Paddling Trip on the White Oak River

On April 15, we shuttled our vehicles so we could launch from the Maysville Campground on the White Oak River and paddle down to Haywood Landing.

The river was pretty low, so some ledges with sharp edges that are usually underwater, were exposed and posed a navigation hazard because the edges of the limestone can be brutal. Also, there was a narrow opening under the old bridge because most of the river was blocked by a log jam. Otherwise, there was one large tree we had to struggle to get over that we could probably have paddled over at higher water levels.

There was enough water that we weren’t dragging the bottom anywhere (except in the aforementioned hazards). Since we started from the campground we had to paddle through the quarry lakes. It might be worth noting that someone blazed the route through the quarry lakes with orange blazes. Fortunately, the wind hadn’t really kicked up, yet, so that was a pretty pleasant paddle. We did have more of a headwind when we got close to Haywood Landing, where the river widens out.

The sun was high in a clear sky, so that was a little harsh, but once we got off the lakes, the trees provided a lot of shade until we were in the final leg of our journey.

If anyone is interested in how long it took, we launched at 10:20 and arrived at Haywood around 16:30. We moved at a relaxed pace, made several stops to swim, explore, and have lunch. Also, the river was low, so the current was probably slower that it might have been. I would say you could count on making the trip in 6 hours as long as you keep moving.