Scavenger Hunt_Sunday 8-26-2018_1:00 pm_Deer Creek Reservoir
 

A Scavenger Hunt... The Sights, Sounds (and Smells) of the Lake.

For something a little different we will conduct a scavenger hunt from the water. We will divide the attendees into small groups. A list of items to locate will be given and each group will have to work together to "collect" the most items on the list. After a given time we will all come back to the launch and see who the most observant TCT paddlers are. There may even be some wonderful prizes for the winners!

Deer Creek Reservoir is an Alliance, Oh water supply. Only elecric motors are allowed. As a protected water supply it's shores are mostly wooded so it has a nice wild feel to it. It is a popular place for paddlers. The park area is managed by Stark Parks. There are plastic toilets and picnic tables here but no water. Lots of parking.

Time: Arrive about 1:00 pm, unload and get boats ready to launch. We will have score cards and instructions for participants. About 1:30 we will launch as a group and the contest will proceed. Expect to be on the water for 1-1/2 hours (about 2 miles). We will then all meet back at the launch and tally up the score cards.

After the hunt some of us may go back out and paddle for a while. Bring some snacks, a sandwich or other food as we very well could be out at (Ken's) supper time.

Location: Deer Creek Reservoir is located off of SR 225 (north of Alliance,Oh & south of SR 224). it is close to the west end of Berlin Lake. It is about 30 minutes west of Canfield for a time reference.
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Directions: From Deerfield, Oh follow SR 224 west (2.5 mi). At the intersection of SR 224 & SR 225 turn LEFT (south) on SR 225. After 3 miles you will cross Berlin Lake (now drained). Continue .6 mile to PRICE STREET and turn RIGHT. ( Landmarks at this corner are green oil tanks and Canton Air Sports). Again cross Berlin Lake and continue (1.0) mile. You will come to Deer Creek Reservoir. The park entrance is on the left.

14514 Price St NE, Alliance, OH 44601

Park map: https://starkparks.com/parks/deer-creek-reservoir/

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Please respond by 8-24-18 if you can make this event so we can make sure to have enough supplies. Respond here online or text / leave message at xxx-xxx-xxxx. -Ken and Cheryl

Jessica and Mike with be there

I will be there- sounds like fun!!

This sounds like fun.

Tom and Darla Freed will be there!

Steve and Linda Preston plan to attend . Thank you for putting this together .

RSVP's
 

As of Friday morning we have heard from 11 paddlers. I thought I might need more time to prepare but it's under control (I think).

If anyone wants to attend but can't commit just yet that's fine. If you can let us know by early Sunday morning that would be great. Otherwise if you decide to come last minute that's ok too.

KenM

Deer Creek
 

Betka plans to be there.

It looks like 60% chance of thunderstorms! Is the trip still on?
Betka

It's a go
 

Forecast here is 40% with a slight chance of showers / thunder boomer.

Looks like it will be cloudy?

Looks OK to us. You probably won't be more than 15-20 minutes away from launch if weather turns unfavorable.

Ken

Thanks Ken & Cheryl for a wonderful savanger hunt/paddle. It was a great day on the water.

Thanks to Cheryl and Ken for organizing a great paddle.

So much fun! Thanks for all the work you did putting this together!

review
 

Many thanks to Ken & Cheryl for there work and time on putting a new spin to a paddle event.
We had a total of 16 paddlers (12 kayaks & 2 Canoe's)
They came up with a list of things to look for and had it mapped out and planned very well. We broke in to teams and all went looking for items on the list that you might find or miss (water Beacon) on the reservoir. I belief team 2 won in a overtime trivial contest.
We spent a total of one & half hours on the hunt and two team found 28 items and the others were at 26 items.
After the paddle some headed to dinner or home, but a small group of 7 went back out and paddled up to the tunnels on the reservoir where it turns into Deer Creek. They are so pretty and fun to paddle through. I know It was Tom and Darla's first time seeing them.
A great day with nice temps and a nice breeze to help cool us off.
I even heard ken say he spotted a water buffalo, but I didn't see it :)
Total paddle distance for Jessica and myself was 6.26 miles.
Thank you again to Ken and Cheryl

Mike

a few photos added
 

It was nice to have a good turnout for the Scavenger Paddle at Deer Creek Reservoir. We had 14 contestants split into 4 teams. K & C paddled around to the groups to see how things were going but they were doing well, scratching off the items on the list as the members located them. After 1-1/2 hour we all returned to the launch for the tally. I was surprised to see how well everyone had done. There were 33 items on the scorecard. Two groups had 26 found items and two had 28 items. I thought I was prepared with some tie-breaker questions that I had gotten off of ODNR's website but then we had folks from PA so those questions were hardly fair. The tie was broken by guessing Ken's shoe size. The winner was the team of Darla, Tom and Sue and they were awarded with a new sponge to keep their boats nice and clean (and we all know how us TCT members are sticklers for keeping our boats clean!)

Items that were not easily found were water snakes -4 (no one saw one), animal tracks -3, turtle -3, beaver signs -3, dead fish -3, frog -3. Of note was that only one group failed to spot the "beacon" out in open water.

After the contest a small group of us went back out for a pleastant paddle up to the tunnels where Deer Creek enters the lake. There is almost always a good play of light there. It's always fun to take first time "explorers" up to that hidden spot. By the time we returned the lake had calmed to be smooth and refllective. So ended another great day on the water.

-KenM