Eddy Lines by John Lane
May the ACA forgive me, I lent a life
jacket to a personal watercraft operator! Maybe it was the sunshine I was basking in while waiting for the WNP
participants to show, maybe it was the common bond of sharing a love of the water and being in/on it. Whatever the
reason, he needed a life jacket so I lent him one of ours so he could legally operate his jet ski. When we got back to
the put in, he had returned it and life was good.
That evening we enjoyed the good life on the still waters of Alum Creek. 16 paddlers attended the Wednesday Night Paddle and stopped to admire the sunset. Chatting and bobbing, we stayed long enough that it was pitch dark as we made it back through the buggy blackness.
As the sun sets on the heyday of boating activity for the year, we will begin to plan for the next and share the common bond of reveling in our memories of days paddles past. There are still a few October trips left and then the mid-December Flocking to the Hocking before the boating calendar is clear. Then we’ll start right back in the New Year with pool sessions and schools.
Come join us on our expeditions to somewhere
Destination Boating:
Kelleys Island
Whether by plane or ferry, Kelleys Island is a stone’s throw from mainland Ohio. By paddle, however, the horizon is more distant and the trip presents a few more concerns. My brother and I recently completed a four-day sea kayak camping adventure to the island.
Although Kelleys is only 3.5 miles from the mainland and an hour’s paddle in fair weather, it is still a long crossing with potential exposure to wind, waves and motorized watercraft. Add another 3 miles or so around the western edge and you land at Kelleys Island State Park. The park has great facilities and a north-facing beach that makes for excellent kayak surfing when the wind is up.
|
|
|
We picked a Monday morning departure from Lakeside on the mainland. Monday is a good time to travel on Lake Erie. Most weekend warriors are long gone and boat traffic and chop is normally at a low level. We took two hours and twenty minutes to travel to the state park on a flat lake. The western exposures of the Lake Erie islands and Catawba peninsula have limestone cliffs easily visible. The sedimentary strata dips eastward and the eastern shores are flat, with shallows that have fouled many a propeller. The northwest corner of Kelleys has a beautiful, nearly continuous cliff band, nothing too tall but it would make for an inhospitable spot to land in an emergency. We enjoyed the cliff view and then poked about near shore before turning into the parks harbor. Another great thing about Monday mornings is that it’s easy to get a site at the state park. We picked one with half shade and half sun, ideal for drying gear and hiding from the sun and set up camp. Our plan had been to paddle from Kelleys to South Bass Island and from there back to Lakeside, covering about 9 miles each day.
There are your plans and then there are the alternate plans that Lake Erie forces you to consider. We awakened Tuesday to a northeaster with 4-6 foot waves, according to the NOAA weather radio computer voice. So a plan to paddle to Middle Island, Canada’s most southern point of real estate, or South Bass was put on hold. Instead, we visited the Glacial Grooves, hiked the North Shore Loop Trail with its early quarrying relics and its alvar* community and registered for another day at the park. After lunch, a trial paddle in the North Bay convinced us that while we may have made forward progress despite the wind and waves, the pucker factor would have negated our enjoyment of the event. So, we headed back to shore and learned a few lessons about broaching and bracing in the surf. All there was left to do was hoof into town and rent bikes. We pedaled around the island, pondered Inscription Rock, had lunch in a nature area, hiked the north pond boardwalk and east quarry trails and made it back to the bike rent kiosk just in time and had another fine dinner in town.
|
|
|
The wind blew all night and blew away our dreams of inter-island travel for the next day. More surfing and hiking ensued. We made a new friend of Gary from Cincinnati who thank goodness came to the island via truck. We hitched a ride with him to the Island Café and Brewpub for delicious pot roast and fresh beer.
Next morning was the time to leave. Despite the NOAA computer message of 3-5 foot waves, it was time to go. The predictions had been for flat water but Lake Erie again had other plans. We hauled our boats to the beach and loaded up. We called our folks in Lakeside, told them when to expect us and launched. Leaving the bay, a water snake investigated us and with a tongue flicker and tail wiggle, squiggled away to the bottom. The surf was smaller than the previous day but when we rounded the headland, the waves were darn big and chaotic, with reflections from the cliffs mixed with swells mixed with chop. Much of the time it was a coin toss whether to brace or paddle. After a nervous half hour, we slid into another bay and took a break. The rest of the paddle back to the mainland was mostly in the lee of the island except for the last ½ mile. Then we started to pick up some following swells mixed with chop. Nothing as bad as the north side of Kelleys but we were thankful we ran out of lake when we did.
So we had a good trip and good times. We learned a good bit about surfing and open water travel. Best of all, we never had to key up Channel 16 and call for help from the Coast Guard!
The Lake Erie Islands had been occupied at various times by Erie, Ottawa and Huron Indians. Inscription Rock pictographs represent 500 year old recordings of prehistory. The War of 1812 ended Native American occupation of Kelleys and opened the area to European settlers. The mid to late 1850’s began the agricultural areas. Grapes were cultivated to such an extent that the archipelago became known as the "wine islands". Logging and quarrying were main industries as well as fish cultivation. The islands became logged out and competition and price undercutting from Michigan quarries ended much of the stone production although a working quarry is still present on Kelleys.
If you go to Kelleys, expect a laid-back atmosphere, the kind of place where people are content to pedal with the arches of their feet instead of the balls. It’s more of a family-oriented island versus the party town South Bass Island is known for. If you have the time and patience, Kelleys will yield up its treasures. There are fourteen miles of shoreline and quaint Victorian homes to gawk at, golf carts and bikes to rent and a great sand beach at the park. Souvenir shopping and fudge acquisition are easy. The agricultural era has mostly given way to the recreation and tourism industry. Development in the form of condos and cluster housing is proceeding at a faster rate than in years past. Despite this Kelleys remains a gem to be discovered whether you get there under your own power or not.
Notable web resources:
|
|
* Note for naturalists: Alvars are globally rare landforms that occur in glaciated areas of the northern hemisphere. A combination of typically drought-like conditions caused by nearly horizontal porous bedrock and weather extremes caused by scouring ice, waves and wind conspire to create a community of plants uniquely adapted for survival there. As an example, the northern bog violet is found in Ohio only in the Kelleys Island Alvar. Other plans include showy orange lichen, squaw weed, mosses and other lichens as well as many sedges, stunted trees and grasses. Besides alvars, Kelleys and the rest of the Lake Erie Islands are stopovers for raptor, songbird and Monarch butterfly migration.
Mark Curtner and Diane Hageman on August rafting trip.
Gauley Shuttle and Events
Help Protect Rivers
by Carl Bolyard – West Virginia Rivers Coalition
That time of year has arrived again as we roll into Gauley Season and the fall festivals. This year is packed with events and we at WVRC wanted to remind you not to miss out on some of the great things going on that directly benefit and bring attention to rivers in the Mountain State. This year has been a big one for clean water, and is the 30 Anniversary of the federal Clean Water Act. WVRC needs you help as much as ever – by participating in these great events.
The annual Gauley River Shuttle begins this weekend September 7, 8 and will run until the last weekend of Gauley season October 12,13. We will be running the shuttle Friday, Saturday and Sunday during Gauley festival weekend September 20,21 & 22.
The shuttle is easy for you to use. We have secured a grassy field for you to park in up above Mason’s Branch and when you take out below Sweet’s Falls on river right you load your hard boat on our truck and walk without having to carry your heavy stuff out of the canyon. You pay us $5 for this time honored service and all of your donation directly benefits rivers like the Gauley, New, Cheat and Tygart.
We are very grateful to Class VI River Runners and Appalachian Wildwater for access to run the shuttle and we could not provide the service to boaters without their help.
WVRC will be at the Gauley Festival Saturday night September 22. We will be offering our annual River Raffle tickets at the same great price of 6/$25, 2/$10 or $6 each. We have 46 great prizes donated from local and national business donors – including 6 boats and top prizes. Stop by the booth for to find out what is going on with your river resources and pick up some tickets to win all this great stuff. We hope to see you on the water this season and enjoying the great events.
Monday the 23 will remain the day for the 10th Animal Upper Gauley race. Contacts for the event can be found at www.gauleyrace.com
If you would like to help us call for our raffle call-a-thon this fall, which is an easy way to have fun, help out, get fed and possibly win some cool stuff then contact Tom Prunier at Prunier (AT) erols.com or Carl Bolyard at cbolyard (AT) wvrivers.org to volunteer your time. Have a great fall season!
