Evening / Night Paddel - Spring Valley Launch to Caeser Creek Access

Maps used for trip report: Little Miami River

Last night Mikey C. and I went on a long paddle for an evening. The "Spring Valley Launch to Caeser Creek Access" (view that link on the left on the map) mapped out to 9.89 miles, which I'll round up to 10. The majority of this route was new river for us so when we set out to to find the start and end points it is always a bit of adventure. We frequently use public access to park out vehicles and they close at dark. That means we have to park on the side of the road outside the gate. You never know if the vehicles will still be there on in one piece when we go back to them.

Night Paddle - Rt. 68 to Jacobs Landing

Map Used: http://www.Henrynet.com/mapping/LittleMiamiRiver.htm
Link On Map: "Rt. 68 to Jacobs Landing"
Gage height, feet = 1.39 on 09-08-2009 @ 10:30
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?site_no=03240000

Mikey C. and I did a night paddle last night (7 Sept 2009) and had the type of "good time" that you don't repeat. The section we were on is towards the beginning of the Little Miami and therefore the water flow and height is not what you get further on. Add to that the time of year and we knew that there would be some dragging. Add even more that this section does not have any canoe/kayak rental places that typically keep the river clear of excessive obstructions. What does all that mean? It means that several times we had to either portage around huge tree fall or get out of our kayaks to drag through shallow parts.

The trip took us about 4hrs, 15 minutes but a significant portion of that was spent figuring out the best way to get around or over the three portages and then doing it. Because of the delay we paddled harder than we would like so we could get home at a reasonable time and go to work today. Normally we like to float along and watch nature and enjoy the night.

We encountered a few sets of glowing eyes on our trip. Mikey C. detected a few critters and I seen a deer. We also seen a fairly large cat and tried to entice it into the river for a swim but it was not fooled by our excellent meowing sounds.

We were happy to have crossed off this portion of the Little Miami River. We have one more section north that we expect to be similar to what we just did but we will tackle that in the daylight. As we go South the water will get deeper and the river will have less obstructions.

Evening / Night Paddle on the Little Miami River

Map used on this trip: Little Miami River

Last night my paddling in crime buddy and I went for an evening into night outing along the Little Miam River. For a map of the route see the link labeled "Jacobs Landing to The Narrows" on this map: Little Miami River. We put in as light was beginning to give way to darkness and soon night was upon us. About half way into the trip it was fully dark, the moon was out, the water was still, and we were the only ones out there. It would have been romantic except that Mikey C. quite simply isn't my type.

Mikey C. had a flashlight and a light that hooked to his head. I had forgotten my flashlight for reasons I'm not sure of. It's not like me to be unprepared when getting on the water. His "head lamp" worked out great and I decided right then and there that I needed to get some. I could use one for my hunting trips anyways so this give me an excuse to invest. Luckily while at lunch today my wife brought up those lights so I'll pick up two quality ones and another cheaper one for general use. Maybe I'll review them in a later post.

The evening/night paddle was amazing and just based on that one outing I prefer it over day paddling. It's calmer and you can get in tune with your surroundings to a deeper level.

I plan on contacting our local kayak store and trying to organize a group night paddle on a Friday or a Saturday evening. It would look like some sort of incompetent military invasion to be walking along the river and seeing 10 kayaks floating along in the dark.

Acton Lake / Hueston Woods Paddle Report

Hueston Woods / Acton Lake Maps: Hueston Woods Map

A few weekends ago we went camping at Hueston Woods. Had a wonderful time. Not far from our campsite was Acton Lake, a man-made body of water. Our first outing we put in at the marina and paddled around a bit. One of the first things I noticed as I got closer to the opposite shore is how much rubbish there is. Logs, buoys, an old beach ball and even a picnic table washed up on shore. What? How could a picnic table get washed up on shore, are there flash floods on the lake? We pondered all this while enjoying a few 24oz cans of Pabst. Mikey C. told us about another picnic table in the water not far from where we were. Two tables in the water? We all wondered why the caretakers of the lake didn't do a better job of cleaning up all the rubbish as it was very noticeable.

The last time we got on the lake we decided to see of a creek that was real close to the campsite emptied into the lake. It seemed like it would but we didn't know for sure. Could we have referenced a map that I had brought camping? Sure, but what fun would that be? We put in at "Creek Access" (ref: the map I linked above) and took the path that stayed to the right (see route marked Creek Access To Lake Path on map). We noticed right away that several parts were shallow enough to have to scoot along, push off the bottom with our paddles or even use our hands on either side of the kayak and push off. About 100 yards what did we see? Another picnic table. That brought the total for the lake to three. And it wasn't just a table on the side of the creek, it was where no park service would put a picnic table. Odd. Overall we found NINE picnic tables either in the water, thrown up on shore, or in a place where you wouldn't expect to see one.

We made it to the lake and decided to go check out the picnic table Micky C. told us about earlier. We went to the table and found that the water just made it up to the the seat. This made it perfect to float next to it and place our beverages on the top. Looked quite comical. There we are on a lake sitting in our kayaks at a picnic table. Look at "Paddle Up Picnic Table" on the map I linked at the top.

On the way back we decided to see if another opening into the lake would lead us back to where we put in. It would fun to investigate another path plus maybe it wouldn't be so damn shallow. Luckily it worked out and had a much more enjoyable route. See route marked "Lake to Creek Access Path" on the map.

I'll certainly paddle on Acton Lake again because we will camp at Hueston Woods again. However the lake is dirty and shallow. I wouldn't go just to drive there, put in, paddle, then go home.

Storing The Kayak, Part 2

I have completed the kayak slings. Take a look at the completed product with kayaks:


And better view of how the arm of the sling, along with supporting blocks, connects to the wall


Clamping an additional block on the end of the arm. I clamped on the sides of the additional block to keep it from splitting when I screwed into it.


One top arm installed and a 2x4 being used to level the other:


And additional picture because I know you can't get enough:

Storing The Kayak, Part 1

Letting the kayaks sit on the floor of my garage is not a good thing. First, it takes up lots of valuable floor space. Second, sitting on the concrete floor would eventually create indentations on the bottom of the kayaks. Standing in my garage I noticed that all my preferred solutions had some reason why I couldn't do it. Hang them from the ceiling? Nope, lights and/or garage motor is in the way. Put them high on the wall? Nope, climbing a ladder and putting two kayaks in place would quickly result in bad things happening. Building a stand in the middle of the floor? Ah, no.... the wife would assault me.

I ended up going with the solution that sucked the least. I decided to build some slings that hooked to the side of my garage wall. I made the slings wide enough to lay the kayaks flat instead of on their side to minimize the vertical space I took up. Luckily if this turns out to be the wrong move I can move my supports and straps to improve the situation.

Here is a picture of the first sling with kayak:


That is real pine, you know. No cost spared.

And here is a picture of my trusty cutoff saw:


The main support is 28" long with a 30 degree angle on each end. I put a piece of wood above and below where the main support connected to the wall stud to help with the rotational pressure that would occur at that point. Then I used another pieced of wood to cover all three to provide additional support. I used 2 1/2 inch wood screws to attach everything. Here is a view:


I purchased a tie down strap like the below:


I started at the end that had no hook and cut off enough to wrap under the main support, back over the end of the support, then over to the wall stud. I tacked it into place and set the kayak on it and adjusted until I got the length I wanted. I then took the kayak off, measured the length (for the other end), cut it from the full length, and finally nailed it all in place.

Here are a few other views to get an idea how things went:

Starting mapping efforts of Mad River

My online mapping of the Mad River in and around Dayton OH can be found HERE.