Kayaking the Waccamaw River from J Todd Landing

• Date Kayaked: May 18, 2020
• Total miles Tracked: 4.68 miles 
• Type of Trail: River
• Best Features: Wildlife, very peaceful, calm current
• Worst Features: No facilities at landing
• Wildlife spotted: Osprey, woodpecker, alligators, turtles
• Vegetation: Cypress and hardwoods, wildflowers
• Associated Website:https://www.horrycounty.org/Departments/ParksAndRecreation/Boating (Note: This is the official site, but good luck finding a mention of this location!)
• Primary Author:  James

Back in May, we took a long weekend to kayak in South Carolina. We launched from three different boat ramps on the Waccamaw, plus kayaked in the Marsh at Murrells Inlet. We were down on the weekend when South Carolina was loosening some of their Covid 19 restrictions. This created some stressful, crowded conditions on some of the waterways we tried out. But, our final destination before we left the state was J. Todd Landing just outside of Conway. It was like a completely different river! We kayaked almost 5 miles and saw only two motorboats. 

The landing itself is rather barebones. You drive down Jackson Bluff Road until you reach a sandy parking lot. There's no boat ramp, just a beach of firm sand, perfect for kayak launches. There are a few private residences adjacent to the ramp, but this is located in the Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge, so for the most part you'll be leaving civilization behind once you're in the water. 

For the most part... there is a curious rusting artifact downriver from the launch. What it might have once been is a mystery to us. 

Once you're past this, however, you're entering undeveloped land along both sides of the river. You're several miles from the nearest ramp where motorboats launch, and far from any road, so it's one of the quietest places we've kayaked. The lack of noise meant that wildlife was easy to spot along the river. Turtles, osprey, woodpeckers, and alligators! We spotted five alligators during this paddle, after seeing none on our previous Waccamaw trips. 

One big advantage of launching from J Todd Landing is that you're launching next to Thorofare Island. You can go downstream on the Waccamaw, then back upstream on Thorofare Creek to have a nice loop trail. Going upsteam on the creek was no challenge. For the most part, the water on the both the river and the creek is wide and deep and still as you glide along past cypress trees. There are oxbows and side creeks to explore if you have time. 

Overall, this has shot to the top of our favorite places to paddle in South Carolina. It's got a great combination of ease of access, wildlife, paddling conditions, and a loop route that's long enough to be worth the journey, but not so long it turns into a slog. This is one of those places we almost hesitate to write about, since isolation and emptiness is part of it's charm. Hopefully we won't see you out there!