Kayaking Across Ohio: Lake Vesuvius: Beaver Haven

15 November 2014

Lake #5 Lake Vesuvius, Lake Vesuvius Recreation Area, Wayne National Forest, Lawrence County

After a morning of kayaking on serene Timbre Ridge Lake, I headed to the most developed area in the Wayne National Forest, the 1,200 acre Lake Vesuvius Recreation Area. This site surrounds the 143-acre Lake Vesuvius. The Lake with its boardwalk and boat dock is open year round. There are flush toilets located at the boat launch area, which is near the dam. Oh, the excitement of having restrooms-something you can truly appreciate when it takes you 20 minutes to get through all your layers. The area contains many other recreational opportunities: two campgrounds, group camping, numerous picnic areas and shelters, a large swimming beach with more exciting restrooms (but only open during swimming season), hiking and archery trails, and its namesake the historic Vesuvius Iron Furnace. Lake Vesuvius is located 6.5 miles north of Ironton, just off of State Route 93. Turn on County Road 29 and follow the signs to the Recreation Area.

Lake Vesuvius Boat Launch

Swimming Beach at Lake Vesuvius

Now for a little history lesson, sorry I was a history minor in college plus I have a Master of Education degree with a specialization in social studies. Feel free to skip and move onto the actual kayaking information below. The region of Southern Ohio that Lake Vesuvius is located in is known as the Hanging Rock Iron Region. The Vesuvius Iron Furnace is one of 69 charcoal furnaces that operated in the Region producing iron from 1818 to 1916. During the American Civil War, the Hanging Rock Region was one of only three places capable of producing the high quality iron needed for heavy cannon. From 1830 to 1900, the Region produced the majority of iron within the United States. Shrinking iron seams and competition from northern Ohio led to the eventual demise of the Region. The Vesuvius Iron Furnace was built in 1833 and named after the Italian volcano Mount Vesuvius that erupted in 79 AD, destroying Pompeii. The furnace ceased operation in 1906. There are two other furnaces in the Region that have been preserved: Hope Furnace located in Lake Hope State Park (a lake which I have kayaked before but will be doing again as part of my year long BHAG) and Buckeye Furnace located at the Buckeye Furnace State Memorial (wonderfully reconstructed in the 1970s and now owned by the Ohio Historical Society). In the 1930s, a Civilian Conservation Corp Camp was established near the old Vesuvius Iron Furnace. They created the lake by damming the narrows of Storms Creek and constructed the recreation area. Thus endith thy history lesson.

The Vesuvius Iron Furnace chimney was built without mortar.

The "hot blast" Vesuvius Iron Furnace employed about 100 men and produced 8 to 12 tons of pig iron each day.

The Vesuvius Iron Furnace required 300 acres of timber annually to operate.

I saw triple the number of people at Lake Vesuvius than all four of my previous lakes added together and it was only about 35 degrees outside. This leads me to believe that the lake probably has heavy usage in warmer weather. There were two gentlemen out on the lake fishing (only boats with electric motors are allowed on the lake); there was a forest service ranger making his rounds (nice guy, we chatted a bit—surprisingly he doesn’t see many kayakers in November, go figure); there was a young couple walking the Boardwalk Trail which is about a third of a mile long (ok, they really were not doing much walking more of a hug, kiss, shuffle thing); there was a family with energetic kids walking the Rock House Trail which is almost a mile (the parents were spending most of their time trying to keep the kids from climbing on the rock overhangs and yelling at them not to get so far ahead); and there was a couple hiking the eight mile Lakeshore Trail (I saw them throughout the afternoon making their way around the lake, as the cold wind blew I had a brief fantasy of changing places with them). This lake would be a great place to come back to in the summer and bring my entire family. My mobility challenged mother in law could fish from the boardwalk that is handicap accessible. My teen son and his girlfriend could hang out at the beach or go for a hike. My husband, daughter and I could kayak until we were tired and then go for a dip. Then we could all meet up at one of the picnic sites and enjoy a cookout.

Lakeshore Trail at Vesuvius

Rock House Trail at Vesuvius

My daughter named the baby duck for this lake Bonito, which means pretty in Spanish (she is in her second year of Spanish classes in school--good to see she is learning something). Bonito attempted to go over the spillway when I was taking his picture. It would have been a hard landing as there was not much water being released.

Baby duck Bontito

Bonito tries to swim away, much to his peril.

"Bye mom, I'll see you at the bottom."

Downstream area of the spillway. The Lakeshore Trail starts at the top of the stairs.

There are many cool rock overhangs viewable from the water and large rocks in the lake that look like a giant dropped them from above.

One of the many wonderful views of rock overhangs along Lake Vesuvius.

How did the giant rock get in the lake? By a giant of course.

You can kayak around the rock.

The most notable feature on the day of my visit was the extensive beaver activity. Since beavers are primarily nocturnal, I didn’t see any while I was kayaking but I did see plenty of evidence that there were many living at the lake. I counted five separate beaver lodges and saw very large trees that were in the process of being felled. The beavers had prepared their homes for winter; they were covered with mud, which had frozen hard as stone.

One of the many beaver homes at Lake Vesuvius.

A more deluxe beaver lodge at Lake Vesuvius.

Large trees in the process of being felled by beavers.

Lake Vesuvius Recreation Area has a lot to offer. If you want to do a variety of activities, not just kayak, or if you want to take your family along for the ride then this would be the place to go. If you just want to kayak and don’t have to worry about keeping anyone entertained then head back to Timbre Ridge Lake.