop, it keeps on flowing so since the normal path of the river was blocked the water had to find somewhere to go.
The build up of sand, logs, and debris forced the river to abandon it's normal path and carve out a new channel. Because the normal route was blocked the amazing force of the Edisto river water forced its way through the path of least resistance through the wetland forest. Two small channels formed and branched off from the main river blockage. Two new river beds cut into the surrounding river bank and weaved their way making paths of moving water through the woods until they reached the river once again. I remembered seeing and hearing the small stream that broke off from the main channel of the river last year. That stream wasn't very wide and could be heard because of all the water rushing through the submerged and fallen trees, limbs, and branches. I remembered thinking I sure wouldn't want to kayak through that when I saw it last year. The water was flowing swiftly through it and it would be incredibly dangerous to try and navigate. The fast moving water could pin me and the kayak against a log snag, a limb could knock me out, I could fall out the kayak and get snagged by limbs and drown, there are so many scenarios that make paddling powerful rapids so dangerous. Once we walked around the sandbar reality really hit me hard when the only moving water were those two distinct paths of water rushing through two mine fields of fallen timber. There was no other route or path to take. We couldn't paddle against the current to get back up river where we started. We had no cell phone service and couldn't access the map. I couldn't call in a rescue or a helicopter. I put myself in a compromising and unsafe position with precious cargo, my son. One of the new paths of water was a little wider than the other so my instincts were to take the wider of the two new streams.
At this point I was panicking inside, it took all my strength to not let my son see how dire and serious this situation truly was. It's quite nerve racking to paddle through white water with dangerous obstacles for the first time, it's quite another thing to put your 8 year old in a position that he HAS to paddle through the same thing on his own for the first time. We had absolutely no other choice. I let the Lord and my fatherly instincts guide me. First I told my son, "This is the only way we can make it through to safety, hang back and watch me go through the rushing stream first, the one to the right. Keep your kayak straight, if anything happens, forget about the kayak just keep your head above the water. Don't fight the current, go down stream, and don't get entangled or caught up in any limbs. I'll be just ahead of you waiting in case anything goes wrong. We are going to make it through this, always remember, God's got this." After we talked and I pumped him and myself up, we prayed to Jesus to deliver us safely through this mess I unknowingly put us in. So much fear was going through my mind, I just did what I had to do. I went first while Levi hung back and watched to see what path he should take. I'm here to tell y'all the force from that water pushin me past all those snags and hazards was one of the most exhilarating things I have ever done. I've never white water rafted but this is as close as you can get on the Edisto. It felt like I was going 20 mph on top of the water. Once I made it through I watched my young son handle this treacherous stretch of "new" river like a seasoned veteran. The kid only has around 30/40 hours kayaking by himself and he worked the back paddle and kept calm and cool when he needed to the most. We both made it through safely, not without getting our kayaks scratched and pushed from grabbing limb snarls, and logs lurking just beneath the surface trying to flip us over from underneath. In spite of it all we successfully squeezed through the narrow and dangerous branch until it reached the old river and widened back out. The 3 minutes it took to paddle through this section felt like 30. It seemed like it was a mile but in reality it was probably a few hundred yards.
The mouth of that new stream emptied out into the old river just as I suspected it would. There was a small sandbar where the new stream met the old river so we pulled over our kayaks there once we were out of harms way. The adrenaline rush from that swift water was something I have never felt before. I wish I had a go pro mounted to my hat for this adventure. I was so pumped up about this adventure I just had to walk the bank back up river towards the way we came just to shoot a video documenting this change in the river. I wanted to make sure people who enjoy the river, via boating, floating, or kayaking know about this natural shift in the river's path. It's especially concerning to me because it is so close to where people who are unfamiliar with the river pull out from floating in large numbers. It's well known that at this popular floating destination people will mix alcohol and the sun this summer and someone WILL miss the pull out spot at Messervy landing and have to go through this dangerous section of river. Just this past weekend there were search parties for 2 men who were canoeing on this same section of river. The men were found safe, it's a confusing story I don't fully follow or understand, but it is just the most recent example of what I'm talking about. I just don't want to see anyone get hurt, this river is a dangerous and powerful thing and it must be respected. This river has claimed lives before and I would like to do my part in sharing this information to help ensure everyone who enjoys this beloved river gets to make it home safely from it.
That whole day all I could think about was how in a years time I literally saw the river change paths. Like life the river is constantly changing and I saw and witnessed it first hand. Then I realized that is how oxbow lakes are formed. This isn't some new phenomenon, but it is something I never really thought I'd witness myself. Those oxbows are actually old parts of the river that over time got cut off from the main river run by the build up of debris and logs like I saw first hand just down river from Messervy landing. An oxbow looks like a creek off the main river run but when you follow the creek it just kind of makes the letter 'C' (from a bird's eye view) and doesn't quite make it back to the river again once you enter it, like a dead end or similar to a cul de sac. Those oxbows make great fishing holes, but that got me to thinkin about the people who live at Norman landing. The river used to flow by Norman landing and now those people still have water in their back yard but it it is not flowing and only connected to the river on one end instead of two. I couldn't get it out of my head how mad I would be if I searched and searched to buy a place on the river, say a place at Norman landing, and then one summer the river just changes and I am essentially cut off from having river front property because of a couple of logs. That change in the river cut these people off of the river. It's pretty interesting to think about and will make you think twice about buying that coveted river front property.
Then I had even more nerdier thoughts. So the Edisto river serves as a boundary line between Colleton and Dorchester counties here. So that got me thinking, since the river is the county line and the river shifts does the county line shift with the river? It's interesting to think about because even if the county line is an imaginary line, property boundaries are still a thing. So in this case the Dorchester side of the river got a little bit bigger while the Colleton side shrunk. So depending on what side of the river you are on you could gain or lose property. The folks at Norman landing lost the flow of their river front property but gained more land because the river shifted over leaving land that was previously covered by the river dry, in essence giving them more land by volume. It really left me wondering if the county line changes with changes in the river or is it a set surveyed county line. Interesting stuff to think about, at least I find all of this quite interesting. Well this has gotten pretty long and I doubt the people that need to read this actually will but my warning still stands. This is not a safe section of river, I would implore only experienced kayakers to attempt to pass through this section of river. To be perfectly clear the section of river where this is, is down river from Messervy landing (boat landing) and up river from Good Hope landing. So I want to highly discourage anyone from making the trip from Messervy to Good Hope. To put in at Good Hope is safe but I wouldn't plan to take out there. Be safe out there this spring and summer and remember to enjoy the SC outdoors. I appreciate y'all paddlin along, and thanks so much for readin, likin, commentin, sharin, or just lookin!
