Destress Outdoors

Ohio River

Athalia, Ohio (Mile 296.5) to Guyan Creek – or Little Guyandotte River (Mile 287.5)

Thursday, August 2, 2012

(Navigation Charts 150 – 151)

There are a couple ramps you can use for this section of the river. One of them is in Athalia, Ohio and the other is in the midst of the Green Bottom Wildlife Management Area, a West Virginia Division of Natural Resources facility. Today I used the latter. Please be aware that this is a long stretch to paddle in just one trip. I left at 9:00 am today and didn’t return until 8:00 pm. It might be more enjoyable to split this river section into two, paddling one day from the Green Bottom ramp and then another day from the ramp in Athalia.

At any rate, the Green Bottom put-in is located just downstream of the Guyan Creek (a.k.a. the Little Guyandotte River) at mile 287.5 on the river. The spot is fairly remote, but it's beautifully situated along a nice stretch of beach. In fact, this entire section of the Ohio is just about one continuous beach on the West Virginia side and this, combined with the rural nature of the area and the diverse array of wildlife, make it one of the most beautiful sections I've thus far travelled. Below are a couple photos taken from the area around the ramp, both looking downriver. It was from here that I headed on down to Athalia to technically "begin" this trip.

By the time I got down to Athalia, Ohio at mile 296.5 I found that the ramp was positioned just beside the Twomile Creek (into which I got only about 100 yards). This ramp looks like a solid option for a paddler and it also appears to have some lighting as well as it's own little beach. The village of Athalia can be found on Facebook if you do social media, and according to the web link it was named after the town founder's daughter, Athalia.

A I began upstream I found that the community of Miller, Ohio follows Athalia. From a water perspective the two towns almost seem to blend together with the Rural Home Light and Daymarker at mile 296 being the divider. I wasn’t able to see much of the towns themselves apart from their lines of shoreline homes. What I did see today, however, were a great many geese. Below is an interesting shot I think. I took it on my way downstream at a point where the geese fled right into the path of a push boat, the Michael Grainger of Ingram Barge. Generally geese will fly fairly close to the surface of the water to evade me, but with the boat in the way they had to fly a little higher than usual, thus enabling me to get a better view. This, in turn, allowed me to see them for miles downriver as they, still in formation, wound around that curve you see far into the distance in the photo below.

Speaking of push boats, I encountered a lot more than usual today. I generally see 3 - 4 per trip, but today I saw 5 from 4 different companies - 2 from Ingram Barge and one each from ACL (American Commerical Lines), Superior Marine and Campbell Transportation. I didn’t think this section would be so busy, but I find these vessles to be so well kept and so graceful despite their power that they seem to add a great deal to the beauty of the surroundings. Ingram is based in Nashville, ACL is in Jefferson, Indiana which is just across the river from Louisvulle, Superior is just downstream in Proctorville, OH across from Huntington and Campbell actually has an inland headquarters up near Pittsburgh but they have satellite operations all over the inland river system.

At any rate, after you’ve passed Miller, Ohio you’ll find yourself in the midst of a 3 mile straight stretch from mile 295 to mile 292. This was where I really began to see all kinds of wildlife on the beautiful beaches. There were also no less than 7 tiny streamlets in here as well. None were navigable but they did add to the allure.

Heron, geese, ducks of different varieties, an osprey, an egret, kingfishers, loons, turkey buzzards and sandpipers – you’re apt to see them all, along with many varieties of fish and plants. At one point I stopped to take it all in (below). I mentioned it above, but of all the sections of the river I’ve thus far paddled I think that this is the one I’m most likely to return to. Scenery, wildlife, tranquility - it's all here in abundance! The light and daymark at mile 292.5 is aptly named indeed - "Green Bottom”!

Next up you’ll encounter a right curve that will encompass the area between miles 292 and 289. It's in this stretch that you’ll pass from Lawrence County into Gallia County in Ohio and you’ll also pass by the community of Crown City. This is another small Ohio town that was only visible to me as a line of shoreline dwellings. Some more geese had made this spot a home as well...

Meanwhile, it was in here that I also encountered the C. J. Queenan of Campbell Transportation. This boat amazed me by the strength of its wake! It was the liveliest I’d ever seen. Surfs up! The picture below doesn’t represent this to well as I believe the captain probably slowed down out of courtesy.

Something else that I continued to find interesting was all the alga under the surface, a species of which I'd only just encountered a couple days earlier in the upriver section. I'm calling it "Christmas Tree" alga because it looks somewhat like a holiday tree or wreath underwater. Take a look at some of the little ecosystems! You'll find many deep patches of this alga all up and down the shoreline and it provides a perfect habitat for spawning fish. The resulting minnows (probably millions of them) then provide sustenance for other varieties of fish and birds, and so the food chain goes... Some of the minnows, of course, are lucky enough to grow to adulthood and perpetuate the flow. Y'know, I think I could spend a couple hours in one spot just watching what unfolds in one of these patches of green. :)

Just after mile 290 you’ll encounter interesting things on both sides of the river. In Ohio there are quite a few old mooring cells that look like they haven’t been used in decades (and I’m curious as to what business might have been here if anyone can tell me) but I’ve driven by this spot before and I’ve noticed that they’ve made it into a little recreation area right where Double Creek Road dead-ends at Route 7. This spot could conceivably work as a paddler put-in but I think it might serve better as a fishing spot.

At this same point on the West Virginia side you’ve got Lesage Island. Lesage is about a mile long, and it's distinctive in that it's so close to the West Virginia shoreline that you might mistake it for a side stream. I wasn’t able to paddle all the way around due to deadfall debris in the middle of the channel, but there were some nice photos to be had. The three shots below were taken as I went upriver, with the last one looking back downriver at both the island and the mooring cells I mentioned. (By the way, just in case you’re wondering the remainder of the incoming streams in this section: Big Double Creek at mile 289.5, Sugar Creek at mile 289 and Stillhouse Branch at mile 288.5 were not navigable to me.)

You’ll straighten up now at mile 289 (where lies the upriver end of the channel around the island) and the DNR ramp I used will soon be visible up ahead on your right after an ancient beached barge. What great spot!

DIRECTIONS:

You can always just type: "Green Bottom Wildlife Management Area" into Google Maps and go from there, but you're going to be following West Virginia Route 2 south from Point Pleasant or north from Huntington. I came from Point Pleasant, driving past the Robert Byrd Dam, a large RV park called tthe River's Edge Campground and then the little village of Glenwood before finally going over the Guyan Creek. You’ll want to slow down after the RV Park and village as you start looking for the sign, but you’ll find the entrance on your right immediately after crossing the stream. It's a single lane that you'll take to the ramp a short distance away. Be sure to park way to one side though, providing enough room for folks to get in. This is a popular spot later in the day and I apparently hadn't moved over far enough.