M/V Enid Dibert

There's usually a Crounse boat around when  you need one, and Monday morning the Enid Dibert did not disappoint during the slow times of watching the Mister Mac push its unusual load up the Ohio.

The Dibert had been at the place formerly known as Merdie Boggs. It left there to pick up 15 stone  barges it or another boat had dropped at Kenova, W.Va. I got these shots as I stood at the water's edge at the mouth of the Big Sandy on the Kentucky side. As the boat passed me, I heard someone say over a speaker, "I said, 'Cheese!'" I yelled back, "Thank you," and I got a blast of a horn in reply.

Thanks. It made an already good morning better.

A new boat ramp in the Greenup pool

It looks like one of my favorite boat ramps and Ohio River photography spots could have a new boat ramp by the end of this year.

As I was chasing the M/V Mister Mac up the river yesterday, I stopped by the boat ramp at the mouth of the Guyandotte River here in Huntington to see if there was an image to be had. At the speed the boat was traveling, I figured I had missed the shot, and I did. But there was this activity going on between the parking lot and the Ohio River.

The existing ramp goes down into the Guyandotte, and it is plagued with a buildup of sediment. The entire park there has that problem. If you look at the guardrail and several feet of dirt behind it, you might be surprised to know that when the bridge opened in 1985, there was no dirt behind the guardrail. That has all been deposited there in the past 30-some years. Somewhere in my box of Kodachrome and Ektachrome slides I have the photographic evidence to prove it.

The last I heard, the new ramp will go down into the Ohio, and it will be of the self-cleaning design, where the river current can wash sediment from the ramp. That doesn't always work with drift and trash, but the other two self-cleaning ramps I'm familiar with appear to be mostly sediment-free.

I emailed Chuck Minsker at the Huntington District of the Corps of Engineers about it. Minsker said the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources is working on the design.

"We heard from the WVDNR last month, and they plan to have the construction contract out for bid this summer, and their plan is to begin construction this fall. (The Greater Huntington Park and Recreation District) has been clearing the parking lot from all the flooding, and we are planning on dredging again later this month/early June to make it usable for the summer rec season."

Minsker added that there is a major fishing tournament scheduled at the ramp — the Cabelas King Kat Tournament — in August. According to the tournament website, the tournament in Huntington is the final one of the tour's local schedule. The local schedule includes Ohio River events at Gallipolis, Ohio, and Mount Vernon and Tell City, Ind. Larger tournaments on the Ohio are scheduled for Paducah and Jeffersonville.