“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing — absolutely nothing — half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Simply messing… about in boats — or with boats. In or out of ’em, it doesn’t matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that’s the charm of it. Whether you get away, or whether you don’t; whether you arrive at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get anywhere at all, you’re always busy, and you never do anything in particular; and when you’ve done it there’s always something else to do, and you can do it if you like, but you’d much better not.”
The Wind and the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
The canoe. A simple mode of water transportation that has been around as long as man kind has wanted to float. Along with its close relative the kayak, no other form of water craft allows for a more intimate immersion in nature. While I did not expect my first entry in this outdoor journal to be so far from my native North Carolina, this canoe trip represents my most chronologically recent adventure. So we will start in Ohio…
Map of the Beach City Wilderness Area courtesy of http://wildlife.ohiodnr.gov/beachcity
(Above) Map of Beach City Wilderness Area
The Beach City Wilderness Area is located in Tuscarawas County, Ohio. At nearly 2000 acres, the wilderness area consists of deciduous bottomlands and flooded impoundments with Sugar Creek meandering through until it reaches the Beach City Dam.
Hobo’s Cave in the Beach City Wilderness area. The graffiti on the rock pales in comparison to the trash left behind at camp sites in the area. Humans can really muck up even the most remote and beautiful places Mother Nature has to offer.
While visiting my in-laws, my father in law mentioned this remote lake that was rumored to be loaded with fish. Sounded like something we needed to check out. Due to its remoteness, there was very little pressure on the lake. The only way to get to the lake was a long hike down a poison ivy infested trail or, so we hoped, a paddle down Sugar Creek and a short portage to the lake.
Paddling down Sugar Creek
We slipped the sleek 17 foot Black River canoe in Sugar Creek around 10am and set off in the direction of the impoundment. Frankly, we weren’t sure if what we were trying to do would even be possible. The plethora of deadfall in the creek could make passage impossible. Difficult at best. And even if we managed to get down the creek, we would have to find the lake and a portage spot.
There were indeed numerous trees down throughout the creek, but with some maneuvering all were passable. Just as we identified a break in the trees ahead that we suspected could indicate the lake, a large freshly fallen maple tree laid across the width of the creek. With a hearty head start we were able to push though and around the next bend found a clean bank to land on a stones throw from the lake.
Portage landing
We toted the canoe over to the lake. It was full of aquatic vegetation with some breaks of open water. We pushed through the thick patches and got into a big expanse of open water. Sure enough there were tell tale signs of fish everywhere! Swirls, splashes and even some fish breaking the surface. There were even some large carp finning up along the aquatic vegetation. Neither of us even brought a fishing rod as we were solely on a scouting mission. A return trip with proper fishing tackle is surely in order. After pushing our way through the aquatic plants until we had our fill, we paddled back to the bank, portaged back over to Sugar Creek and headed back towards our put in. There were some signs of fish in Sugar Creek itself and just before reaching the put in, a water snake meandered across our bow with only a slight look back in our direction before continuing on without a care in the world.
The impoundment full of aquatic vegetation
The entire excursion only took a few hours, but it was great to get out and see the hardwood bottom lands, hills, marshes and impoundments of the Beach City Wilderness Area.
For more information on the Beach City Wilderness Area, check out the Ohio Division of Wildlife website at http://wildlife.ohiodnr.gov/beachcity
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