Kokosing River
October 7,8,9 2005
We arrived Friday to a cool, windy, drizzly, dreary day at the Kokosing Valley Campground. A real nice campground with owners that go out of their way to see that your stay is a great one. We were told "Kokosing" is an Indian name that means Owl Creek.
Tony had a 10’x14’ tarp hanging off his truck for rain protection with a
second, smaller one, blocking the wind. When Ted and Connie showed up the wind
had shifted, so another tarp was hung at a right angle to the first, in effect
creating a tarp house, like the one we had at Greenville in the spring. Paul K.
drove in much to our surprise as he earlier had e-mailed that he would not be in
until Saturday morning. Got a fire going in the pit and cooked some bean soup
with cornbread (both in dutch ovens) and pork loins with fried potatoes. Then
the 4 us sat around laughing, joking and staying warm. Connie had a brownie mix
so she whipped half up and Tony cooked it in the dutch oven. Came out pretty
good. It rained ALL night, not hard but steady and to top that, a small kitten
came to camp and meowed most of the night. At first we thought it was Ted
meowing at Connie for some reason??
Saturday dawned, but that was about it. 7:30 a.m. and it was still drizzling. Restarted the fire and got breakfast while deciding what to do. Jock and Deb pulled in close to 9 but Jock wasn’t feeling well, so they didn’t canoe. Jock did help us by shuttling our vehicles downstream. We finally got on the water after 11:00a.m. and it was still drizzling. We canoed from the campground, 9.37 miles down to the merger of the Kokosing and Mohican Rivers. After merging, the 2 rivers become the Walhonding River. We saw lots of beaver slides and corn stocks in the water. Also saw an immature bald eagle gliding along on the air currents. Driving back we also saw an adult eagle sitting on a tree branch.
The part of the Kokosing we paddle is designated scenic by
the state and it is worth it. A Beautiful river with some rock cliffs and clear
water. The Del-Co Water Company is using water from the ground table supply to
service their customers in Delaware, which is expanding rapidly, and that can
cause some low water levels in the summer. The rain did help us. But even so,
Ted and Connie had to get out a few times and pull over shallow spots. Back at
camp we again got the fire going as it was still cool and wet. Harold and Laurie
called and were on their way to eat with us. We had BBQ chicken breasts,
ravioli, chili, stromboli, spaghetti and garlic bread. Tony tried cooking the
other half of the brownie mix for desert but…it burned. After supper it was
still misting, so we all sat around the picnic table, under the tarp and played
left, right, center.
Sunday morning wasn’t raining but it wasn’t real warm either. Ted and Connie had an appointment in Columbus so they couldn’t canoe. Ted shuttled Paul and Tony upstream to Zion Rd. where they launched for a nice peaceful paddle back to the campground. There is more private property on this stretch, but the river still has lots of character. 7.21 miles later they loaded up their gear and canoes and said goodbye. Although only 4 of us paddled the Kokosing we liked it so much that another trip will be scheduled for next year, giving more members a chance to canoe this wonderful river. And so ends the 2005 canoeing season for OHCRA. The 2006 planning meeting is scheduled for November 13th at 11:00 a.m. at the Department of Natural Resources Office Complex, off Morse Road in Columbus, Ohio. Hope to see everyone there!!
View all pictures of the Kokosing River Trip