Mahoning River Ytown Section
 

Mahoning River Youngstown Section-B&O to Lowellville Ramp
Shuttle Required
Trip Leaders- Mike Danko
When-Sunday, June 26th
Where- B&O Station 534 Mahoning Ave, Youngstown OH 44502
Time 10:30 am
Length-9 miles
Class I & II Rapids

I call this the adventure section of the Mahoning River and we will be able to use the new ramp in Lowellville. 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 9 mile section offers two easy Class II Rapids & several Class I rapids and riffles.
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. Once we pass Bob Cene Bridge we will pass under a temporary bridge where the struthers dam used to be. After that we will encounter a very rural setting with several riffles along the way.
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

I been asked about water levels.
When paddling this section I use the West Ave Gauge. Plus this section like rest of the Mahoning is always runnable. I have paddled ytown section low as 1.10 ft with no problems, just have to pick your lines and pay attention. you may bump here and there.

Only spot I have ever really been close to walking is the Island in Lowellville which is down river of our take out. When the Lowellville Gauge is 2.60 or lower getting around the island can be rough. After that island it is a great paddle at any level.

This is what makes the Mahoning special. It is damned controlled by West Branch, Lake Milton & Mosquito Lakes. Will always have enough water to paddle all year round.

I'm planning on going.
Chuck Miller always said 4ft at Lowelleville guage should be the cut off
oops thats the high water cut off not low water sorry.

Remember to pack a lunch

Weather?
 

Ytown Sunday weather:
Showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 2pm. High near 86. South wind 7 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible.
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A light rain would probably not deter K & C. Heavy rain and/or thunder...probably would.

Forecast timing is all over the place. Might be a Sunday morning call on go/no go. Might be a call at the B&O?

Plan "B" ?? Have a bailout plan to pull out at Bob Cern (5 miles) if weather turns ugly or if trip needs to end earlier because of storm threats.

Mike...Are you pulling your hair out yet?

---KenM :11:

Looks like the chance of thunder storms is later in the afternoon. Hopefully that forecast is accurate. I plan on attending. I have never done this section of the river.

Jim

Planning to be there
 

A trip to Iowa that I had planned for 6/23-6/27 was postponed. So I plan to attend the Mahoning River Y-town run on Sunday.

JP

weather
 

I will be at the put in no matter what and will see what the weather is doing
Mike

I'm planning on being there too. I think we'll make it off just before storms. Besides I still need to beat that rapid at B&O, lol. See you all later.

Trip Report
 

Many thanks to Mike Danko for leading a group of 15 paddlers in 13 kayaks and two canoes down five miles of the Mahoning from B&O Station to the new access point in Struthers. Originally scheduled to extend to Lowellville, the trip was shortened by four miles to try to avoid late afternoon storms.

Every year, all sorts of things seem to happen on this, the "adventure" section of the river as Mike Danko calls it. Today's trip was no exception. Two boats sustained damage and there were a couple swims. A bottom gash, likely caused by going over a very sharp piece of metal, happened while the paddler was boat scouting the river left line through Marshall Street rapids before the trip. The resulting leak was serious enough to prevent the paddler from making the run. The other boat suffered damage on two occasions, one on the bottom of the boat at Marshall Street rapids and one on the side of the boat at re-bar rapids. Duct tape came to the rescue in both situations. The swims occurred at Marshall Street and re-bar as well, but the paddler was fine, laughed it off, and saw it as part of the learning experience. We are ALL in between swims! There were even two minor incidents in the parking lot when I backed into a stanchion that was protecting a light pole at B&O Station and snagged a driver-side mirror of another paddler’s car with a painter tied to a thwart while carrying my boat to the put in. Thankfully, there was no damage.

The water was low–1.28' on the West Avenue gage–but there was still enough to avoid scraping in most places. A few paddlers played a bit at cement plant rapid, a nice place to practice fast eddy turns and ferrying. I think we were off the river by around 2:30 after three hours of delightful paddling and camaraderie. It was another great day on the river, although the paddlers with damaged boats may beg to differ!