After Lance dropped off the OHCRA Little Miami long haulers, he made his way back to Morgan's Campground and met Ruth for a much shorter canoe trip for the day. Ruth had a beautiful little canoe and planned on practicing her single blade paddling and river reading.
Lance, Ruth, and Cobi took off for Oregonia, Ohio around noon. It was a beautiful sunny fall day. The trio put on the river where a bridge used to cross the river. The bridge had fallen into disrepair and eventually fell into the river, but an easy path down to the river for boaters and fishers made for an easy short portage from the car. The water was low, but very clear. We seemed to be gliding just over many rocks. We brushed the tops of a few rocks, but no scraping or getting stuck. The water was slow in places, but the sun was so nice, and the mileage short (just 5.5 miles back to camp), so it was just fine.
The I71 bridge of the gorge looks very very high from the river! We saw three deer crossing the river, a bunch of turtles, and a great blue heron that actually let us pass it by with flying away. A rarity indeed! Ruth did a good job reading the river. The river had a few changes since Lance had last canoed it, especially the swimmers rapid across from the campground seems to have mostly disappeared. We meandered our way down the river, enjoying the water and the sun. We kept the dry side dry and the wet side wet.
When the trio arrived back at the campground take out, Lance checked his phone and saw a message from Tony. Tony said the upstream river was very low and had many obstacles, so they were unable to meet their schedule and requested to be picked up. Ruth and Cobi shuttled Lance up to his car and trailer and all went to pick up the long haul group.
Submitted by Lance