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Ohio River

Manchester Bend Light and Day Marker (Mile 398.5) nearly to Brush Creek Island (Mile 389)

Monday, October 11, 2010     

Y’know, I’m finding out that this Ohio River is a little challenging to document!  Photo-journals used to take me 2 – 3 days to compose.  Now they take a good week.  First you’ve got to compose them based on your memories and your pictures and then you’ve got to cross-reference all that with the navigation charts and satellite maps to make sure that what you’re describing is accurate.  After that come more decisions.  Did you pass anything that you’d like to include a weblink for?  Which pictures do you put up (after you've optimized them all) and how many?  What were your feelings as you passed by certain things?  Finally, you’ve got to proofread and edit what you've composed and that requires reading and re-reading each sentence, each paragraph, and then each entry in it's entirety to make sure the flow is OK.  Guess it’s gotta be a labor of love!

Today I messed up.  I bit off a little more than I could chew and arrived back at the ramp well after dark, unable to properly document part of the Ohio shoreline in Manchester because I couldn’t see it!  Manchester is a really cool little town too!  In fact, there are many things to do and places to see in the general area and I’ll have to come back again to do it proper justice.  Moyer’s Winery and Restaurant is a prime example of what I missed.  I'd have to pass it up due to time constraints.  [NOTE:  The winery burned down in 2019.  I sure wish I'd taken the opportunity to visit!]  Incidentally, the Adams Country website has the entire Manchester area covered quite well.  In fact, I don’t think there was anything I passed today that they didn’t describe in more detail to include the put-in that I used.  

Speaking of which, that put-in was Kinfolk Landing in the heart of town at the end of Pearl Street (there's a nice historical page on Manchester here).  The ramp is nice and it's got restroom facilities too.  It's actually at mile 397.5, but I wanted to be a completist and first paddle a little way downriver to start where I'd ended the last time - at the Manchester Bend Light and Day Marker at mile 399.  I'll technically begin my narrative from this point as I head back upriver - back toward Manchester.

The Ohio River is generally making a right curve in this section and, as far as scenery, there’s some sweet looking farmland in Kentucky (on the left side) as US Route 8 and a CSX railroad track run along the river.  Meanwhile, in Ohio you'll have US Route 52 running alongside you and just before you reach downtown Manchester. you'll have a couple streams entering the river.  First comes McClelland Run at mile 398.5, closely followed by Isaac's Creek.  I didn’t paddle into the first because it looked to be part of someone’s back yard, but I did get about 400 yards into the latter before I saw some fishermen that I didn't want to disturb.  It looks like you could get in about 1/3 mile, at least. 

Meanwhile, the Kentucky shorelines continued to impress me with their nice, sandy beaches and I tried to get pictures with all the great fall colors in their midst, but I found that my camera just wasn’t cutting it in the sunny haze of the day.  The shots simply weren’t vibrant enough.  I tried adjusting the exposure compensation but it seemed to be faulty, so I switched back to my backup camera, a Nikon Coolpix L11.  This was my original camera.  In fact, I've found it to be the most durable camera I've ever used - much better than the next 2 versions of the same Nikon model.

Anyway, you’re soon fully in Manchester, and there’s an interesting spot for a place they call the River Barn which you can rent for a weekend if you like (more info on that, too, at the Adams Country website).  Then, a bit further down but before the ramp, I saw a banner in front of a nice old house.  Unable to read it from the water, I looked up the spot later and found it to be a bed and breakfast called Riverhaven.

The inn made me think…  I’d so far made 6 trips on the Ohio, but this was the first time I’d noticed any riverside options for overnight stays other than camping.  I found this interesting.  What if you wanted to paddle the Ohio, but you wanted to sleep in hotels?  Camping is fun, but some people just aren’t into it and they might be willing to pay a bit more for a nice, warm bed.  While Riverhaven didn’t seem to have direct access to the river (it’s atop a tall bank), the Manchester ramp is just down the street.  Things would be fairly easy.  I’ll keep an eye out for more places like this. 

Now, by this time you’ll have spotted a couple islands in the distance, and it was as I was looking at the ramp from across the river here that I saw the Oliver C. Shearer of the Campbell Transportation Company emering around the side of one.  According to their website Campbell operates 37 of these push boats and they’ve been in business for 80 years.  Each year they transport some 20 million tons of various commodities!  That’ll put into perspective how much commerce is done on our inland waterways!

On to the islands…  They’re simply referred to as Manchester Island #1 and Manchester Island #2.  The second, on the left side of the river, is the larger of the two at about a mile long.  The first is maybe 1/3 the size.  I decided to paddle alongside the Kentucky side of each.  Low lying and pleasantly forested, these islands were pretty sweet and they provided some nice opportunities for solitude.  The best was yet to come, however...

As I continued to paddle I saw what looked like a kiosk up onshore along with some plants I’d never seen...  Surely I had to get out and look around now!  :)  As I did so, I noticed some little leaflets available at the kiosk and, taking one out, I found that they were themselves contained within a little Ziploc bag!  Could these possibly be meant for me to take?  I felt a tinge of guilt as I opened the bag to take one out – I wasn’t sure I was worthy of such consideration!

All of this taken together had to be one of the most endearing things I’ve ever experienced in my travels outside of the sight of Tillie’s collar on my Berea College Forest hike in Kentucky (written up in another entry).  Not only had they left these flyers on an island where very few people would get a chance to see them - let alone expect to see them - but they’d also taken enough care to package them like this so they wouldn’t get wet!  I thought that this was exceptional considering that they would have also had to get them here by boat!

Y’know what these islands are part of?  They’re part of the Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge which purports to consist of 22 such islands along the Norththern stetch of this Ohio River.  They don’t allow camping here, but you can get out and explore if you like.  There are more great beaches too…

The Island Creek Marina is located on the Ohio side in the midst of this area near mile 395.5, and they have a little convenience store in case you might need to pick up some supplies.  Tent camping also appears to be an option.  I wasn't able to paddle into their namesake creek due to time constraints, but the little dock that was here sure offered some protection later in the day (more on that in a bit)!  This is also the location of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Manchester Boat Launch Ramp.

From these islands the Ohio will continue the slow, right curve it’s been making, and from about mile 395 to the next island (Brush Island) at mile 389.5 the Kentucky side is almost completely farmland.  This is only interrupted as KY Route 8 runs through the community of Concord, Kentucky.  Concord is a stealth community vis-à-vis the river - I saw little sign of it from down on the water.  As far as incoming streams, the navigation charts indicated that there were 4 in this vicinity, yet none were navigable for me today:  Toles Creek, Pence's Creek, Montieth’s Run and Sycamore Creek (the last of which entered under a little culvert across from the Killen Power Plant I’ll soon describe). 

The most interesting shots I got on this side of the river were ones of trees with personality.  One was surely a “huddle” of trees in conference to decide what to do.  Another looked to me like the Davy Jones character in Pirates of the Caribbean with snakes for a beard!

As for the Ohio side, there were more signs of life.  Just after passing the islands you’ll see a long line of RV’s at Twin Islands Park (mile 394.5) and afterward both the road that’s been following the river (US52) and its forested, hilly backdrop will fade for a bit, first to let in some farmland and then to usher in the community of Wrightsville, Ohio at mile 392.  Donaldson Creek enters in between, and I’ll be honest – I’m embarrassed to admit that I forgot how far I was able to get back into this one.  It had to have been about 1/3 mile though.  As it curved back it reminded me of another sweet little winding creek on the Kentucky River - Dry Branch at mile 161.5 there - except that that creek had a little slice of Americana with a little red outhouse on the first curve! 

The W. Stanley James push boat passed me near the mouth of this creek.  I can’t seem to find out who owns the vessel, but it sure looked great amidst the autumn backdrop!  There’s a lot more info about these boats at Dick's Towboat Gallery by the way.  This is a great site that has some fantastic pictures of the boats.  In fact, if you see one and you can get a name on it, this site is almost sure to have pictures of it posted along with more info about it.  I’ve found the site to be extremely helpful.

As for Wrightsville, they do have a paved ramp but I’m not sure if it’s public.  I also spotted another banner amongst the little line of houses.  Turns out, this is McClanahan’s Ohio River Getaway and it looks like a great place to spend a vacation on the river, although I can no longer locate their website to share it.  Madison Coal and Supply's Tennessee push boat passed me here too (the company is now known as Amherst Madison), and once again the Towboat Gallery website was a great help in finding some information on it...

From here the Ohio side is a nice combination of farmland and forested hills that provide a pleasant backdrop for Dayton Power and Light's power plant, Killen Station.  It comes next.  This plant seems to encompass nearly two miles of shoreline from about mile 391 to 389, and I found it interesting that I’d just passed another of Dayton Powers’ plants (Spurlock) back between miles 404 and 405.  Like that one, this had quite a bit going on.  So much so, that it was hard to distinguish one part of the operation from another.  There also seemed to be a dedicated towboat here, the Jerry Rose.  NOTE:  The Killen plant ceased operations in 2018. 

Meanwhile, just prior to Killen at mile 391 the Upper and Little Sister Creeks enter the river.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t decipher either of them let alone paddle in.  Yet another push boat passed by me now, the Bruce Darst of AEP (American Electric Power).  This was the busiest day yet in terms of these vessels.  I encountered 5 in the 8 hours I was out.

Anyway, after I'd passed the power plant it was decision time:  Could I make it all the way up to Brush Creek Island before I had to head back?  I did start that way, but I ultimately and reluctantly decided against it and began to head back at about mile 389.  This was a tough decision because the island would have been a perfect spot to end.  I don’t want to end at a mile mark!  I’d much rather end at something much more interesting – like an island!

Anyway, of the most interest on my return trip was the color in the foliage, and not just the trees.  Some of the grasses at the waters’ edge seemed to be changing color as well, and there were no in betweens here – they went directly from green to a deep yellow!  Contrast that with the different yellows, greens, oranges and reds in the trees and you’ve really got a nice collage of color...

Also of interest were all the cute (the best word I can use to describe them) little shad minnows.  The river was positively teeming with them and the shimmering on the water you see in the picture below is not the wind or the waves – it’s them!  You could also hear their splishy-splash symphony across the water.  It was really quite an amazing experience and it gives you an appreciation of how alive this river is!

Anyway, these little guys (and gals) were very pleasant company, and by the time I got to the western tip of Manchester Island #1 I had more company - the Hamilton push boat of the Canal Barge Company.  Canal Barge provides liquid and dry cargo along with deck and other project services.  They also provide third party towing options.  At any rate, I first assumed the vessel would go around or between the islands on the Kentucky side, but it surprised me by coming on my Ohio side.  This being only my sixth trip on the Ohio I guess I’m still getting used to the ways of navigation, but the boat was also going faster than I’d expected and the waves were really churning up as it passed!  Thankfully the aforementioned pier at the Island Creek Marina helped to block the waves.

When I at last reached the ramp I was in complete darkness.  It was only a little after 7, for crying out loud!  Alas, it’ll soon be time to put my travels on a winter hiatus.  I have to get one last picture in.  This one was taken as I looked back out onto the Ohio from Donaldson Creek on the way back...

DIRECTIONS:

You can simply use Google Maps as I now do and pull up Manchester, Ohio.  When you get there simply look for either Pearl Street and head South.  You'll find the ramp at the water's edge.

From Lexington I took Paris Pike (US68) and followed it all the way into Maysville.  Maysville is confusing, but I just kept going straight on 68 (I think it becomes Business 68 as you get to town – whatever, keep straight).  What you’ll end up doing is curving right on a steep slope down to the river.  Then, once the road starts to veer left, you’ll make a left at the final stop light, and then you’ll want to stay in the left lane to enter the downtown area.  You’ll then make a right at another stop light ( Ferry Street) and go over the bridge. 

Then, after crossing the bridge, take a right at the “T” onto US52 and go about another 10 miles to downtown Manchester.  Once there, start to look for Pearl Street on the right.  The progression is 6^th Street, Broadway Street, Adams Street and then Pearl.  Make the right and you’ll see the park at the end of the road.