Huntington, WV to Pittsburgh, PA

Total Miles Traveled 986

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We departed Huntington, WV on July 18^th and traveled 38 miles to Gallipolis, OH to another free dock provided by a city.  The riverfront was bustling with hundreds of people as we arrived.  This was the annual Hoop Project that raises funds to go back into the revitalization of downtown Gallipolis, it’s a weekend of music, food and mainly basketball.

There were twelve basketball courts set up on the main riverfront road.  The tournament is a three-on three event that includes divisions of all ages.  The teams are from local communities but also places like Columbus, Cincinnati, Lancaster and even Kentucky—everyone is welcome.  We really enjoyed watching the competition!

The rain we experienced on our way upriver has increased the current flow and debris.  At some narrow sections of the river, we only cruise around 6 mph and some of the locks are full of debris.

 

A city dock submerged...

On July 19^th we traveled 51 miles to an anchorage at Buffington Island.  This anchorage is behind the island away from the river channel.  There is a boat ramp behind the island but no information regarding depths.  I have been documenting the depths and conditions of the places we stop on Active Captain, an app boaters use for information about anchorages, marinas, and docks.  We slowly eased our way past the boat ramp and anchored in about 13 feet of water.  This was a nice quiet anchorage and an opportunity to watch three deer swim from the island to the mainland.

Our intention was to leave our anchorage at daybreak, but we awoke to dense fog hanging on until 9:30, we should have slept in.

We weighed anchor and followed our tracks the same way we came in then traveled 45 miles on July 20^th to Marietta, OH.  We had made reservations to stay here a couple of days, and I had our mail forwarded here.  The marina was much smaller than we expected and only room for two or three boats our size.  The pump out was located on the inside pier, and I bumped bottom trying to get to it, so we decided to wait until Pittsburgh. 

We have seen several sternwheelers but this one really moves, they have sternwheeler races at Marietta in September.

The Love Lock Tree

Huge Ships Wheel chandelier in the lobby of the Lafayette Hotel, pretty cool.

We spent most of the first day catching up on maintenance items and laundry but explored the city the next day.  This is a very historical city, during 1788, pioneers to the Ohio Country established Marietta as the first permanent settlement of the new United States in the Territory Northwest of the Ohio River.  The visitors center was very informative, and we plan to return here on our way back.

We departed Marietta on July 22^nd and traveled 58 miles to an anchorage at Fish Creek Island.  On July 23^rd we traveled 39 miles to Wellsburg, WV.  This is another free dock provided by the city, as we approached the dock, we couldn’t believe its size and condition.  After docking we found that this dock is provided by the Crooked Dock Restaurant, located along the riverbank.  The city dock is much smaller and upstream but staying overnight at this dock is not a problem.  We ate our dinner at the restaurant and met a few very nice local boaters.

Since we had two locks to pass through, we departed Wellsburg at daybreak and traveled 48 miles to Beaver, PA.  We have seen a lot of barges hauling coal and docked removing the coal from the barge.  This is the first time we’ve seen them filling a barge with coal.  From the looks of the volume of coal coming out of the chute, it appears it wouldn’t take long to fill a barge.

This is a massive new chemical plant being constructed near Beaver, PA.  One of the locals told us it’s a multi-billion-dollar project owned by Shell Oil.  They said they moved a mountain to make room for this facility.

On the way to Beaver, PA we passed our first nuclear power plant, I Googled it to see what plant it was, and this was the first review, a five star, that popped up:

 “Ate a fish outta the river by the plant and grew a third arm out my chest.  I would have gave it 1 star but the new third arm is too damn handy”.

When we arrived at Beaver, PA we noticed a dock that was not on the charts, so we eased our way in from the river channel to the dock.  We had 13 feet of water to the dock, but according to my calculations the river is 13 feet above normal pool.  We had planned to anchor because we couldn’t fit under the railroad bridge on the Beaver River.  We found that this is the Bridgewater Crossing Public Boat Dock and according to the locals, staying overnight is permitted.  We’ve kept moving up river at a faster pace than we normally travel because of a lock closure at the Montgomery Lock on July 26^th.  Since we have passed the lock, we will slow down and spend more time during our stops. 

Bridge to enter the Beaver River.

After spending two days at the Bridgewater Crossing dock, we traveled 26 miles to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, mile “0” of the Ohio River.  The Point State Park is located at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers, forming the Ohio River at Pittsburgh.

We stopped for lunch tying up to the North Wall free dock and walked the riverfront before returning to the boat.

The Duquesne Incline is pictured on the left, it was completed in 1877 and is 800 feet long, 400 feet high and is inclined at a 30 degree angle scaling Mt. Washington. 

We traveled another 9 miles up the Allegheny River to Fox Chapel Marina.  We will spend a week at the marina catching up on preventative maintenance tasks, laundry, and provisioning before we continue up the Allegheny River.

Louisville, KY to Huntington, WV

Total Miles Traveled 671

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We had a great time at Louisville, it was awesome being with our family during our stay.  I guess the only downside to being full time cruisers is being away from them for extended periods of time.  We were also able to visit with some of our friends from the Louisville Power Squadron.  Joe and Janet stopped by for a visit and Kim picked us up for diner at a local yacht club, then to their place on the river for a great evening with friends.

When we were at Evansville, I spoke with another cruiser from Louisville, he told me about a fuel service company that would delivery bulk fuel to our boat.  I contacted Jacobi Oil and they delivered fuel to the City Dock at Clarksville, IN, a huge savings from buying fuel at a marina.  We topped of our tanks for $2.65 per gallon, this will definitely be a stop on the way back

Waiting for the fuel delivery....

On July 9^th we traveled 46 miles to Madison Indiana, we have visited this little town several times over the years and with a good chance for storms, we decided to stay on the boat for this stop.  On July 10^th we cruised 51 miles to Rising Sun Indiana, to a free dock provided by the city.   The weather has been very unpredictable with daily chance of pop-up storms.  When we left Madison there was little chance for a storm, but after a couple of hours it started to rain, and the fog rolled in. 

Having AIS and Radar is a must in this situation, especially when we have an approaching tow coming down river.

You can just make out the barge on the left side of the picture.

We stayed at Rising Sun for an extra day to let the weather settle down.  The city was having a car show with 50 or more cars on display.

 

 

You don’t see too many airplanes at a boat launch ramp, but you will at Rising Sun.

We departed Rising Sun on July 12^th traveling 37 miles to Cincinnati, Ohio.  We were able to make it to a free dock provided by Hooter’s Restaurant just before a pop-up storm rolled through.  We caught up with our friends on m/v Chasing 80 and m/v It’s OK2.  We joined them at Hooter’s for a bite to eat and enjoy the scenery (the river view of course 😊).

Jimmy Buffett was scheduled to perform at the Riverbend Music Center, near Cincinnati on Tuesday the 13^th.  The back of the stage is located on the river which makes a perfect place to anchor and listen to the concert.  We had planned to anchor here with Chasing 80 but due to the possibility of storms and anchored on the river with who knows how many boats, we decided to keep moving.  We sure hated to miss this one.

After leaving Cincinnati, we traveled 37 miles, passed though the Meldahl Lock, and tied up at another free dock at the old lock 34.  There is a museum here, but it is still closed due to COVID-19.  Another thunderstorm passed through just after we arrived so I’m glad we decided against the concert.

Some of the barges transport some nasty chemicals, this one stopped at the old lock 34 and changed out a couple of crew members.

On July 14^th we traveled 25 miles to another free city dock at Maysville, Kentucky.  We love these little river towns and most of them provide a free dock to visit the town and stay overnight.  There is no electric or water provided but it’s a great way to explore the area and learn the history of these small communities.

A train is passing over the flood wall, constructed after the great 1937 flood.  The opening in the wall is our access to the town.

This is one of the propellers from a tow boat, they can move a massive amount of water.

If you look close in the top center of the bridge you can see two inspectors checking the cabling on this suspension bridge.

This is the back side of the flood wall, the artists make these murals so life like.  This is a parking lot but the cars appear to be driving through town.

We departed Maysville on July 15^th and traveled 51 miles to Portsmouth, Ohio.  Here we go again, just as we were securing to the dock another thunderstorm rolled through.  We have been stuck in this weather pattern since leaving Louisville.  We stayed at the Shawnee Boat Club which has very reasonable dockage fee with water and electric included.  They also offered the use of a golf cart to go to town for dinner and pick up a few things at the grocery store.

The marina is located just past the bridge.

Grocery run 

Another awesome mural.....

This one is inside the bar and grill of Pattie's and Pints.  The owner and a few of the locals are at the bar.

The following day, July 16^th we traveled 47 miles to Huntington, West Virginia.  This is another free dock provided by the city.  Naturally, we just did make it to temporarily tie to the dock when another storm rolled through, we are definitely ready for this weather pattern to change.  We stayed at the Huntington another day as more storms are predicted to pass through the area.

It seems that each town we travel through has a theme of some sort, Huntington has a painted tow boat throughout the town.

We were lucky enough to stop during the weekly farmers market.

Scenery along the Ohio River....

Hmm, maybe this house was built for a retired sternwheeler captain.

Belterra Casino

The lock doors opened but this tow was blocking our exit.  He was trying to get into the 1200 foot lock next to us, not sure what happened but we waited patiently.  

The day can start out partly cloudy but when the conditions get just right this is what happens.