18milecreektobuffalowv

Kanawa River

18 Mile Creek (Mile 18.5) to Buffalo, West Virginia (Mile 22.5)

September 2024

Today I put in at the community park in Buffalo, West Virginia. I found this to be an incredibly pleasant place to launch from. It lies right beside the high school amid quite a few ball fields, so it's well visible and relatively safe. I did see some restrooms but they were locked when I arrived around noon. If you click on the link for the town that I've provided you'll find that it has an interesting history that includes one William Clark of Lewis & Clark fame!

This section of river extends from Eighteen Mile Creek in Robertsburg, West Virginia up to this point, and while I did put-in from Buffalo I'll keep my narrative in an upstream fashion and begin at the furthest downriver point - Eighteen Mile Creek. I've mentioned before that, at least to this point, all the side streams have been named in relation to how far they are upstream on Kanawha from it's mouth on the Ohio River at Point Pleasant, West Virginia. This stream is no exception. I covered it in a previous journal, but I've found that it has around 1.5 miles of flat water to explore and I think it's well worth the time to do so - it's nice! The photo below was taken at the mouth looking downriver along the shoreline.

Anyway, if you now turn around and look back upriver from the mouth you'll be in the midst of a very long, straight section of the Kanawha which extends nearly 4 miles. If you also take into account that the side streams don't go back very far - only as far as is visible from their entrances - those two things combined with the peacefulness of this section make for a stretch that is perfect for quiet contemplation. What I mean is that there's very little to distract you, such that I can almost guarantee you that if you've got a problem (or problems) to sort out you'll be well on your way to some solutions by the time you've completed this.

On your right not too far upstream you'll come across one of the side streams I mentioned. It doesn't go back very far, but I've never failed to find a pleasant scene in a stream like this (see below). There are, in fact, several little streams in this section that enter along this same side. I also noted on this side something I hadn't seen before - property dividing fences that extended all the way down the shoreline and even into the water. I found this interesting.

Something I also found interesting was the light and day marker on the opposite side of the Kanawha. It's called the Dam 10 Marker, and while I didn't see any sign of the remnants of a lock or dam I do see that there's a road up there with the same name. Surely there must have been a structure here at some point, perhaps with the same kind of construction as the stone pyramid below. Did they cart away all rest of the structure and leave this to put a light and day marker on?

As mentioned, there's not a whole lot going on in this section (not that that's a bad thing!). I can tell you, however, that if you drive in from the North as I did (i.e. through Leon) you'll note a sea of yellow and green crops in the early fall. From the water, these will be up on your left but unfortunately out of sight. I'd have taken a photo of the crops from the road but I was reluctant to pull to the side to do so as it wasn't really feasible. Suffice it to say that this stretch does make for a nice scenic drive.

Also up and to your left will be the community of Buffalo, yet you won't be able to see much of it from the water either. In fact, if you're lost in your thoughts the Buffalo ramp itself might come up sooner than you think! As you can see from the photo below it's a beauty that I think it's well worth taking the time to see.

This is a somewhat shorter section than I usually describe, but if you want to add to your paddling mileage you can explore Eighteen Mile Creek too or keep heading upstream. I'll try to cover the area from here up to the Winfield Lock and Dam on my next trip.

DIRECTIONS:

If you just type "Buffalo Boat Ramp" into Google Maps it'll come up and you can plot directions. It's pretty easy to find if you keep your eyes peeled while driving through town. It's just beside the high school and just past the library if you're coming in from the north. Look for a brown sign with white lettering the indicates the ramp.