Mention the Cuyahoga River to people who have never paddled it, and you are likely to get incredulous looks and bad jokes about fireproof boats and paddles. This unfortunate state of affairs stems from an incident in the late 1960s when a petroleum spill occurred in the lower section of the river where commercial traffic was heavy. The spill resulted in the river''s "catching fire," which gave the media all the material it needed to depict the Cuyahoga as a heavily polluted blemish on the northeastern Ohio landscape. Water quality has improved since then, but the media attention hasn''t. As recently as 1992 the Wall Street Journal reported a professional "Bigfoot" tracker''s claims that a number of the creatures lived near Cleveland. One was reportedly seen wading in the Upper Cuyahoga near Mantua.
Granted, the lower river from OH 17 to Lake Erie is a relatively uninteresting stretch, heavy in the commercial effluent generated by the rust-belt industry and seriously polluted as a result. But apart from burning waters and Bigfoot sightings, the bigger portion of this river is a relatively unspoiled Ohio waterway offering everything from a gentle float through wooded hillsides rich in wildlife to an awesome series of unnavigable drops at Cuyahoga Falls.
West Branch
An adventuresome paddler might start a trip on the West Branch as far upstream as the US 322 bridge. However, the river channel is narrow here— generally no more than 10-15 feet wide— and the terrain is marshy. While the narrow channel, surrounding marsh, and deadfalls represent minor obstacles, the most significant obstacle is posed by adjacent landowners, many of whom are waterfowl hunters and frown on paddlers who disturb the ducks, especially during hunting season.
Were it not for inhospitable landowners, the West Branch would be an ideal float for those more interested in the biological diversity of the marsh than in the rigors of white-water paddling. There are no rapids on the Class I West Branch, and the first significant obstacle is not encountered until a few yards above the Butternut Road bridge, where a 2-foot low-head dam backs up a small pond. The dam is easily portaged on either side, and the water below presents no problems other than deciding which channel to take, since the main stream divides into ever smaller conduits, narrowing to less than 5 feet in places.
Many access points from Butternut Road to the confluence with the East Branch and on to Lake Rockwell are marked with no trespassing signs posted by the city of Akron, ostensibly to protect the city from liability for injuries sustained on city-owned property. While some local paddlers report that the city of Akron has not been active in enforcing these restrictions, and some sections of the stream are served by a commercial livery, the city does have the authority to enforce its restrictions and claims to be active in doing so.
East Branch
Most of the East Branch of the Cuyahoga is too small to paddle, being little more than moist ground during periods of dry weather. Where there is enough water to paddle, the stream is choked with deadfalls and beaver dams. There is, however, a section of Class I water below OH 87 with a straight channel 20-25 feet wide and a slow, even current. There is access at the bridge on OH 168, which provides a convenient starting point for trips that continue down the Upper Cuyahoga.
Upper Cuyahoga
The Upper Cuyahoga, from the confluence of the West and East branches down its 25-mile length to Lake Rockwell, is a gently flowing stream influenced partly by the woodlands through which it flows and partly by the marsh upstream near Burton. Carrying water that is sometimes cloudy from the silt and biological by-products of the marsh, the Upper Cuyahoga courses southward, often aimlessly turning back on itself as it searches out ever lower elevations through the hills of Geauga and Portage counties. In fact, the Native Americans must have been thinking of this stretch of the river when they named it Cuyahoga, which means crooked river.
Camp Hi Canoe Livery
Most paddlers start at Eldon Russell Park north of US 422. With the exception of a low-head dam at Camp Hi and one other obstacle, the only hazards on the Upper Cuyahoga are the occasional strainers inevitably present on the outside of this river''s many twists and turns. However, the current is rarely more than moderate, and even a novice paddler should have little difficulty avoiding being strained. The exception to this pattern occurs where the river drops through a notch in the bedrock between the two bridges in Hiram Rapids. This uncharacteristic hazard is hardly worthy of a Class I+ rating, but there is a large submerged rock in midchannel below the chute that reportedly upends its share of inattentive paddlers.
There is one final nonnatural hazard for the inattentive paddler. The city of Akron prohibits boating on Lake Rockwell. The last chance to get off the river is the OH 303 bridge. If you miss it and the authorities catch you downstream, you will be arrested.
The Upper Cuyahoga is intimate, relatively unspoiled, and ecologically fragile. Its proximity to large metropolitan areas does nothing to enhance the Upper Cuyahoga''s chances at ecological survival, although the efforts of George Hazlett and the folks at Camp Hi Canoe Livery have helped immeasurably in preserving this portion of the river. Each and every paddler has a discernible effect on the quality of this section. So, if you''re not going to carry out more than you carried in, don''t go.
Middle Cuyahoga
This section of the "crooked" river suffers from a scarcity of access points, the presence of dams, and the proximity of Kent, Munroe Falls, and Cuyahoga Falls.
You can put in off Ravenna Road below the dam that holds back Lake Rockwell, although the riverbanks are steep and footing is precarious. From here the Cuyahoga courses between high, steep banks through the center of Kent. While these banks hide most evidence of the city from view, the background noise and deteriorating water quality represent ever-present reminders that you are literally only a stone''s throw from urban America.
AW Kent Description
At this point, if you are unfamiliar with this river, it would be wise to start thinking about getting off it. As the river enters the city of Cuyahoga Falls, the banks rise on both sides-only 10 or 15 feet at first. Then there is a series of three nonnavigable dams, all of them 10-15 feet high and all of them with river-wide, uniform keepers at their bases. There is a no place to get out, and if the river is running high, a strong back-paddle won''t save you. However, running these first three drops would be easy compared to what follows.
Cuyahoga at Sheraton Hotel (O to P) is probably at a runnable level between 300 cfs and 500 cfs for Expert WW Paddlers.
AW Sheraton Desciption
Keel Hauler Rating 29
If you were careless enough to get swept over the first three dams and lucky enough to come out of the hydraulics at the base of each of them, you would then drop into the upper gorge. With sheer rock walls rising from 20 to 100 feet, recovery of lost equipment is very difficult; rescue would be virtually impossible, although the strong likelihood is that it wouldn''t be necessary.
Shortly below the third dam is the first ledge. Let''s call it Comin'' Home, Sweet Jesus Ledge. The river drops 10-15 feet off its lip and crashes onto some very large and ominous-looking rocks— there isn''t much of a cushion. The second river-wide ledge only drops you about 1-1/2 feet, but it sets you up for the third ledge-let''s call it At Home, Sweet Jesus Ledge. Most of the Cuyahoga funnels into a notch at its center and then drops 15 feet down a 60-degree water slide that narrows to 5 feet at the bottom with neck-high undercut rocks on both sides.
If you accidentally make this little journey through the upper gorge, you will cover over 0.3 mile and 75 vertical feet in just a very few minutes.
Lower Cuyahoga
Having crashed and thundered its way to lower elevations in the upper gorge, the Lower Cuyahoga slows down behind the calming influence of the Ohio Edison Dam. Below the dam, however, is the most popular stretch of this river among experienced white-water paddlers. Access is difficult, involving a 1/3 to 3/8-mile portage down to the river in Gorge Park (depending on the side of the river on which you decide to put in).
Cuyahoga Gorge (P to Q) is paddleable from 600 to 1500 cfs.
Keel Hauler Rating 16 to 29
AW Gorge Desciption
Please be aware that a permit is required to put-in below the dam.
Get permit from this link and mail in before attempting to run the section.
Permit Application
Here the river drops into the lower gorge. With wooded hillsides reaching up over 100 feet on both sides, the Cuyahoga embarks on a short 1.25-mile sprint through continuous Class II and III rapids (bordering on Class IV when the river is up). The water quality here is a little better than it is above Cuyahoga Falls. The high gradient in the upper gorge aerates the river water and helps restore its depleted oxygen content, partly overcoming the effects of the high thermal load the river receives from the Ohio Edison power plant.
This environmental reprieve is short-lived, however. Soon the water added by the Little Cuyahoga (coming in from river left) and the Akron sewage treatment plant (on river right before Bath Road) convinces you that you want to avoid a bath at all costs.
You can continue your journey on the lower section of the Cuyahoga through Peninsula, but you won''t want to go past the OH 17 bridge. Below that point, the by-products of our industrial society exact their by-now-obvious toll on water quality.
|
Access Point |
Section |
River |
Shuttle |
|
|
West Branch |
||||
|
A. |
US 322 |
A-B |
5 |
5 |
|
B. |
OH 87 W of Burton |
B-C |
4 |
5 |
|
East Branch |
||||
|
C. |
OH 87 E of Burton, access river right |
C-D |
0.5 |
0.5 |
|
D. |
OH 168 |
D-E |
2 |
4 |
|
E. |
Russell Park off Rapids Rd. |
E-F |
2 |
4 |
|
F. |
US 422 bridge |
F-G |
5 |
5 |
|
G. |
Camp Hi Canoe Livery off Abbott Rd. |
G-H |
3 |
3 |
|
H. |
Pioneer Trail Rd. bridge |
H-I |
2 |
2 |
|
I. |
Mantua Village Park off OH 44 |
I-J |
1 |
2 |
|
J. |
Infirmary Rd. bridge |
J-K |
3 |
4 |
|
K. |
OH 303 bridge, access with permission |
|||
|
|
River is restricted from OH 303 to below Lake Rockwell. |
|||
|
L. |
Ravenna Rd. bridge |
L-M |
3 |
3 |
|
M. |
Fuller Park off Middlebury Rd. |
M-N |
4 |
5 |
|
N. |
Park off OH 91 (Main St.) |
N-O |
2 |
3 |
|
O. |
Waterworks Park |
|||
|
|
Mandatory take-out before falls. |
|||
|
P. |
Gorge Metro Park off Front St., access |
P-Q |
12 |
12 |
|
Q. |
Deep Lock Quarry Metro Park |
Q-R |
7 |
12 |
|
R. |
OH 82 bridge |
R-E |
4 |
3 |
|
S. |
Confluence with Tinkers Creek |
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|
CUYAHOGA RIVER |
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 |
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 |
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| Roadside pulloff at S.R. 87 bridge east of Burton, access river right | X | Geauga | |||||||||
| Russell Park (Geauga Co. Park) off Rapids Road northeast of LaDue Reservoir south of Burton, access river right | X | X | X | X | X | Geauga | |||||
| DAM - broken at Camp Hi Canoe Livery off Abbott Road south of Hiram Rapids, portage river left if necessary | Portage | ||||||||||
| Camp Hi Canoe Livery off Abbott Road south of Hiram Rapids, access river left with permission | X | X | X | X | X | X | Portage | ||||
| Save 4 Store off S.R. 303 bridge southwest of Streetsboro, access river left (access to bridge is privately owned); for permission call Chuck Eisle at (216)626-3967 | X | X | X | Portage | |||||||
| River is restricted from the S.R. 303 bridge southwest of Streetsboro to below the spillway at Lake Rockwell north of Kent, last takeout is the Save 4 Store in Streetsboro | Portage | ||||||||||
| Lake Rockwell spillway, access river right | ; | Portage | |||||||||
| Access behind Standing Rock Cemetery off S.R. 43 and Standing Rock Avenue at northern edge of Kent, access river right | X | X | X | Portage | |||||||
| DAM - below Main Street bridge in Kent, portage river right at pathway | Portage | ||||||||||
| Fuller Park off Middlebury Road in Kent, access river right or left | X | X | X | X | X | Portage | |||||
| DAM - above the S.R. 91 bridge (Main Street) in Monroe Falls, portage river right | Summit | ||||||||||
| Park off S.R. 91 (Main Street) in Monroe Falls, access river right or left | X | Summit | |||||||||
| Takeout access at Riverfront Park off Front Street in Cuyahoga Falls - MANDATORY TAKEOUT BEFORE DAMS, access river right | X | Summit | |||||||||
| DAM - upstream of Broad Boulevard in Cuyahoga Falls, NO PORTAGE; Takeout at No. 12 | &n bsp; | Summit | |||||||||
| DAM - downstream of Broad Boulevard in Cuyahoga Falls, NO PORTAGE; Takeout at No. 12 | &n bsp; | Summit | |||||||||
| FALLS - begins at last dam downstream of Broad Boulevard in Cuyahoga Falls; averages a class 4-5 rapids; they are runnable with considerable risk to equipment and life, RESTRICTED AREA, takeout access river right | Summit | ||||||||||
| DAM - Gorge Metropolitan Park dam in Cuyahoga Falls; below dam are more class 3-4 rapids; they are runnable with considerable risk to equipment and life, RESTRICTED AREA, takeout access river right | X | Summit | |||||||||
| Athletic field off Cuyahoga Street at northern limits of Akron, access river right | X | Summit | |||||||||
| North Portage Path Road bridge at northern edge of Akron, access river left under bridge | X | X | Summit | ||||||||
| Bolanz Road bridge south of Everett, access river right | X | Summit | |||||||||
| Ira Road bridge at Ira, access river left | X | Summit | |||||||||
| DAM - downstream of the S.R. 303 bridge in Peninsula, portage river right | Summit | ||||||||||
| Access below Peninsula dam below S.R. 303 bridge in Peninsula, access river right | X | Summit | |||||||||
| CUYAHOGA VALLEY NATIONAL RECREATIONAL AREA IS CURRENTLY PUTTING A CANOE ACCESS PLAN IN OPERATION. CHECK WITH CVA FOR INFORMATION | Summit | ||||||||||
| Highland Road bridge east of Jaite, pulloff access river right | X | Cuyahoga | |||||||||
| Closed Station Road bridge below the S.R. 82 bridge east of Brecksville, pulloff access river right or left | X | Cuyahoga | |||||||||
| DAM - below the S.R. 82 bridge east of Brecksville, portage river right | Cuyahoga | ||||||||||
| Heritage Park in Cleveland on Merwin Avenue close to the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, access river right | X | Cuyahoga |