The beautiful but very busy Kokosing River was the location of the clubs June outing. Trip leader Chuck had campsites reserved at the Kokosing Valley Campground down near their second canoe landing. The campground was busy with weekend campers but the permanent folks seemed to be missing. Friday early afternoon Chuck, Tony, his little dog Muffy and Brad all arrived, set up tents then headed to the "Howard Hilton", a bar and grill in the burg of Howard. After lunch they drove up to Killduff Road and paddled 5.5 miles back to camp. The 2-hour paddle was very hot as the temps were near 90 and very humid. The river was kind of cloudy and not very high which caused some rocks to reach out and grab the boats. No one had to get out and portage but some paint was sacrificed to the river gods. Very few animals were out but they did see an immature eagle flying around.
When they finished and pulled the 2 canoes and kkkayak out at camp, there stood Rhonda in all her camping glory. The four got busy erecting the clubs canopy, not for rain but for shade. The 10' x 20' canopy is so much easier to put up with 4 people and soon they were sitting out of the hot sun with cold drinks to rehydrate themselves after sweating out so much liquid. I wasn't long before Ken arrived, Coleen, then Harold and Laurie followed by Wil. The group played poker with the two unexperienced ladies beating the guys then settled in around a little campfire. The evening cooled a little but it was still warm for June.
Saturday morning was very dewy and toes got wet as everyone stirred out of their tents. Member Ruth arrived and soon 9 boats were loaded and headed for Big Run Road just outside of Gambier. There is a real nice parking area and launch ramp there and was it ever busy. Folks were everywhere, on the water, laying in the grass and getting excited on a 93° almost summer day. (It's still technically spring). At 10:22 am OHCRA shoved off, 9 adults and one dog for a nice paddle on a nice day on a nice river. Other than song birds and a few turtles sunning themselves, no other wildlife was seen. The Kokosing's water was moving around 2.5 mph and with some sharp curves it made for challenging maneuvers which really keeps folks on their toes. No one capsized but that cool water on that hot day sure made a person want to capsize. OHCRA passed many tubes floating, kkkayaks bobbing and those old time aluminum canoes that make a hell of a racket when hitting rocks and stones. The 9.5-mile trip took 4 hours including a lunch stop.
Upon reaching camp, all the boats were pulled up the semi steep hill and carried a few yards to the tents. Being so hot everyone grabbed a cold drink and collapsed in lawn chairs just sweating. Later in the afternoon Chuck's son Sam came out to camp and Steve also arrived. Liz came just for the potluck and socialized a while before heading back to a sick husband. The potluck was again a feast with mucho food. There was no theme scheduled but through the club's email list group it kind of took on a Cuban theme. Chuck had Cuban Sliders (made with pulled pork), Rhonda had Cuban rice, Tony had black beans. Wil had rice soup, Laurie was spaghetti salad, there were 3 pies, bread, veggie stir fry and probably lots that were forgotten. As the sun went down a small fire was built and everyone sat around socializing until bedtime.
Sunday morning was again dewy and very warm. Breakfast talk included how many folks slept on top of their sleeping bags instead of in. Since it was Father's Day camp broke pretty fast. Chuck had some friends coming in to paddle a section of the river but the rest of the folks hit the road to home. It was a nice weekend with nice friends and now they wait until month.
View all pictures from the Kokosing