[JPTolson]

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!