3. Fredricktown to Ohio River Scenic

Little Beaver Creek runs from the Lisbon area generally eastward to the Ohio River near East Liverpool. It is the site of the Sandy and Beaver Canal from the canal boom in the nineteenth century and the remains of dozens of the old stone locks are visible from the creek. Beaver Creek State Park, near Elkton, has a rebuilt lock and grist mill, as well as several other restored historical buildings. This park is helpful to the paddler, providing access and parking, camping, and a phone-in water-level gauge. Another recreational possibility to be aware of is the North Country National Scenic Trail, which passes through the park and along the creek. The character of the creek is basically gentle, with slow current and little depth at normal paddling levels. The stream bed is mostly rocky, with strainers being a rare occurrence. Class I riffles are found along the length of the creek, with plenty of opportunities to practice eddy cuts & peel-outs. There is only one slightly more serious rapid, a class II that approaches class III at higher water levels, found just downstream from the Fredericktown access. This is a good stream for beginner kayakers to learn their water reading skills and to develop the basic surfing/ferrying skills, as well as getting the feel of easy rapids. ACCESS The put-in for this section is at Fredericktown. The land surrounding this town, and most of the property in it, belong to one family. This land is being preserved as a wildlife refuge and trespassing is not allowed (please observe the signs). You'll also notice that the whole community is posted with 'No Parking' signs. Please be careful of where you park so as not to polarize the locals against paddlers. To get to the best parking spot, leave the put-in the way you came in, across the bridge and up the hill. Continue past the road on the left that you came in on, to the stop sign by the church a quarter mile further on. Turn to the left and go on to the first intersection, where you turn to the right. Follow this road down the hill to the first fork in the road, where you take the right fork. Follow this road a few miles till it comes to a stop sign on route 170. Turn right on 170 south and follow it down into Fredericktown. The village is very small, with a bridge over the creek just past the center. Turn to the right at the small road just over the bridge and drive a few hundred feet, over the tiny bridge to a small roadside parking space. If you go around the sharp turn to the left, you missed these tiny parking spaces. The take-out for this section is at the mouth of the creek, where it joins the Ohio River just north of East Liverpool. A secondary, midway access is near Grimms Bridge. THE CREEK This section of the creek is generally a little bigger and deeper than the sections upstream. The rapid just downstream of the Fredericktown bridge, Eagle, is the biggest on the creek. At some levels it can provide a nice park 'n' play rapid, with some decent surfing spots. There are some other mild class I rapids on downstream. Note: High water from the remnants of Hurricanes Ivan & Frances brought water levels here up past 7 feet on the state park gauge. There are now several trees in the creek where for many years it had almost none.