It used to be that only a brave and committed crew calling themselves the Mill Creek Yacht Club floated down the waterway in the heart of Cincinnati.
But city and nonprofit leaders have been drawing up plans to change that — and, on a broader level, to re-envision the future of the Mill Creek.
Now you can make your way to Salway Park in Northside and rent a kayak from a remote kiosk to take to the waters. The rental program run by a private company called Schack's Yaks launched Saturday. The rentals cost $15 for the first hour and $10 for every hour after. The kayaks must be returned to the kiosk at Salway, meaning trips will need to go both down and back up stream.
Schack's Yaks already runs similar kiosks in several Northern Kentucky locations. The program doesn't use taxpayer money, officials say, but benefits from a $500 contribution for equipment from Tristate Trails and the Mill Creek Alliance.
Schack's Yaks owner Chris Schack says regular water quality sampling will ensure safe creek conditions. The company has the ability to shut down the kiosk when water levels are too high or other hazards exist.
The kayak rental idea was facilitated by those groups along with the Cincinnati Recreation Commission and Cincinnati Council member Mark Jeffreys.
"There's no place to rent a kayak or canoe in the city of Cincinnati — until today," Jeffreys said a launch event for the program September 6 hosted by the CRC, Mill Creek Alliance and Tristate Trails. "Now, folks can come out here, easily get in the water, pop in, pop out. It provides a lot more access in the city."
Michael Binder and his daughter Helen were among the people who came to the launch and tried out the kayaks. They enjoyed the experience.
"It's feels almost like you're not in the city," Binder said. "It's really fun to see. It's very easy to get in and out of the creek, very manageable."
"It was very, very, very fun," Helen chimed in.
Mill Creek Alliance Executive Director Dave Schmitt says he hopes the rental program encourages more people to visit a hidden gem.
"The Mill Creek is this beautiful, green corridor, sort of an oasis with big mature trees hanging over it and lots of wildlife," Schmitt says. "And you really don't appreciate that unless you've seen it from stream level."
For decades, the waterway has been dogged by its past — a history of industrial pollution, sewage drainage, and neglect. But a large-scale effort by multiple organizations to clean up the creek has shown big results. Wildlife has returned, and water quality data show the creek is much safer than it was even a decade ago.
"For a long time there was a perception that the Mill Creek was an awful place, even a dangerous place to go," he says. "But that's just not the case anymore. The stream is doing really well."
Schmitt says access to the stream has been a recurring theme in community meetings the Alliance and other organizations have held with people living in the neighborhoods along the creek. Those meetings are part of a larger effort by nonprofits and the city to envision how to support those communities better — and how to make it easier to enjoy assets in them like the Mill Creek.
There's potential for a walking and biking path that would connect the area to Downtown. And advocacy groups like the Alliance already are looking forward to a potential second kayak rental kiosk in South Cumminsville next spring, along with greenspace and a boat ramp down into the water there.
"All of these things are coming together now and creating amazing momentum and energy," Schmitt says.
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