Imagine paddling down the meandering Tuscarawas River. Dappled sunlight paints an abstract camouflage pattern on your boat as the water's flow gently aids your journey past farms, factories and homes. Sound good? Now imagine access to that recreational waterway is as close as your nearest riverside park.
MINERAL CITY Imagine paddling down the meandering Tuscarawas River. Dappled sunlight paints an abstract camouflage pattern on your boat as the water's flow gently aids your journey past farms, factories and homes.
Sound good?
Now imagine access to that recreational waterway is as close as your nearest riverside park.
If you're not familiar with the neighborhood, you can follow the road signs to a parking lot where you can leave your trailer. From there, you can carry your canoe, kayak or rowboat to the stream bank.
Once on the river, mileposts will tell you where you are, so you can determine where you may next exit the river.
Along most stretches of the waterway, you're no more than 10 miles from a place where you may legally take out your boat.
That's the vision being pursued by the Rural Action, a nonprofit community development organization that is seeking to have the 130-mile-long Tuscarawas River designated this summer as a water trail, a step meant to improve the experience of people who use the water for recreation. Rural Action is partnering with the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) to make this vision a reality.
The water trail label, granted by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, applies to waterways that have public access points roughly every 10 miles, according to Marissa Lautzenheiser, Middle Tuscarawas River Watershed coordinator for Rural Action.
"It’ll be a destination," she said. "I know people … who go to West Virginia to do a three-day paddling trip. You can come, if you are a Boy Scout, or you’re just interested in some solitude, ... put your stuff in at Summit County, and spend two to three days in nature and paddle all the way down. That’s pretty awesome."
Anyone who plans to paddle the whole river will need to plan for ground transportation around several no-go stretches in the four counties the river crosses. The adventurous can use the Tuscarawas as a starting point for paddling to the Gulf of Mexico.
The river starts near Hartville in northern Stark County and flows north to Portage Lakes in Summit County where it is first wide enough for a boat. It then turns south, returning to Stark County before going south to Tuscarawas and Coshocton counties before joining the Walhonding River in Coshocton.
"I think the Tusc is going to be unique because you’ll have sections where it’s only five miles between two access points, so if you’re a family or you’re just learning how to paddle, you’ll have an opportunity for a really short trip, but if you are an experienced paddler, and you want more of a challenge, you can go to the southern part and have this long section that goes through a lot of wilderness and a lot of undeveloped areas," Lautzenheiser said. "So the river really offers something for everyone.
"I think that people are looking for ways to get outside and get fit and relax that don’t cost a lot of money. You can buy gym memberships, or you could invest two months’ worth of a membership into a kayak and be able to go out for your whole life.
"You can do so much else from a kayak. You can bird-watch. You can fish. You can swim if you really want to."
The state's stamp of approval would come with money for maps, brochures, and various kinds of signs: those along the road that direct people to places to put in canoes and kayaks, others to help paddlers find legal places to leave the river, mile markers along the river to help boaters gauge their location, and others that will warn of hazards along the river.
"I think one of the major benefits we’ll get out of this project is it will be safer for people, especially with dangers such as low-head dams," said Sebastian Teas, an AmeriCorps member who is working on the project with Rural Action.
The low-head dam near the Dover Wastewater Treatment Plant is already marked and has an available portage.
Also well-marked is the approach to a pipe that acts as a low dam in Massillon, Lautzenheiser said. The section of the river between the pipe — located south of the Lake Avenue Trailhead in Massillon — and John Glenn Grove, on the south side of Massillon, has no public access points. Watercraft need to exit the river at the Lake Avenue Trailhead and re-enter at John Glenn Grove. The lack of available public access makes that stretch impractical to paddle.
"You can paddle down as long as you can paddle back up," Lautzenheiser said.
The same is true of the stretch between the Canal Lands Park at Zoar and the Dover Dam, said Lautzenheiser. Paddlers must leave the river at Canal Lands Park and may re-enter on the downstream side of the Dover Dam.
"It’s a real a safety hazard," Lautzenheiser said. "People have to realize they can’t really get very close to that dam, or else the hydraulics can really suck you in, and you can’t go in."
Increasing interest in using the river for recreation was part of the reason for seeking the water trail designation.
"We know that more people are going out," Lautzenheiser said. "And trespassing is happening. So if people know that they can legally get in and get out, and where they should be, there’s a lot less excuse for anyone to trespass onto private property. You would see people parked at bridges and things like that. So we want to make sure that those people have safer and legal access to the river."
Rural Action has made signs available through the Tuscarawas County Farm Bureau advising paddlers there is no river access available on private property. The signs are free to anyone who needs them. Paddlers are permitted to leave the river through private property only in case of emergency, Lautzenheiser said.
Ohio Department of Natural Resources records show boat registrations (including kayaks and canoes) increased to 6,625 in 2015 from 5,201 in 2010 in Tuscarawas County.
"That is a 27 percent increase in only five years," Lautzenheiser said. "In the whole state, boat registrations are up over 300 percent, demonstrating the explosive interest in kayaking and canoeing."
Increasing interest in paddling the Tuscarawas is seen in the near-doubling of registrations for the Tuscarawas River Canoe & Kayak Race, which has drawn participants from as far away as Colorado.
The race drew 111 registrants in 2017, an increase from the initial 61 in 2011, according to race organizer Mary Jo Monte-Kaser.
Lautzenheiser said the water trail designation project, which began in 2015, will have economic benefits as paddlers spend money during their excursions. She cites the village of Peninsula — located between Cleveland and Akron — as an example of the economic benefits of recreation areas. Located in the middle of Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Peninsula is often swarmed with bikers and hikers stopping for refreshments.
"We really can see an economic impact from people spending money on these sort of activities," Lautzenheiser said. "Personally, when I paddle, when I get out, I am ready for an ice cream cone and a drink. Anywhere along trails, you see ice cream places, breweries popping up, cafes popping up. I think that this trail is only going to help stuff like that."
Rural Action's work to create the water trail was an outgrowth of its work to improve the quality of Tuscarawas River tributaries, including Huff Run and Mud Run.
Lautzenheiser hopes that as more people become acquainted with the waterway through recreational use, they will become more aware of the need to protect its quality.
"What we hope people realize when they’re paddling, if you don’t take care of the streams in your backyard, that is the water that creates the Tuscarawas River and the Muskingum River and the Ohio River," Lautzenheiser said. "People really can make a big impact just by caring for the water quality in their own backyard. And that ensures that these bigger rivers, like the Tusc, are able to be paddled far into the future."
Reach Nancy at 330-364-8402 or nancy.molnar@timesreporter.com.
On Twitter: @nmolnarTR