The ramp on Frost Road (or Route 58) off Ohio Route 7 is located about 5 miles into the Hocking River from its mouth on the Ohio.  I believe that this is the only public put-in in this section.  It's in a pretty location though, with the only thing to mar a photo being one's reflection in the sun!  :)  Today I made an out-and-back trip as I always do, paddling downriver to start and then back up. 

With this ramp being just upriver from Route 7, you'll pass under its road bridges to begin a downriver paddle.  In this first section you'll have Route 144 on your left and you might also see some RV's along a low lying area to your right which corresponds to a sign you can see if you're driving on Route 7.  The signs indicates "Swampstock Mud Boggs".  They can be found on Facebook.  It looks interesting! 

Anyway, for the first couple miles you'll essentially be travelling along a long right curve in the river.  There are some streams that enter, but they essentially amount to low lying sloughs that don't really go back too far even though they do provide for great wildlife viewing!  I saw a blue heron, a white egret, a few kingfishers, a couple loons and unfortunately some Canadian geese.  I used to like the geese until their population ran amok due to a seeming lack of predators.  You'll find their excrement littering just about every ramp in the area and if you want to walk along the Hocking upstream at Ohio University you'll find those paths to be strewn with excrement.  The birds are even so aggressive that they'll hiss at you!    I digress...  Below is a scenes from one of the sloughs...

I took the shot below in this section on the way back too.  The spot was kind of spiritual, you see.  I was first struck by the palm-like plants as I hadn't seen them anywhere else on the river during the course of the day.  Call it the incongruity, but I noticed it and paddled over to take a photo.  Once there I encountered something else - that phenomena where the sun shines on the light movement of water that's generated by your boat and then reflects it onto the shoreline plants as a kind of shimmering, dancing  light.  Well, it was that shimmering along with the structure of the palm fronds themselves that combined to form an intricate and  peaceful kaleidoscope of color.  Is was a beautiful phenomenon and incredibly peaceful and spiritual, almost as if a doorway to Heaven had been left slightly ajar.  It can be quite captivating when you encounter this phenomenon so even though pictures can't capture it, I wanted to at least show the spot.  It was later in the day, perhaps near 7pm when I saw this.  You may be able to encounter it too.

Anyway, after these first couple miles you'll next pass under a bridge for Route 144, to then launch into a curve to the left.  The Fourmile Creek will enter on your right at about the middle.  Fourmile was a very attractive stream that was navigable for about a mile, and it split in the back with beautiful sloughs in either direction.  One headed Southwest and one headed North.  Below are some scenes from the former which include a tire that nature is in the process of taking back in a second photo and what looks like a sandpiper in the third.

The branch that heads North will eventually form a channel again if you can pick your way back far enough through shallow water, but it doesn't continue very far after that.  It ended for me at a point where I could tell from the sounds of traffic that I was near Route 7.  Below are some scenes...

Now, I'd venture to guess that the name "Fourmile Creek" is indicative of the fact that the stream is 4 miles into the Hocking River, yet I believe it to be a little less - perhaps 3 miles.  Either way, when you arrive back at the main stream you'll find the rest of the way to the Ohio River at Hockingport to be a little straighter than the previous section with streams entering at about every 1/4 of the way.  You're essentially following a slight but curvy "C" bend to the right.  The first stream is essentially a slough similar to the ones you've been seeing, yet it's one in which you're likely to spot some wildlife. 

Later I'd find that the stream in the middle - Ross Run - went back the farthest although not quite as far as Fourmile.  There were some interesting sights of the man-made variety at the entrance and these included one of those classic looking Mail Pouch Tobacco barns as well as a couple boats that looked interesting.  One of them reminded me of a strernwheeler while another looked like an old commercial vessel.

For the remainder of the way you'll have fairly long RV campgrounds all along the river and a few little streams too, some of which appear to be more like man-made channels.  The campgrounds include Bobo's Campground and Blue Heron Campground on either side of the river to start followed by the River Bend Campground and then The Port Campground and Docks before you reach Hockingport while lies primarily on your left side.  The last line of RV's on the right side contains a surprise though - an actual sternwheel boat that appears to be used as an RV!  If there's ever a flood here these people won't have to worry!  I wasn't able to get a good picture today but I did on an earlier trip.  It looks like this is the Becky Ann.  I hope the owners don't mind the picture.  I will take it down if desired.

Anyway, when you reach the mouth on the Ohio River you'll really get some wide and beautiful views.  There's also a very interesting old house on the downriver right side that has it's own totem pole and on the left you'll see an old Sohio gas sign in the midst of another RV haven off of Pearl street.  There's a ramp here and it would be great if it were public but I've never found out.  The last picture below shows what the area looks like in the Fall - it's fantastic!

From here I headed back, but if you're interested in seeing more of the Hocking River I've found that you can paddle about 10 miles upstream from the ramp I used as well.  That journal will be up soon.

DIRECTIONS:

The ramp doesn't seem to have an actual name, but if you look up Coolville, Ohio on the online maps you can find it.  First pull up the city and then drill down on the North side where you see the Hocking River cross Route 7 (Route 7 is merged with Route 50 at this point).  The ramp is on the North side of that intersection off a road called Frost Road (also called Route 58).  If you're looking at a satellite map you'll be able to see the ramp.