WW Creeks
Paint Creek has been mentioned - the “Chutes” is a fun little spot to play and practice your skills. Also nearby in SW Ohio there are class II-III early spring WW runs on Rattlesnake Creek, Lee’s Creek, Stonelick and White Oak that I’ve done several times.
Rocky Fork and several other southern Buckeye streams have been mentioned as scenic floats. Sunfish Creek in the south and sections of the Scioto are pretty in the fall. Beaver Creek in the NE part of the state and the Grand river has some scenic sections. Kokosing, Walhonding are also good options.
BOOK
Old, but a great source of information nonetheless…
Feather,
I’m in Hilliard, so just a few miles from the Big Darby. My fave trip is from the Metro park in Georgesville to Trapper John’s. I feel like I know that section like the back of my hand. Have you paddled the Little Darby? The last time we did it, we had at least 6 portages due to downed trees. Can’t much paddle it except after a good rain, and high water makes the portages pretty tricky.
My son worked for 2 summers at Trapper John’s. Good people there.
So true.
The company I work for has branches all over the place and our designation for Columbus is COOH. Cleveland is CLOH. I get about 3 calls a day from people who think CLOH is Clumbus. Haha
Olentangy
There’s a short class 2/2+ section of whitewater on the Olentangy north of Columbus. The putin is immediately downstream of the Delaware sewage plant, so you can guess the water quality. Don’t even THINK of flipping without nose plugs (I learned the hard way). That said, the run has a number of nice surf waves/ledges. Look for 1000 cfs coming out of the Delaware dam.
columbus to miami
I moved from columbus to Miami florida 22 years ago and never looked back. Now that I am into Kayaking down here, I try to imagine doing this activity up there in Central Ohio. I cannot. The weather and topography limit opportunities for this activity, of course, relative to Florida.
I remember the Scioto and the Olentangy as dirty water rivers which I would not want to take a spill into. On the plus side, at least you won’t have to worry about sharks and sting rays and there is more water than in Kansas. :-}
You would be amazed, then.
As to the Scioto and Olentangy Rivers, you are quite right. But while Ohio is not a paddler’s mecca, there is a whole lot of beauty along our rivers. Don’t knock what you haven’t tried??
:o)