Worst State in the US for Canoeing

[Black_Fly]

Criteria ought to be number of navigable streams and lakes, pollution, natural amenities surrounding those bodies, climate considerations, competition from motor craft, to name a few. I nominate my home state of Ohio. No natural lakes, plenty of sewage effluent, people EVERYWHERE, very few adventurous people, and way too many kayak day trippers.

 

[yellowcanoe]

Best state in the US for improving canoeing skills
Ohio
ACA PA-OH division has talented instructors
I do like the Cuyahoga near Peninsula
Taught at the Midwest Canoe Symposium for 15 years

 

[sweeper]

, and way too many kayak day trippers.

Sounds like we need a hunting season for them to thin the herds out.

 

[yknpdlr]

I completely agree with the Ohio nomination, though I am open to others (Kansas?). I was stationed in OH for 3 years and hated every minute of it. I bought my first canoe there (Grumman lightweight model) and had to register it with numbers stuck to the side (the ghost of which is still permanently visible). Reservoirs were filled with high speed wake causing motorboats, streams were shallow and not at all canoe friendly. You can't legally camp anywhere you please ( as you can in much of the Adirondacks), not even in the relatively few more remote places. You can only camp in overrun campgrounds after paying a fee. We tried to canoe the water toward KY, but it is all thick pea green and only found as runoff in areas reclaimed from old open strip coal mines. It was an 11 hour road trip to get from OH to my homeland Adirondacks and I made that trip to escape as often as I could. I am sure that now more than ever, pesky kayaks litter what little paddleable water there is left.

 

[yellowcanoe]

So these all stink?
http://paddle.ohiodnr.gov/maps

Pittsburgh PA area streams used to run orange. Now the rivers near there have paddling ramps ( specific to paddlecraft) and the rivers run pretty clean.. I like Mahoning Creek off the Allegheny River and the Connemaugh and Kiskimenitas.. Near OH but on the east side..
https://pfbc.pa.gov/WaterTrail.htm

Fortunately what used to be awful pollution has changed in the last forty years in some areas.. Maybe not so in all.. And maybe not in the future.

 

[Guest]

I will nominate half a State. The southern half of Arizona, especially the Sonoran/Chrhuahuan desert regions, or anywhere from Phoenix south.

 

[Alan Gage]

I will nominate half a State. The southern half of Arizona, especially the Sonoran/Chrhuahuan desert regions, or anywhere from Phoenix south.

I keep threatening myself to take a canoe down there just to run the Gila and San Francisco rivers through Gila Box. Gorgeous area.

Traveling both up and downstream on this stretch would take a good long while and some skills as well.

http://southwestpaddler.com/docs/gila2.html

Alan

 

[Erica]

Alan, the Gila Box area looks great and very interesting biologically. But then I got to the last line which says It is sometimes a popular place to paddle in the Sonoran desert, so be considerate of other paddlers, campers and day-use area visitors.
*sigh

 

[PaddlingPitt]

I'm a firm believer that people should not participate in surveys like this unless they have experience in essentially the entire "sample set" involving the question. Or, at least restrict yourself to personal experience. I have paddled in only two states. The Flathead in Montana, and the North and South Nooksack and the Wenatchee in Washington. The Wenatchee was challenging. Loved it. The Nooksack Rivers were entertaining. Loved them. The Flathead was scenic and pure. Loved it.

My vote for the worst state to paddle?.............A tie between Washington and Montana.

 

[Alan Gage]

Alan, the Gila Box area looks great and very interesting biologically. But then I got to the last line which says It is sometimes a popular place to paddle in the Sonoran desert, so be considerate of other paddlers, campers and day-use area visitors.
*sigh

I've only been there in winter and it's about empty.

I'm also guessing a popular place to paddle in the Sonoran desert is different than a popular place to paddle in Florida.

Alan

 

[Black_Fly]

Arizona is actually pretty good. I paddled some seasonal streams like the Verde, and lake powell is spectacular. Roosevelt lake is nice in the winter. The dry season is a drag, but for a desert, paddling is decent.

 

[Gamma1214]

YC:

ACA PA-OH division has talented instructors

Sorry, off topic but this is good to know. I'll be looking forward to Spring to brush up & learn.

I like Mahoning Creek off the Allegheny River and the Connemaugh and Kiskimenitas..

Conemaugh & Kiski I can understand... although shallow & rocky, they're pretty popular. I'm a bit surprised that you found Mahoning though. Impressive.

 

[Guest]

I have only paddled 2 states, NY and Pa.so limited experience. Since I'm a flatwater paddlers NY is way better. Actually I still haven't nearly paddled all of it. More bucket list places on next years list.

 

[lowangle al]

I was surprised to read recently that Pa. is pretty high on the list of states with the most navigable waterways. I would guess the worst state might be Road Island. If you don't count ocean paddling in outrigger canoes Hawaii would be one of the worst with only two navigable rivers. It is also hard to find any open canoes over there, and you can forget about looking for a good one.

 

[dougd]

Taking a twist here. NH has a lot of good rivers to paddle. From my house I can be on 3 different rivers in about 15-20 minutes and other rivers in under an hours drive. Not much for multiple day trips but ya take what you can get. And the sea coast is under an hours drive to do coastal loops. Not bad for a small state!

dougd

 

[yellowcanoe]

I was surprised to read recently that Pa. is pretty high on the list of states with the most navigable waterways. I would guess the worst state might be Road Island. If you don't count ocean paddling in outrigger canoes Hawaii would be one of the worst with only two navigable rivers. It is also hard to find any open canoes over there, and you can forget about looking for a good one.

Rhode Island has some pretty good canoeing.. The Wood comes to mind as I have done that as well as Ninigret Pond but there are alot of others. RICKA is an active canoe and kayak club
https://www.trails.com/toptrails.asp...ri&activity=fp

I used to do safety boating for the Conne-Alle-Kiski paddling Sojourn in PA and on other days we safety boaters took off to do other streams like the Mahoning and Crooked Creek

 

[lowangle al]

That was just a guess YC, thanks for the info. You sure do get around.

 

[Guest]

I keep threatening myself to take a canoe down there just to run the Gila and San Francisco rivers through Gila Box. Gorgeous area.


http://southwestpaddler.com/docs/gila2.html

I guess I have never been over any part of the Gila when it appeared to have adequate flows. The link suggests optimal flow is 1500 – 3500 CFS. The gauge is around 110 CFS today, which is right on the median daily average for this time of year. Might be a gauge to watch if I was already out there in snowmelt or rainy season with a canoe.

I’ll have to check out the Gila Box area and the Riparian Conservation Area. Even without adequate flows it looks like an interesting area to visit. BLM land, so it appears that primitive camping is allowed in undeveloped areas (outside the riparian zone).

https://www.blm.gov/national-conservation-lands/arizona/gilabox

Arizona is actually pretty good. I paddled some seasonal streams like the Verde, and lake powell is spectacular. Roosevelt lake is nice in the winter. The dry season is a drag, but for a desert, paddling is decent.

I never considered Roosevelt Lake. I know there is a (Forest Service?) RV campground on the shore, but don’t think there are primitive car camping or paddle-to sites.

Paddling Lake Powell has long intrigued me, but when I ponder the possible downsides, put in and take out at a marina bustling with power boats and houseboats, or paddling 20+ miles to reach an interesting side canyon to camp and finding a flotilla of houseboats already anchored, meh, maybe not.

I still haven’t ruled out a Lake Powell trip, but I’d want the 20 foot freighter canoe and the Suzuki motor to cover some distance, and motor on to plan B if the Plan A side canyon was already full of houseboats. Which isn’t really paddling.

I have been desperate enough to wet a boat in SE Arizona that I paddled Patagonia Lake north of Nogales. Woo hoo, 250 acres. At least it was winter and not overcrowded, and the lake has a couple long arms worth a day paddle explore.

https://azstateparks.com/patagonia-lake/

 

[Black_Fly]

Yeah I left Arizona in 1985. Sorry to know Lake Powell is so crowded. We are planning a trip that way in the spring, maybe renting kayaks. Anyone paddled the plains states, like Nebraska?

 

[Guest]

Yeah I left Arizona in 1985. Sorry to know Lake Powell is so crowded. We are planning a trip that way in the spring, maybe renting kayaks. Anyone paddled the plains states, like Nebraska?

Lake Powell water levels have never fully recovered from the drought years of the 2000’s, although it has started to come back up of late

https://www.google.com/search?tbm=i...30j0i24j0i30.yt5-h3_R5Xw#imgrc=C_OgKVF4-xIAsM:

When we were there a few years ago we drove to the marina at Hite.

https://www.google.com/search?q=lak...AUIECgD&biw=1280&bih=882#imgrc=ovlEKXx_Z3_80M:

Um, there is no marina at Hite. Some nice (empty) buildings and facilities, long closed. The end of the ramp was a mile of mud flat stretching out to the water, which was not a lake but a 30 foot wide lazy flow from the Colorado running through a sunken muddy ditch.

I am thinking (do not know) that the low lake levels have also reduced the depth and availability of some of the side canyons, which might serve to further concentrate the houseboats, and the whole bathtub ring thing is off putting for a variety of reasons.

I was fortunate enough to paddle the east end of Lake Mead from Pearce Ferry a couple times in the 1980’s. Unknown to me at the time the pool level was at a historic high. 150 feet higher than it is today. I was back at Pearce Ferry again 15 years later and it was already disgusting.

https://arachnoid.com/NaturalResources/

With 2018 level in the 1080 foot range, matching the 1930’s initial filling of the pool, 150 feet down from full makes for a ghastly bathtub ring.

I don’t mean to piss on Arizona, and came to love the SE corner of the State, but even there the riparian streams that ran clear in the 80’s and 90’s are all but a bone dry trickle.