Access points for the Maumee River Rapids are spread along the Maumee River roughly 5 miles downstream and 12 miles upstream from Waterville.

Directions to best access points:
1. From the junction of I-475 and US-24, proceed southwest to the Jerome/Stitt Rd. exit. Cross over the overpass and follow the curved road to the left for 0.3 miles to Jerome Road. Turn right (south) and pass down the hill to the river. Vantage points are from here downstream past the I-475 bridge.
2. From Waterville, take US-24 southwest about 1.0 miles to Farnsworth Metropark, Roche de Bouef parking area. Survey the rapids at this point downstream past the old bridge. There are restrooms here.
3. From Waterville, take OH-64 east across the bridge and turn right (south) after you cross the bridge onto OH-64 and OH-65 combined. OH-65 branches to the right after .5 mile. At the bottom of the first hill, check the Miltonville access area.
4. Weir’s Rapids is accessed from OH-65 about 4.5 mile southwest of the Waterville (OH-64) bridge. Turn on Rangeline Road.
5. Otsego Rapids is accessed from OH-65 at its junction with OH-235 about 6.0 miles southwest of the Waterville bridge. Park at the Otsego Park shelter house and view the rapids from the river side of the shelter house.
6. VanTassel access is located 8.6 miles from the Waterville bridge.
7. The rapids at Grand Rapids are easily viewed from just upstream from the railroad bridge or, from the US-24 side of the river, at Providence dam. Access to the dam is about 0.3 mile southwest of the Grand Rapids (OH-578) bridge.
8. Otsego Road (unmarked) is an obscure gravel road along US-24 about 5.0 miles SW of Waterville. It is just northeast of the junction of Box Road. Turn south toward the river and the road soon ends at the river.

All access areas mentioned have parking lots with the exception of the Otsego Road site.

The river is popular with duck and goose hunters in the fall and early winter. River ice is often unpredictable, be careful.

The Grand Rapids-Waterville Christmas Bird Count covers all of the Maumee River rapids area mentioned in this article.

The Maumee River Rapids are a stop on the Lake Erie Birding Trail.

Winter
Over the past dozen years or so, the river rapids have proven to be a reliable location for unusual winter gulls. Numbers of gulls will build on the river as Lake Erie begins to ice up, leaving the rapids as one of the few areas of open water in NW Ohio. A die-off of Gizzard Shad also entices large numbers of gulls to the river rapids. Among the throngs of Herring and Ring-billed Gulls are usually a few Glaucous, Iceland, and Lesser-black-backed Gulls. Rarer still is Thayer’s Gull, with just a few records, and Mew Gull, with just a single occurrence. Small numbers of ducks visit the rapids in winter as well; many remember the Harlequin Duck that wintered at Grand Rapids in 2001.
Spring
River water levels are usually too high in spring to attract any concentration of water birds so efforts in spring turn to songbirds. There are no particular specialties to seek here, but numbers of birds can often be good as the migrants appear to use the wooded riverbanks as a corridor.
Summer
Beginning in July, and depending on water levels, the southbound shorebird migration can be quite good on the rapids. Up to a dozen species may be found in a day and a season’s worth of scrutiny of the low water will turn up between twenty and thirty species. Unusual sightings include American Avocet, Whimbrel, Marbled Godwit, Ruff, and Wilson’s Phalarope. Lesser Yellowlegs dominate the early migration, American Golden-plovers often make an October appearance, and the shorebird migration tails off with (as elsewhere) Dunlin in November. Cliff Swallows nest under the old bridge at Farnsworth Metropark, Osprey are regularly seen here, Franklin’s Gulls may appear any time from July to November, and American White Pelicans are rare visitors.
Fall
Beginning in July, and depending on water levels, the southbound shorebird migration can be quite good on the rapids. Up to a dozen species may be found in a day and a season’s worth of scrutiny of the low water will turn up between twenty and thirty species. Unusual sightings include American Avocet, Whimbrel, Marbled Godwit, Ruff, and Wilson’s Phalarope. Lesser Yellowlegs dominate the early migration, American Golden-plovers often make an October appearance, and the shorebird migration tails off with (as elsewhere) Dunlin in November. Cliff Swallows nest under the old bridge at Farnsworth Metropark, Osprey are regularly seen here, Franklin’s Gulls may appear any time from July to November, and American White Pelicans are rare visitors.

The rapids of the Maumee River stretch from Grand Rapids to Maumee, a distance of some 15 miles. There are several low water areas in this stretch of river punctuated by deepwater zones.  A riparian forest also borders the river on both sides. Access points are many, but perhaps the most popular sites are the Jerome Road rapids (Area #1) and the Farnsworth Park rapids (Area #2). The area is bordered by US-24 on the north and OH-65 on the south. The Towpath Trail on the north side of the river links Farnsworth Park in the northeast to Providence Park in the southwest. This 8-mile level trail traverses excellent riparian forest and offers frequent views of the river.

Note: If you carefully keep your bird records by county, be sure to use the specific hotspots in this area so that the birds will be assigned to the proper county. The county line goes right along the river and on the south side of Blue Grass Island.