Mad River Kayaking Review

One of my Memorial Day Weekend activities was kayaking.

I usually go down to Morgan's Canoe in Oregonia (Ft. Ancient).  So as usual, I packed up the car and put my boat on top.  I like to arrive early to miss the large and loud groups.  Alas, when I got there, they were closed.  Or rather the river was closed. Caesar Creek Dam had released some water for safety reasons.  So the river was flooded. :(  I was severely disappointed.

So I headed in the opposite direction up to Springfield.  After some mobile research I found Mad River Adventures.  By sheer luck, a large group was leaving the same time I was. The River Rats, a meetup group, were also doing the 11 mile trip that I signed up for. :)

So not only did I meet a bunch of new, wonderful people (who warmly accepted me as an honorary member of the group that day), but had a blast going down the river!

Mad River Adventures was a nice facility.  It looked like they had plenty of kayaks and canoes.  The river was wonderful.  They are in their 2nd season, so they have plenty of room to grow.  My only criticism, is that it would have been nice of their staff to help us get the boats off the water.  When you have a group of 20 showing up at an embankment to get out of the water, the faster you get your boat out of the way the easier it is for everyone else to get out. There were also other boats left there from previous trips, thus blocking spots where we could pull in our kayaks.

I'm sure as the seasons go on, they'll get more staff and be able accommodate more customer's needs.

Here are some further pics....

 

The Ohio River Rats, having a food break :)

 At one point I broke from the group to go up a tributary.  It was a fun upstream paddle for about 1/4 of a mile....

Along the way I saw some baby ducks, and this lovely bird. Great Blue Heron.

I might add that these pictures were taken with a non-waterproof camera!  It was a difficult task taking pictures while floating down a river.
Especially when the targets were moving too....

Most of the river was a gentle float.  A nice pace where I didn't have to work too hard to get where I was going.  But there were a couple small rapids that were fun.  Nothing large, easy for a newbie to negotiate.

I was surprised to find the river was quite deep in some areas.  Usually when I float down the Little Miami, the average depth was around 3-4 feet.  A few times I put my paddle down and it totally disappeared underneath the river.

 Very skittish turtles.  So obviously they don't see too many people.