Mahoning River Ytown
 

Mahoning River - B&O Station to Bob Cene Way Bridge (Evening Paddle)
(Shuttle Required)
Trip Leader-Mike Danko
When-Saturday July 10th
Were- B&O Station 534 Mahoning Ave, Youngstown OH 44502
GPS
41.102300, -80.657777
Time 4pm meet up
Length- 5 miles
Class I & II Rapids

I call this the adventure section of the Mahoning River and what better way to do a shorter paddle than on a great summer evening. These sections offer some easy whitewater with lots of views of the industrial past, but also wall to wall vegetation & Tree's where smoke stacking used to be.

This 5 mile section offers two easy Class II Rapids & two Class I rapids.
The first class II is right at the beginning called Marshall Street Bridge Rapid. Then later down the river we will encounter an easy Class I wave Train called Cement Plant Wave Train. Once we pass the center street bridge we will encounter the second Class II Rapid called Rebar Rapid. It is a super easy rapid paddle through (Thanks to Chuck Miller) on river left. What makes it a class II in Ron Eells eyes wasn't the toughness of the rapid but the surrounding of the rapid with cement walls on both sides and the rest of the old dam on river right.

Right after that we will go through another Class I wave train called Iron Bridge Wave Train.
After that it is easy flat water to Bob Cene Bridge. (There is a short walk up a hill to get to the cars at the take out).

As we make our way down this trip I would like to ask all paddlers to stay together as a group. As I mentioned above there is some whitewater and there are paddlers who like to play at the rapids.

It would be nice for everyone to wait a little bit while we play in the rapids for a little bit then we will continue down the river.
Please post on the website or text me if you are planning on attending
330-766-3129
Mike

Incase anyone hasn't seen Marshall St Bridge Rapid
Here is video from our 2016 trip
https://youtu.be/p0C6u5mKdVA

Also Cement Plant Wave Train
https://youtu.be/_W0RSjbc65Y

Looking forward to this trip. Hopefully we will get in some ferrying practice at Cement Plant Rapid.

Sat evening paddle
 

Looking forward to tomorrow! Bringing 2 who are new to this section of the Mahoning.

The "Aroma" of the Mahoning still lingers
 

Mike and Jessica,

Thanks for arranging this paddle. K & C enjoyed ourselves. I am still re-living my swim in the river. I hung my still damp clothes up in the bathroom to dry and this morning the room reeks of the Mahoning! I'm sure that's like cologne to you... but I'm not too sure??

It dawned on me later why I took a swim. I was trying to ferry across that really swift channel with the good waves and get into that small eddy on river left...like you did. One of the waves pushed my bow slightly to the right. I lost my "ferry angle". I buried my up stream paddle to correct and the current just grabbed it and pushed it UNDER the boat! Of course, since i was holding the paddle I rolled under with it. I distinctly remember doing a face plant in a wave on my upstream side.

And a WARNING to other paddlers... As soon as I surfaced I grabbed the flipped kayak and my paddle. The water was very deep and very swift. In the couple of seconds it took me to get my feet up to the surface and pointed downstream I bumped several LOGS that were hidden in the murky fast moving water! You DO NOT want to get tangled up in logs or rocks in moving water! KEEP YOUR TOES UP!

I floated downstream to where the water slowed and I could stand up safely. A thanks to Mike for assisting in emptying my kayak. (And to Jessica for taking photos!) :32:

---KenM

Many thanks for this trip
 

A big dose of thanks to Mike and Jessica for leading this trip down the Mahoning through Youngstown. As we were saying at the take out, this run is ALWAYS an adventure, and yesterday’s was no exception. It had a little of everything: carnage at each of the first three rapids; a lost paddle; a bald eagle sighting; several deer in the river; an excursion up the beautiful and somewhat eerie storm water runoff stone tunnels of Crab Creek; and Joel Beeghly standing on a bridge high above the river with a pizza, offering to deliver it via air mail to one of the boats below.

The three spills were good reminders that we are all “in between swims,” and how it helps to be with a group to aid in rescuing the paddler, boat, and equipment. And what good advice from Ken (see post above) of the importance of getting on your back with feet up and extended in front when out of your boat and floating through a rapid!

I believe we had 20 boats (four canoes and 16 kayaks) and 22 paddlers on a beautiful summer evening with temperatures in the low 70s and low humidity. The U.S. Geological Survey gage at West Avenue was in the 1.8 to 1.9 range. This was enough water to cover that pesky rock on river right through the rapids at Marshall Street Bridge.

Once again and as always, it was a great day on the river! This run is always fun!

It was a great paddle, Ken and JP described it perfectly

I am really bummed out about missing this paddle. I was out of town visiting family. Sounds like it was great night to be on the river.

Jessica put up some nice pictures from the trip