MOUNT VERNON — The Knox County Park District has erected two “No Swimming, Dangerous Undercurrent” signs within the past week to warn people away from the Honey Run Waterfall’s access to the Kokosing River. The river is connected to the waterfall by a walking path.
Park District Director Lori Totman provided an update Tuesday to Knox County Commissioners of park activities and progress on various projects. Totman said she spoke to one family with children, who were swimming in the river without life vests. That part of the river, though dangerous, has always attracted swimmers.
Totman also said she would like to work with a group called the River Rangers, who can be hired to remove items like tree branches in waterways. They have done such work on the Licking River. She plans on pursuing a grant for that purpose.
Last summer, two people drowned on the Kokosing, and the park district has made signage and warnings a priority. In late March of this year, the park district posted eight ACT NOW river signs along the Kokosing at river access points for canoes and kayaks including Big Run Road access in Gambier, Hope Fishing access in Howard on Pipesville Road and Riley Chapel Road access in Walhonding. The acronym ACT NOW stands for guidance such as ALWAYS wear a life jacket or flotation device; CHECK flow rates before entering the river; and TAKE water and air temperatures before using watercraft. The signs also include a QR code to check river flow rates, with a rate of no more than 100 to 300 cubic feet per second recommended as a safe rate for recreation.
Despite all of the signs and warnings, Totman said there are still those who will disobey the rules. This summer, with the COVID-19 pandemic still in full force and necessitating precautions such as social distancing, pools and even some water parks like Hiawatha in Mount Vernon has been closed for the summer. That, along with very hot July weather, has made canoeing and kayaking on the Kokosing and Mohican scenic rivers about as crowded as they have ever been, she noted.
Although large turnouts enjoying watercraft has its good side, another downside in addition to those who do not follow safety rules involves a refusal to clean up. Totman said trash was recently strewn over the Greer landing on the Mohican River, resulting in 28 bags worth of trash being compiled — and that was one site alone. A volunteer did much of the cleanup, with the park district operations manager also filling up an entire truck with trash.
In other park district matters included in Totman’s update:
•There will be a dedication ceremony July 17 at 3 p.m. on North County Line Road, celebrating the Newell Family Preserve, a 40-acre property that will become a parking lot linking Knox, Delaware and Licking counties. The preserve dedication is an important piece of expanding the Heart of Ohio Trail, with Knox County’s part of that project involving a future expansion of 1.1 miles of trail from Huffman Road to the Knox/Licking county line. Knox County Park District has applied for a grant to facilitate trail completion.
•The Storybook Trail at Wolf Run Regional Park is up and running, with 19 stations along the trail featuring “open” sections of the book “Fiona the Hippo” by Richard Cowdrey, a local author and illustrator.
•Old playground equipment like teeter-totters at Brinkhaven Park has now been removed as the park district takes over park management under a 15-year lease from the state. A new playground is being built closer to the center of Brinkhaven and is scheduled to open later this summer.
