Born right here from the Saluda and Broad rivers, the Congaree River runs some 53 miles (85 km) as a short but wide waterway. Right here it owes its life to the confluence of the Saluda and Broad rivers near the Piedmont Fall Line, and it will serve as the final outlet channel for the entire Lower Saluda and Lower Broad watersheds. Downriver, it merges with the Wateree River just north of Lake Marion to form the Santee River.
The river also marks part of the boundary between Richland, Calhoun, and Lexington counties; the only cities close by are Columbia to your east and Cayce and West Columbia to your west. Even with the vast bottomland swamp below Columbia, barges can navigate much of the Congaree at high water, traveling upriver from the Port of Charleston—about 100 miles (167 km) away—through the Santee‑Cooper Lakes to within roughly 5 miles (8 km) of the fall line. About halfway down the river’s course you’ll find Congaree National Park, a 22,200‑acre (90 km²) preserve that protects some of North America’s last old‑growth bottomland hardwood forest and stands as one of the river’s main recreational attractions.
Picture Congaree National Park downriver, its old-growth bottomland hardwood forest tracing this river's course.