See photos album Current River - Fall of 2023
TUESDAY, Oct 17 (Travel Day)
Christy and Mai at Two Rivers Campground waiting to Run Shuttle
We all got to the Two Rivers take-out within about 10 minutes of each other. Good job, team! We moved Ken’s kayak to my truck and most of us went to the Dairy Shack in Eminence for an early dinner. Then we started out for Cedargrove campground next to the put-in location. This shuttle was a little over an hour of steep up-and-down roads, and two of us topped the rise on one particularly steep hill before an Amish horse-drawn buggy came into view a very short distance ahead of us. We deftly avoided a collision with swerves and screeches and continued to Cedargrove without further incident.
We set up camp, collected some wood, and enjoyed a very nice social hour around the fire as it was getting cold. We turned in fairly early to the sound of owls hooting nearby.
WEDNESDAY, Oct 18
Morning at Cedargrove Campground
I heard that Christy was up before sunrise, probably wakened by the owls. I wouldn’t know because I try very hard to not get up until the sun is over the horizon. It was a chilly morning, as we expected. We had breakfast, rolled up our wet tents (dew, mist and condensation), packed up our campsite and moved all of our stuff to the put-in beach to prepare our 5 kayaks and canoe. We took our time preparing, and finally launched into the clear, cold water of the Current River at 11:30.
Preparing to Launch from Cedargrove Launch Site
From Left, Front, Kent Walters, Amy McGee, Mai Nguyen, Christy Long,
From Left, Back, David Portz, Ken McCormick, Robert Killian
It was a beautiful day with scattered clouds and perfect paddling temperature, and the fall colors were coming in, as we hoped. A mixture of these fall colors and rock bluffs unrolled before us as we drifted and paddled downstream. A beaver was spotted along with many of his cut saplings.
We Found Beautiful Clear Water and Trees Changing Colors
We paddled in the shallow water to Welsh Spring and “Hospital” where we stopped to take a look. The spring was amazing in many respects – clear with some deep blue portions. We marveled that this spring alone contributes 700 million gallons a day to the Current River.
Welch Spring
Unlike the spring, the 2-story “hospital”, really more of a small sanatorium for asthma patients built in 1937, had seen better days. On the scale of ruins, I would give it a 3 out of 10. Maybe it’s just as well. The guy that established it died just three years later, posing a catastrophic marketing challenge.
In addition to the beaver, we saw belted kingfishers, a great blue heron and a juvenile bald eagle.
The Rapid at Welch Spring
Back on the river, we paddled to Akers Ferry which was full of beautiful, easily accessible campsites with tables and benches and fire pits, along with corresponding “No Camping” signs. These was some discussion about possibly claiming that we didn’t read English, but we decided to move on and found a wonderful gravel bar a mile or two further downstream. We set up camp to allow our tents to dry out, ate dinner, collected wood, and had a great campfire going shortly after dark.
We all had a good time around the fire, and people started drifting away around 9:15. A few of us were going to hang around a little longer, but at 9:30 it started raining. So, we scurried off to our tents and fell asleep to the sound of a pleasant rain above our heads and all around us.
THURSDAY, Oct 19
The rain stopped before sunup, Christy says. By the time I poked my head out, it was shaping up to be a sunny and pretty clear day. We had some serious drying out to do, but we all finally gave up and just rolled up the tents wet.
Another Great Campsite
We packed everything up and launched by 10:30. It might sound repetitive, but the fall colors mixed with the bluffs and clear water continued to entrance us. We saw four mature bald eagles. David did an unintentional, but successful roll against a rock or a log (Christy says).
The water was beautiful
Soon after our launch we came to a water-level cavern, which we explored. The photos do not do it justice, of course, but the videos came out pretty good. This had cracks, stalactites, erosion all over the place, and of course, the clear water throughout. Very cool.
We found Caves big enough to accommodate several boats at a time.
We saw kingfishers, ducks, woodpeckers and a coot, along with softshell and cooter turtles. We checked out Pultite Spring – another very pretty bit of water.
Pulltite Spring
We encountered a racoon in a dumpster while we were offloading our trash. We left some branches for him to climb out on, but he was pretty freaked out while we were there, so we didn’t actually see him successfully use our handiwork.
As we were leaving, we did some safety rope throwing just to sharpen up our skills. Amy was the victim, and Christy played the hapless helper. When we got going again, we saw Fire Hydrant spring pouring into the river.
The caves were fun to look at.
We looked at a couple of potential campsites and finally selected the “double-decker gravel bar/shore”. We did the tent set-up/dry cycle, ate dinner, and for a special treat, Mai found quite a bit of watercress in the river and made a very tasty salad out of it with bacon, and I think some kind of vinaigrette, and shared it with everyone.
Ken and Mai discussing the day and what might be for dinner.
Of course, we finished off the night collecting firewood and had another great campfire.
FRIDAY, Oct 20
We arose to another beautiful day with a mist on the water and in the valleys creating an ambiance of mystery.
Watch out for Raccoons
Speaking of mysteries, when I went to get my breakfast from my kayak, Amy was next to me at her kayak commenting about all of the racoon tracks around her kayak and mud and gravel tracks on her kayak. I found the same on my kayak, and, upon closer inspection, found my beef stew freeze dried packet GONE. And my apple, GONE. I’m not saying it was the racoon, but the coincidence factor is high. Have they learned how to rip open the packets and wait for them to soak in the river? I wouldn’t put it past the little bastards - I mean animals.
After breakfast, clean-up and packing our wet tents (and the racoon incident), we got on the river at 9:30. Fall colors deepening with more of the sumac, more bluffs, more clear water.
Christy rejoicing in the day
We saw another molting or juvenile bald eagle, and a few mature bald eagles and some vultures. We looked at Round Spring and Current River State Park (a very nice, classy place).
Mai and Robert happy to be on the water
We set up a well-dispersed camp on a fantastic gravel bar in the middle of the river, assembling our wet tents, eating dinner, and collecting wood.
Another Great Campsite on the River
David Portz built what we all agreed was the premier stone works fire pit. It had elements of Michelangelo and Antonio Gaudi. Here is a photo of it the next morning:
David Portz's Fireplace
We again took advantage of the fire for socializing and pondering the deeper questions of mankind, assisted by the brilliant stars and milky way on display.
SATURDAY, Oct 21
Mornings were spent around making coffee and breakfast, and watching others pack their boats.
I woke up to something scratching on my tent. I thought the racoon was testing his luck with me, but I found out it was just my whiskers scratching on my sleeping bag. Well, now I was awake, and just an hour after Christy, so I got up.
Breakfast and coffee were the main activities, then packing, rolling up wet tents, and stowing everything in the boats - On the river by 9:55 – fall color, bluffs, clear water – and more bald eagles.
The clear water and clear skies were a blessing.
We saw a cowboy surveying the edge of the river about an hour after we started paddling. We talked with him for about 15 minutes – rodeo, bull riding, growing up in this area – his 14-year-old son Conner is some kind of bull-riding prodigy with only one concussion and a dislocated thumb in his career so far.
We chatted with a guy in a canoe with a friend’s ashes to spread.
We stopped at a shady gravel bar for lunch at 12:30. I asked our group to “name that sticker” – buddy or cocklebur.
Shaded lunch site.
Shortly after our lunch break, we came to an interesting rock overhang in a bluff – almost a cave.
David in a cave.
Caves and overhangs.
We reluctantly arrived at the Two Rivers Campground take-out at 2:49 PM.
Controlled chaos at the takeout. Always look at the keys for the shuttle.
We did a key check, ran the reverse shuttle, loaded boats, and went to Dos Rios Mexican Restaurant at dusk. We ate a fine meal there and went to Alley Spring campground on Jack’s Fork in the dark. It featured showers, skunks and owls.
No fire tonight, but we sat and talked around a pretend fire for a while and looked at the stars.
SUNDAY, Oct 22 (Travel Day)
Alley Spring Campsite
We got up, ate, packed up and drove to the Alley Spring parking lot, walked the spring trail, looked at the mill, the spring, and the one-room schoolhouse.
Alley Springs
We had an early lunch at the Dairy Shack in Eminence, aired up the tires and aimed south toward home.
Dairy Shack
Lessons Learned:
- Protect your food, even the dry stuff.
- Bring cables of all kinds for devices and chargers.
- Just bite the bullet and roll your tent up wet – don’t wait for the sun to dry it.
- Make sure your vulnerable hatch contents are in dry bags.
- Watch for Amish buggies.