The Little Sandy is Big on Beauty
Come, canoe on one of Kentucky's breathtaking scenic rivers. The amazing scenery on the Little Sandy cannot be seen from your car, or even hiking on a trail. You need to get into the quiet placidness of this river to really appreciate it. In fact, Kentucky is known as the state with the most navigable rivers, except for Alaska. Many of these rivers are only navigable from January to April. However, the Little Sandy River is navigable all year long.
The Little Sandy River in Eastern Kentucky is our favorite. When introducing friends to canoeing, we enjoy taking them on this river because it is very slow and meandering making it an excellent river to canoe for beginners and families. The scenery is exquisite with boulders and massive sandstone cliffs at water's edge and around every bend. From the massive cliffs are overhangs, waterfalls and caves carved from the wind and water.
Introducing my sister-in-law and our brother-in-law, Marcie Lantz Driver and David Driver, to canoeing in Kentucky!
Often as you approach a turn in the river, it appears as if the river is ending, only to see a 180 degree turn back on the other side of the cliff. The canoeing section of the river begins in Elliot County and flows toward Carter County where the river widens into Grayson Lake. The US Army Corps of Engineers (Huntington District) has a good detailed map of Grayson Lake. (We understand you can also pick up a map at the Laurel Gorge Visitor Center.) There are signposts on the river indicating the bays or streams flowing in that you can explore. Most of these streams have a no wake speed zone which makes it more peaceful, though we haven't encountered many motor boats. Another plus for this river are the many well maintained boat ramps along State Route 7, running parallel to the river, which makes it easy to shuttle, putting your canoe in the river and parking a car at the take out point. Several of these boat ramps also have clean restroom facilities. (Bruin Recreation Center). The abundance of well-maintained boat ramps allows you options of canoeing for a few hours or taking a more extensive overnight camping trip.
As you canoe on the Little Sandy, listen for the echoes coming off the sandstone cliffs and the grunting and bubbling of the river as it hits the massive cliffs. Listen for the river talking to you.
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A Switch-Back Turn on the River Photographer: Marcie Lantz Driver
With the steep cliffs along the river there are few places to get out to explore and little wildlife, out of the water, to be seen. But if you keep an eye out, you may see the busy beaver at work stripping bark off of the small shoreline bushes, or enjoy some of the beautiful birdlife as you go along. Also, this past month in the fall, we saw floating gelatinous blobs of algae, the size of a baseball, bobbing along. We examined one and found that underneath the algae looking stuff, it was a clear gelatinous material, but had a hollow interior. When we investigated on the internet, we found it be a freshwater sponge in the family Bryozoans. They are native to the United States. We also saw them attached to the bottom of the river and to branches in the water. They overwinter in a dormant state called gemmules.
We have canoed this river at various times of the year, even canoeing the last week in November, when the Corps of Engineers had released water from the dam so that the river level was at "winter pool" with large expanses of mud bank exposed. We put in at Newfoundland Boat Ramp and canoed "12" miles to Bruin Recreation Center, taking 4 hours. The take out is hidden, past the bridge, turn right into a stream and go another several 100 yards. The bridge is a welcome sight at the end of an extensive day on the river.
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