The beautiful Kokosing River was the location for the clubs last outing of the year. The Kokosing Valley Campground let the member's camp for $5.00 per night and that included wonderfully clean restrooms with hot showers. Tom and Tony arrived Friday afternoon in very windy conditions and set up camp. Tony used an EZ Up canopy with his one man tent set up inside of it. The wind was blowing hard all day with stronger winds predicted for the Saturday paddle. At least the temperatures were warm for mid October. Wil and Gloria drove in pulling their T@b camper. After getting set up, the four folks enjoyed a small but warm campfire. Tom had his canvas tarp set up to help block the wind for the fire. Worked great. They called it a night around 11.
Saturday morning was still windy. After breakfast cars were shuttle downstream for a nine mile paddle to where the Mohican River merges with the Kokosing to form the Walhonding River. The water levels were low. Gloria was not paddling so the three guys were all solo. That made all the difference in floating over some rock gardens instead of wet footing it. The nine mile stretch of river is very pretty and a pleasure to paddle. They were very lucky in the fact that the wind was to their back the whole way. If they would have had to paddle into the wind the trip may not have been completed. Tom had a 12 gauge shotgun with him as duck season was in. He did see some ducks and actually got one mallard. Lots of kingfishers were out as were blue herons. Not much else in the way of wildlife. There was a sign along the river about Honey Run Waterfall. It's part of the Knox County Park District. The boaters walked the short trail to the falls which looked nice even with the low fall water levels. The falls must be outstanding in the spring.
Back at camp Gloria napped until the men got back. The very hard gusts of wind (40-50 mph) destroyed Tony's EZ Up and ripped tent stakes out of Tom's tent. It's very hard looking for tent stakes with strong winds blowing downed leaves every which way. The four relaxed and listened to Ohio State beat Illinois in football while the sun flirted from behind clouds. Harold and Laurie pulled in around five and soon after Lance arrived. They came to camp and eat. While sitting around shooting the bull, this couple walks into our camp. Permanent campers for the season were members Ron and Terry Mills. They couldn't stay long as the campground was having an end of season potluck they were going to.
The theme for OHCRA's potluck was Mexican and it was great. There were burritos, taco bake, black bean and couscous salad, huevos rancheros and two different kinds of pie. Lots of food for only seven people. As it got dark which is so much earlier in October, the fire was stoked and enjoyed. After shooting the bull for quite a while, it was soon tent time.
Sunday morning Tom, Wil and Gloria went to Danville to attend church services. Harold and Tony played Cornhole while Lance and Laurie slept in. There wasn't any wind which was a change from the previous two days so talk of canoeing came up. It was decided to head six miles upstream and float back to camp. Only the three paddlers from the day before paddled and it was a beautiful fall day to be on the river. They saw two different bald eagles and two deer. It started to sprinkle but quickly cleared up and the sun came out. Jackets were shed as the fall heat rose. Again a little more water would have been nice to help with the rock situation. It was decided to paddle this river again next spring just to see what it would be like to have more water. Arriving back at camp handshakes and hugs were shared as everyone headed home and closed out the 2011 paddling season. November 20th the club gets to plan the whole next year. Bring your ideas and let's see what's around the bend!!
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