Kayaking Team: Dave Miller, Justin Eller
Date: July 3, 2024
Near the north entrance to Eastwood Metropark just off Harshman Road we parked at the kayak access point along the Mad River. Due to a downpour an hour earlier, the Mad River was moving fast. The river looked deeper and wider than my half dozen trips along this area in past years. Justin had a smaller kayak with a skirt, and he practiced rollover maneuvers about 30 times. We went through two rapids at Eastwood Park and then about three miles downriver at Riverscape Metropark we went through more rapids.
We got delayed, stalled at the Riverscape Water Fountains and just when we were going to risk it and paddle between the giant sprays, they stopped. The final set of rapids was a half mile farther just before Monument Street where we took out.
The course was nice, challenging in some areas and smooth in others. We saw lots of blue herons, turtles and geese. We noticed as we got out at 8:30pm, that other paddleboarders and kayakers were just getting into the river. I then realized that they were going to watch the big City of Dayton Fireworks display from the river since it would begin in an hour.
