Tucker & Austin got new boats for Christmas this year. Here they are trying them out on Boone's Pond. They had fun paddling around even though they had to break ice to make room to maneuver
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Location: Fall Creek – Florida Road Park to S.R. 238 (& back)
Distance: +/-2.1
Date: 11/12/07
Gauge: 1.9 (Fortville)
Paddle Time: 2 hours
Paddlers: James Nichols (Necky Looksha IV), Doug Mark (Current Designs Breeze)
Weather: Variable - see below
Our November trip, one more monthly trip to go to close out the year. This was rescheduled from a planned trip to Westwood Park in New Castle to bike and paddle. We had a lot of rain the day before so the trails were closed. On the drive across the causeway at Geist Reservoir we weren’t sure if there would even be enough water to do much on the reservoir…a large area of the bottom was exposed.
Arriving at the park we checked out the creek and decided that since the water level seemed to be pretty decent (in spite of being probably a couple of feet below normal) we would
head upstream and see if we could get past the tree that had blocked our way the last time we were in the area. While carrying over the small dam just upstream we discussed the possibility of running it on the way back. It looked like it might be possible, but that would depend on whether the current pushed you into the stump in the middle of the “spillway”.
After struggling through several spots where low water levels made the current pretty swift and paddling difficult we were able to go about two miles upstream. With the lower water level we were able to paddle under the tree that blocked our way before, and only had a short carry over another tree just after that. Just after passing under S.R. 238 we were stopped by a sycamore tree down in the water. We probably could have made it through coming downstream, but it was starting to get dark and we didn’t want to struggle through that only to find another tree in the way around the bend.
Wildlife was fairly numerous; we saw a large red-tailed hawk, deer, evidence of beavers and several types of ducks.
Coming back down we seemed to fly compared to the fight to get upstream. We stopped on a small island so I could call home since it was getting dark, and when we were pushing off I thought I saw a flash of lightning. The thunder that followed was several seconds later and sounded odd, so we weren’t sure it had been lightning. A minute or so later we saw a lighting strike with at least two bolts. I started counting to judge the distance, then neither one of us could remember how to do the math.
That left us multi-tasking in several ways: paddling hard for the dam, trying
to remember how to calculate the distance to the storm, trying to decide if we could run the dam or carry over, and basically wondering if we would be hit by lightning and die. (In case you're wondering I looked it up: count the seconds and divide by 5) Just as the houses near the lake came into view it started to rain pretty hard, but there was no more lightning. We had left our jackets in the truck due to the warm temperature so we were soaked pretty quickly. We decided to carry the boats over the dam since it was getting pretty dark.
Once we got back in the boats we paddled hard again for the takeout, which is only a couple of hundred yards away, and made it safely to the truck.
Distance: +/-2.1
Date: 11/12/07
Gauge: 1.9 (Fortville)
Paddle Time: 2 hours
Paddlers: James Nichols (Necky Looksha IV), Doug Mark (Current Designs Breeze)
Weather: Variable - see below
Our November trip, one more monthly trip to go to close out the year. This was rescheduled from a planned trip to Westwood Park in New Castle to bike and paddle. We had a lot of rain the day before so the trails were closed. On the drive across the causeway at Geist Reservoir we weren’t sure if there would even be enough water to do much on the reservoir…a large area of the bottom was exposed.
Arriving at the park we checked out the creek and decided that since the water level seemed to be pretty decent (in spite of being probably a couple of feet below normal) we would
head upstream and see if we could get past the tree that had blocked our way the last time we were in the area. While carrying over the small dam just upstream we discussed the possibility of running it on the way back. It looked like it might be possible, but that would depend on whether the current pushed you into the stump in the middle of the “spillway”.After struggling through several spots where low water levels made the current pretty swift and paddling difficult we were able to go about two miles upstream. With the lower water level we were able to paddle under the tree that blocked our way before, and only had a short carry over another tree just after that. Just after passing under S.R. 238 we were stopped by a sycamore tree down in the water. We probably could have made it through coming downstream, but it was starting to get dark and we didn’t want to struggle through that only to find another tree in the way around the bend.
Wildlife was fairly numerous; we saw a large red-tailed hawk, deer, evidence of beavers and several types of ducks.
Coming back down we seemed to fly compared to the fight to get upstream. We stopped on a small island so I could call home since it was getting dark, and when we were pushing off I thought I saw a flash of lightning. The thunder that followed was several seconds later and sounded odd, so we weren’t sure it had been lightning. A minute or so later we saw a lighting strike with at least two bolts. I started counting to judge the distance, then neither one of us could remember how to do the math.
That left us multi-tasking in several ways: paddling hard for the dam, trying
to remember how to calculate the distance to the storm, trying to decide if we could run the dam or carry over, and basically wondering if we would be hit by lightning and die. (In case you're wondering I looked it up: count the seconds and divide by 5) Just as the houses near the lake came into view it started to rain pretty hard, but there was no more lightning. We had left our jackets in the truck due to the warm temperature so we were soaked pretty quickly. We decided to carry the boats over the dam since it was getting pretty dark.Once we got back in the boats we paddled hard again for the takeout, which is only a couple of hundred yards away, and made it safely to the truck.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Location: Wabash River – Covington, IN to Montezuma, IN
Distance: +/-31
Date: 10/13-10/14-07
Gauge: 4.9 (Covington)
Paddle Time: 14 hours
Weather: Variable
In reality this trip started on Friday night. We all met at my house and loaded up into James’ Explorer and my Suburban, with two boats on my trailer and the rest on James'. The plan was to drive to Cayuga & camp at my parents then shuttle the Suburban to Montezuma on Friday night. We ran a little late so by the time we reached Cayuga we barely had time to get the tents set up before dark. Fortunately my dad had started the fire for us, so we had some good coals to cook dinner with.
The beginning planning for this trip probably took place in 2006 when Miguel and I started talking about doing an overnight trip and camping on whatever sandbar was available. We didn’t get that trip in, but this summer Chris, John Haram and I started talking about a similar trip so I started planning a route. The original plan was to run the Big Vermilion River from Kickapoo State Park near Danville, IL to the S.R. 234 public access on the Wabash with an overnight stop at Forest Glen Preserve, a total of about 30 miles. However, after very little rain through the summer and most of September it became clear that we were going to be dragging the boats most of the way on the Big Vermilion, so we switched to the Wabash.
While it carries plenty of water, the Wabash does not move very fast, so the current was not much help. In some places, even though the wind was light, on Saturday you could stop paddling and still not move downstream.
Saturday we awoke to a chilly 38-degree morning. After drinking as much coffee as we could and standing around the fire for a while to try and warm up we put the last two boats and all the gear from my truck on the trailer and headed north. After we got to the ramp I couldn’t believe the amount of gear we had piled there along with the boats…I wasn’t sure it was all going to fit in the boats. But after a while it was all packed and strapped into the boats and we set off downstream.
It was still chilly and overcast, probably around 45 degrees, so everyone was fairly bundled up at the start. Until Friday night the forecast had been for partly sunny and 70 degrees with a 5 MPH wind from the north, then they changed it to showers throughout the day. The wind was from the south instead; fortunately it was very light.
Just below the put-in is a railroad bridge. Someone had painted THINK ABOUT JESUS on the side, but had gotten the J backward so it looked more like THINK ABOUT LESUS. Dad had said earlier in the week that the current in the river was 3 MPH, but it was more like 1.5 in most places. Unfortunately there isn’t a lot of scenery on the Wabash since most of it is through farming areas, but we did see a few interesting rocks north of Perrysville.
We made our first stop on an island just north of Perrysville. There were several tents set up, as
well as a kitchen area complete with smoker, LP grill, Coleman lantern and a can crusher. There was also a chemical toilet facing out over the river, without any real screen around it. I guess that’s a nighttime activity, although you could sit & fish at the same time, I guess.
The next stop was a couple of hours later – at about 15 miles - at the confluence with Big Vermilion. I was hoping we could land on the sandbar on the Vermilion side and fish for a while but the current kept us to the other side. We did see an apparently abandoned boat just downstream. It looked like it was probably a decent small speedboat, but it was without a motor. Miguel had been struggling a bit with paddling because his shoulders were very sore. I told him we would need him to split wood when we arrived at the camping spot and he replied that he would rather throw himself in the fire than split wood.
The next item of note was the crossing under S.R. 32. A couple of guys were fishing on the bank at the public access, complete with a fire. They didn’t look all that friendly so we didn’t ask how the fishing was. One guy stood up as I wasn't looking but apparently had a bad case of plumbers pants going on, as I heard Tim say "Just say no to crack". We also started to hear the hum of the Cayuga power plant, even though it was still at least a mile away.
We started looking around more for the bald eagles that live in the area. A couple of times we saw what we thought was one, but it turned out to be a heron or something else when it got closer. Finally just before the power plant we saw one fly out from the trees on river left. I looked for a nest but didn’t see one in the trees.
The power plant was interesting to float by, if nothing else than for the scale…it’s a little hard to fathom how large it is.
Right after that is a large bend that would probably be an oxbow if it wasn’t for the power plant in the way. As I came out of the bend I noticed that Tucker had sort of put his head down and paddled about ½ mile ahead to the next bend. I also noticed that James was near the shore river right looking up. As I got closer I could tell that there was an adult eagle in the tree above him, just looking around. We were all able to get within about 30’ of it so we got a really good view. They are really amazing to see. Unfortunately Tucker missed it since he was on a speed run at the time.
After that it was a fairly straight run down to the stop for the night. We made a short stop on Manhattan Island but weren’t able to stay long because we had left Covington later than expected, and the overcast was limiting the daylight. We did see a couple of additional birds that we thought were juvenile bald eagles, but after talking to a friend who spends a lot of time on the river it sounds like they were probably golden eagles...pretty cool stuff. Seeing those birds was definitely a highlight of the trip.
We arrived at the campsite with enough light to unload the boats, get camp set up and start cooking. Everyone was pretty tired, but the campsite had a nice level spot under some trees and some more level area along the boat ramp road. There were four or five small weekend houses on the property, but aside from a couple of guys working on one that was still under construction it didn’t seem like anyone was there. I figured they would come over and at least ask if we had permission to be there, but they didn't so they evidently didn’t care.
We got the fire going to make some coals for cooking. Tim fired up his charcoal burner to get the coals ready for cooking cobbler. I had brought ingredients for stew and we added contributions of baked beans from Miguel and deer tenderloin from Chris. By the time everything was cooked it was getting pretty dark. Tim finished up his cobbler in the Dutch oven and shared it around. It was really good, with enough left over for breakfast.
After everyone had eaten we all sat around the campfire for a bit and took it easy. James had brought a book of short stories called A Fine and Pleasant Misery by Patrick McManus so several of us took turns reading aloud. The stories were about his growing up in Colorado and his adventures and misadventures. Some were so funny the people reading them had trouble continuing. James said he had gotten the book as a kid and hadn’t read it since. That was a lot of fun and added to the atmosphere of sitting around the fire.
Sunday morning the temperature was nicer. We got a fire going and heated some water for oatmeal, along with heating up the leftover cobbler; an excellent breakfast. Dad brought more coffee so I didn’t even break out the French press.
Tim and Joey loaded up and got on the river a few minutes before everyone else to try and get some fishing in, but didn’t any luck. Tim got snagged and had to paddle about 100 yards back upstream to get loose. The wind was a lot stronger out of the south, so we had to paddle most of the time to make headway.
Just north of the Sugar Creek confluence we started seeing some towers 50 yards or so behind the bank that we never could figure out what they were. One appeared to have been burned out, a couple of them looked abandoned, and one looked like it was still functional with a large roof vent and an A/C unit.
Sugar Creek was almost dry, just like everything else. James tried to paddle a short way upstream but could not get far.
Once again not much interesting scenery. We stopped on a sandbar a few miles from the end for a short break. The wind was getting really stiff at this point, probably at least 10 MPH, and we were headed right into it. After the stop we put Joey into the Breeze, Tucker into the tandem and I went in the canoe with Tim to give him a break.
The Montezuma boat ramp is a nice concrete one. The only downfall was the stench of raw sewage coming from just downstream and blowing up to us. I don’t know what the outfall was from, but it was nasty.
We managed to get all six boats on my trailer, a lot of the gear into the truck and the rest into the car-top carrier. I was really glad I had brought that, otherwise we would have had a lot of gear on our laps.
Overall this was a pretty good trip. It would have been nice if Saturday's paddle had been shorter so that we had more time for fishing, etc., something to keep in mind for the next trip.
Distance: +/-31
Date: 10/13-10/14-07
Gauge: 4.9 (Covington)
Paddle Time: 14 hours
Weather: Variable
In reality this trip started on Friday night. We all met at my house and loaded up into James’ Explorer and my Suburban, with two boats on my trailer and the rest on James'. The plan was to drive to Cayuga & camp at my parents then shuttle the Suburban to Montezuma on Friday night. We ran a little late so by the time we reached Cayuga we barely had time to get the tents set up before dark. Fortunately my dad had started the fire for us, so we had some good coals to cook dinner with.
The beginning planning for this trip probably took place in 2006 when Miguel and I started talking about doing an overnight trip and camping on whatever sandbar was available. We didn’t get that trip in, but this summer Chris, John Haram and I started talking about a similar trip so I started planning a route. The original plan was to run the Big Vermilion River from Kickapoo State Park near Danville, IL to the S.R. 234 public access on the Wabash with an overnight stop at Forest Glen Preserve, a total of about 30 miles. However, after very little rain through the summer and most of September it became clear that we were going to be dragging the boats most of the way on the Big Vermilion, so we switched to the Wabash.
While it carries plenty of water, the Wabash does not move very fast, so the current was not much help. In some places, even though the wind was light, on Saturday you could stop paddling and still not move downstream.
Saturday we awoke to a chilly 38-degree morning. After drinking as much coffee as we could and standing around the fire for a while to try and warm up we put the last two boats and all the gear from my truck on the trailer and headed north. After we got to the ramp I couldn’t believe the amount of gear we had piled there along with the boats…I wasn’t sure it was all going to fit in the boats. But after a while it was all packed and strapped into the boats and we set off downstream.
It was still chilly and overcast, probably around 45 degrees, so everyone was fairly bundled up at the start. Until Friday night the forecast had been for partly sunny and 70 degrees with a 5 MPH wind from the north, then they changed it to showers throughout the day. The wind was from the south instead; fortunately it was very light.
Just below the put-in is a railroad bridge. Someone had painted THINK ABOUT JESUS on the side, but had gotten the J backward so it looked more like THINK ABOUT LESUS. Dad had said earlier in the week that the current in the river was 3 MPH, but it was more like 1.5 in most places. Unfortunately there isn’t a lot of scenery on the Wabash since most of it is through farming areas, but we did see a few interesting rocks north of Perrysville.We made our first stop on an island just north of Perrysville. There were several tents set up, as
well as a kitchen area complete with smoker, LP grill, Coleman lantern and a can crusher. There was also a chemical toilet facing out over the river, without any real screen around it. I guess that’s a nighttime activity, although you could sit & fish at the same time, I guess.The next stop was a couple of hours later – at about 15 miles - at the confluence with Big Vermilion. I was hoping we could land on the sandbar on the Vermilion side and fish for a while but the current kept us to the other side. We did see an apparently abandoned boat just downstream. It looked like it was probably a decent small speedboat, but it was without a motor. Miguel had been struggling a bit with paddling because his shoulders were very sore. I told him we would need him to split wood when we arrived at the camping spot and he replied that he would rather throw himself in the fire than split wood.
The next item of note was the crossing under S.R. 32. A couple of guys were fishing on the bank at the public access, complete with a fire. They didn’t look all that friendly so we didn’t ask how the fishing was. One guy stood up as I wasn't looking but apparently had a bad case of plumbers pants going on, as I heard Tim say "Just say no to crack". We also started to hear the hum of the Cayuga power plant, even though it was still at least a mile away.We started looking around more for the bald eagles that live in the area. A couple of times we saw what we thought was one, but it turned out to be a heron or something else when it got closer. Finally just before the power plant we saw one fly out from the trees on river left. I looked for a nest but didn’t see one in the trees.
The power plant was interesting to float by, if nothing else than for the scale…it’s a little hard to fathom how large it is.
Right after that is a large bend that would probably be an oxbow if it wasn’t for the power plant in the way. As I came out of the bend I noticed that Tucker had sort of put his head down and paddled about ½ mile ahead to the next bend. I also noticed that James was near the shore river right looking up. As I got closer I could tell that there was an adult eagle in the tree above him, just looking around. We were all able to get within about 30’ of it so we got a really good view. They are really amazing to see. Unfortunately Tucker missed it since he was on a speed run at the time.
After that it was a fairly straight run down to the stop for the night. We made a short stop on Manhattan Island but weren’t able to stay long because we had left Covington later than expected, and the overcast was limiting the daylight. We did see a couple of additional birds that we thought were juvenile bald eagles, but after talking to a friend who spends a lot of time on the river it sounds like they were probably golden eagles...pretty cool stuff. Seeing those birds was definitely a highlight of the trip.
We arrived at the campsite with enough light to unload the boats, get camp set up and start cooking. Everyone was pretty tired, but the campsite had a nice level spot under some trees and some more level area along the boat ramp road. There were four or five small weekend houses on the property, but aside from a couple of guys working on one that was still under construction it didn’t seem like anyone was there. I figured they would come over and at least ask if we had permission to be there, but they didn't so they evidently didn’t care.
We got the fire going to make some coals for cooking. Tim fired up his charcoal burner to get the coals ready for cooking cobbler. I had brought ingredients for stew and we added contributions of baked beans from Miguel and deer tenderloin from Chris. By the time everything was cooked it was getting pretty dark. Tim finished up his cobbler in the Dutch oven and shared it around. It was really good, with enough left over for breakfast.
After everyone had eaten we all sat around the campfire for a bit and took it easy. James had brought a book of short stories called A Fine and Pleasant Misery by Patrick McManus so several of us took turns reading aloud. The stories were about his growing up in Colorado and his adventures and misadventures. Some were so funny the people reading them had trouble continuing. James said he had gotten the book as a kid and hadn’t read it since. That was a lot of fun and added to the atmosphere of sitting around the fire.
Sunday morning the temperature was nicer. We got a fire going and heated some water for oatmeal, along with heating up the leftover cobbler; an excellent breakfast. Dad brought more coffee so I didn’t even break out the French press.
Tim and Joey loaded up and got on the river a few minutes before everyone else to try and get some fishing in, but didn’t any luck. Tim got snagged and had to paddle about 100 yards back upstream to get loose. The wind was a lot stronger out of the south, so we had to paddle most of the time to make headway.
Just north of the Sugar Creek confluence we started seeing some towers 50 yards or so behind the bank that we never could figure out what they were. One appeared to have been burned out, a couple of them looked abandoned, and one looked like it was still functional with a large roof vent and an A/C unit.
Sugar Creek was almost dry, just like everything else. James tried to paddle a short way upstream but could not get far.
Once again not much interesting scenery. We stopped on a sandbar a few miles from the end for a short break. The wind was getting really stiff at this point, probably at least 10 MPH, and we were headed right into it. After the stop we put Joey into the Breeze, Tucker into the tandem and I went in the canoe with Tim to give him a break.
The Montezuma boat ramp is a nice concrete one. The only downfall was the stench of raw sewage coming from just downstream and blowing up to us. I don’t know what the outfall was from, but it was nasty.
We managed to get all six boats on my trailer, a lot of the gear into the truck and the rest into the car-top carrier. I was really glad I had brought that, otherwise we would have had a lot of gear on our laps.
Overall this was a pretty good trip. It would have been nice if Saturday's paddle had been shorter so that we had more time for fishing, etc., something to keep in mind for the next trip.
Location: Fall Creek – 79th Street to 56th Street
Distance: +/-8.5
Date: 9-23-07
Gauge: 2.1 (Millersville)
Paddle Time: +/-4 hours
Weather: 90 degrees
This was our monthly trip for September. Part of this run was included in the Indianapolis Adventure Race earlier in the month and James thought it would be a good one for us to do since we had not yet run any sections of Fall Creek except for a short foray upstream from Geist about a year ago. This was a really nice paddle with a lot of shade, great for a hot day.
The water level was pretty low in a few places, but we only had to carry around two trees. One would have been interesting if the water had been about six inches higher because the tree was on river left, while there were a bunch of broken pieces of concrete in the middle of the stream that we walked on. If the water had been a bit higher to hide those we would have either dragged on them, or had to walk on them and they probably would have been slippery.
There were a few challenging places with trees down, but also several fun riffles on the way. A couple of places looked like kids may have been putting rocks across the stream. One interesting spot was an old weir or dam that we had to go around because the water level was too low to go through the notch in the middle. That might make for a challenging ride at a higher water level with having to either line up with the notch or go around the end with more water trying to push you into the wall.
We saw an owl, four deer and several herons, so there is the possibility of wildlife activity along the way.
The most fun was right at the 465 & Shadeland bridges, shown in the photo with Austin coming through on the SOT. There is a drop of about three feet that goes down through a rock chute about 15 or so feet long. This looks like it would be a lot of fun if the water were a foot or so higher, and it’s in a location where you could carry your boat back up and run it again.
Access at both ends is good, with room for several vehicles at 79th Street and basically unlimited parking at the downstream end.
Distance: +/-8.5
Date: 9-23-07
Gauge: 2.1 (Millersville)
Paddle Time: +/-4 hours
Weather: 90 degrees
This was our monthly trip for September. Part of this run was included in the Indianapolis Adventure Race earlier in the month and James thought it would be a good one for us to do since we had not yet run any sections of Fall Creek except for a short foray upstream from Geist about a year ago. This was a really nice paddle with a lot of shade, great for a hot day.The water level was pretty low in a few places, but we only had to carry around two trees. One would have been interesting if the water had been about six inches higher because the tree was on river left, while there were a bunch of broken pieces of concrete in the middle of the stream that we walked on. If the water had been a bit higher to hide those we would have either dragged on them, or had to walk on them and they probably would have been slippery.
There were a few challenging places with trees down, but also several fun riffles on the way. A couple of places looked like kids may have been putting rocks across the stream. One interesting spot was an old weir or dam that we had to go around because the water level was too low to go through the notch in the middle. That might make for a challenging ride at a higher water level with having to either line up with the notch or go around the end with more water trying to push you into the wall.
We saw an owl, four deer and several herons, so there is the possibility of wildlife activity along the way.
The most fun was right at the 465 & Shadeland bridges, shown in the photo with Austin coming through on the SOT. There is a drop of about three feet that goes down through a rock chute about 15 or so feet long. This looks like it would be a lot of fun if the water were a foot or so higher, and it’s in a location where you could carry your boat back up and run it again.
Access at both ends is good, with room for several vehicles at 79th Street and basically unlimited parking at the downstream end.
Location: White River – upstream from “Lake Indy” boat ramp
Distance: +/-4.8
Date: 8-22-07
Paddle Time: +/-2 hours
Weather: 96 degrees, high humidity.
This trip marks one complete year of paddling at least once a month for me…pretty cool. Plus James and I are also two-thirds of the way through our goal of paddling monthly in 2007. October is already scheduled, so we just need to hang in for September, November and December.
We weren’t sure about the area since there are people at the park fishing and just generally hanging around, but the ramp is easy to get to and big. I didn’t realize I had been there until I recognized it from the 2005 Planet Adventure Sprint Race. During the race we left from the ramp and paddled upstream due to a dam relatively close downstream…hence the Lake Indy name. There is really no current to speak of. We chose this because the water is down so much everywhere else, even with the recent rains.
We got a nice view of the naval armory on the way up, as well as a couple of herons, a lot of ducks and a muskrat. It was pretty noisy from traffic until we got north of 38th Street, then it quieted down and was a really nice paddle, you’d never know you’re in the city. There were a couple of fishing boats around, but it’s fairly shallow between 30th Street and I-65, so no ski boats.
North of 38th we finally started to feel the current. We turned around and headed back as we started to have to fight the current. After checking Google Earth it looks like we were next to the International School.
All in all this was a really nice flat water paddle, definitely one to do again, especially when the water is so low other places.
Distance: +/-4.8
Date: 8-22-07
Paddle Time: +/-2 hours
Weather: 96 degrees, high humidity.
This trip marks one complete year of paddling at least once a month for me…pretty cool. Plus James and I are also two-thirds of the way through our goal of paddling monthly in 2007. October is already scheduled, so we just need to hang in for September, November and December.
We weren’t sure about the area since there are people at the park fishing and just generally hanging around, but the ramp is easy to get to and big. I didn’t realize I had been there until I recognized it from the 2005 Planet Adventure Sprint Race. During the race we left from the ramp and paddled upstream due to a dam relatively close downstream…hence the Lake Indy name. There is really no current to speak of. We chose this because the water is down so much everywhere else, even with the recent rains.
We got a nice view of the naval armory on the way up, as well as a couple of herons, a lot of ducks and a muskrat. It was pretty noisy from traffic until we got north of 38th Street, then it quieted down and was a really nice paddle, you’d never know you’re in the city. There were a couple of fishing boats around, but it’s fairly shallow between 30th Street and I-65, so no ski boats.
North of 38th we finally started to feel the current. We turned around and headed back as we started to have to fight the current. After checking Google Earth it looks like we were next to the International School.
All in all this was a really nice flat water paddle, definitely one to do again, especially when the water is so low other places.
Location: Eagle Creek – Lafayette Road
Distance: +/-1
Date: 7-25-07
Gauge: None
Paddle Time: +/-1 hours
Weather: Overcast & 80
Our July trip…due to low water level in the creek we decided to paddle around the reservoir. James had been denied entry into the northern end of the park a few weeks before because his boats were trailered so we decided to save the time & money of trying to get into the park & just put in at Lafayette Road.
The water was about 75 feet back from where we normally put in, and it wasn’t much better downstream. We paddled down almost to the north end of the rowing course and were hitting the bottom with our paddles much of the time. Due to the water level there were more herons than normal, and they were much further out than they would usually be, We decided to head back upstream and see if we could go north from the put-in but after a couple of hundred yards we were sitting on the bottom.
Not much of a trip, but I did get the opportunity to paddle the Breeze, which is very comfortable for me and much faster than the Zirconia. I wasn’t impressed with the seat back, which tends to come loose at the bottom, but that could probably be fixed by adding some hardware to make a pivot point instead of leaving it loose as it is OEM. It seemed to be very maneuverable and I’d like to try it again sometime when we’re on the creek & steering is important.
It's getting hard to find water...Eagle Creek and White River are both really low.
Distance: +/-1
Date: 7-25-07
Gauge: None
Paddle Time: +/-1 hours
Weather: Overcast & 80
Our July trip…due to low water level in the creek we decided to paddle around the reservoir. James had been denied entry into the northern end of the park a few weeks before because his boats were trailered so we decided to save the time & money of trying to get into the park & just put in at Lafayette Road.
The water was about 75 feet back from where we normally put in, and it wasn’t much better downstream. We paddled down almost to the north end of the rowing course and were hitting the bottom with our paddles much of the time. Due to the water level there were more herons than normal, and they were much further out than they would usually be, We decided to head back upstream and see if we could go north from the put-in but after a couple of hundred yards we were sitting on the bottom.
Not much of a trip, but I did get the opportunity to paddle the Breeze, which is very comfortable for me and much faster than the Zirconia. I wasn’t impressed with the seat back, which tends to come loose at the bottom, but that could probably be fixed by adding some hardware to make a pivot point instead of leaving it loose as it is OEM. It seemed to be very maneuverable and I’d like to try it again sometime when we’re on the creek & steering is important.
It's getting hard to find water...Eagle Creek and White River are both really low.
Location: White River – White River Canoe Company put in to Noblesville
Distance: +/-6
Date: 6-13-07
Paddle Time: +/- 2 hours
Weather: Sunny & 80
We counted this as aour monthly trip even though it was part of a company-sponsored event. Any excuse to paddle, you know?
Anyway it was a great day for paddling…nice weather, a breeze and decent water level. A bit low, but not where we had to walk. Took it really easy paddling down, so it was mostly a float.
The covered bridge about halfway down is a great place to stop on this trip.
Distance: +/-6
Date: 6-13-07
Paddle Time: +/- 2 hours
Weather: Sunny & 80
We counted this as aour monthly trip even though it was part of a company-sponsored event. Any excuse to paddle, you know?
Anyway it was a great day for paddling…nice weather, a breeze and decent water level. A bit low, but not where we had to walk. Took it really easy paddling down, so it was mostly a float.
The covered bridge about halfway down is a great place to stop on this trip.
Location: White River – Noblesville boat ramp to 116th Street
Distance: +/-9 miles
Date: 5-31-07
Paddle Time: +/- 3 hours
Weather: Sunny & 80
Once again squeaking in a monthly trip on the last day possible…This took a little longer than we expected due to a headwind…I put in & floated in the middle without going downstream. Not too much interesting on this run except for a motorcycle in the water just south of 146th Street. We took another look around for the “’Neath the Sycamore Tree” geocache just downstream from Conner Prairie but still didn’t find it.
Distance: +/-9 miles
Date: 5-31-07
Paddle Time: +/- 3 hours
Weather: Sunny & 80
Once again squeaking in a monthly trip on the last day possible…This took a little longer than we expected due to a headwind…I put in & floated in the middle without going downstream. Not too much interesting on this run except for a motorcycle in the water just south of 146th Street. We took another look around for the “’Neath the Sycamore Tree” geocache just downstream from Conner Prairie but still didn’t find it.
Location: Eagle Creek – Turkey Foot Park to Lafayette Road
Distance +/-9 miles
Date: 4-27-07
Gauge: 2.3 (Zionsville)
Paddle Time: +/-3 hours
Weather: Overcast & 70
April Trip – wanting to get in an evening trip that finished up in the dark we packed our headlights and didn’t start until about 6:45 PM. The first two legs of the trip were uneventful since there was plenty of daylight and we had all run them several times before. Tucker dragged his boat through the strainer that tipped us last November but made it through the log/sandbar/strainer combo where he swam in March without any problems. He was pretty happy about that.
We all agreed that this water level was about as low as we would want to go. There were a lot of rocks visible that had not been on the last trip, or that were just underwater before.
Below the Ford Road bridge the creek doesn’t change much. On the map it’s about a 4-mile leg from there to the takeout. About halfway down we decided it was a good time to get the headlights out as it was starting to get dim. There weren’t a lot of drops or riffles to deal with, really similar to upstream.
Just before it got dark James took a swim when the current didn’t take him away from a tree as expected and he ran up on it. Fortunately his headlight was not lost and his GPS is waterproof.
After it got full dark we ran a couple of riffles without hitting anything major, then came upon a large tree blocking the way. Fortunately there was a sandbar river left to use to portage around, but just below that the current made a hard break to river left upstream of another tree, and that it would be difficult to avoid a strainer just downstream of that. We scouted for a way around, but there was no way back onto the creek for further downstream than we wanted to portage.
After deciding we could launch from the downstream end of the sandbar and paddle hard right to fight the current James took off as the guinea pig. Just after passing the end of the tree he was grabbed by an eddy and swung to the right away from the sweeper…piece of cake. Tucker and I went through after that with the same results and we continued on downstream.
The stream below that is basically flat water as it is coming into the reservoir. There were no additional obstacles and we reached the takeout at river right about 9:45. It is an easy drag over an embankment and about 100 yards through grass to the parking area along Lafayette Road just north of the bridge, much easier than trying to negotiate the steep banks right at the bridge.
Distance +/-9 miles
Date: 4-27-07
Gauge: 2.3 (Zionsville)
Paddle Time: +/-3 hours
Weather: Overcast & 70
April Trip – wanting to get in an evening trip that finished up in the dark we packed our headlights and didn’t start until about 6:45 PM. The first two legs of the trip were uneventful since there was plenty of daylight and we had all run them several times before. Tucker dragged his boat through the strainer that tipped us last November but made it through the log/sandbar/strainer combo where he swam in March without any problems. He was pretty happy about that.
We all agreed that this water level was about as low as we would want to go. There were a lot of rocks visible that had not been on the last trip, or that were just underwater before.
Below the Ford Road bridge the creek doesn’t change much. On the map it’s about a 4-mile leg from there to the takeout. About halfway down we decided it was a good time to get the headlights out as it was starting to get dim. There weren’t a lot of drops or riffles to deal with, really similar to upstream.
Just before it got dark James took a swim when the current didn’t take him away from a tree as expected and he ran up on it. Fortunately his headlight was not lost and his GPS is waterproof.
After it got full dark we ran a couple of riffles without hitting anything major, then came upon a large tree blocking the way. Fortunately there was a sandbar river left to use to portage around, but just below that the current made a hard break to river left upstream of another tree, and that it would be difficult to avoid a strainer just downstream of that. We scouted for a way around, but there was no way back onto the creek for further downstream than we wanted to portage.
After deciding we could launch from the downstream end of the sandbar and paddle hard right to fight the current James took off as the guinea pig. Just after passing the end of the tree he was grabbed by an eddy and swung to the right away from the sweeper…piece of cake. Tucker and I went through after that with the same results and we continued on downstream.
The stream below that is basically flat water as it is coming into the reservoir. There were no additional obstacles and we reached the takeout at river right about 9:45. It is an easy drag over an embankment and about 100 yards through grass to the parking area along Lafayette Road just north of the bridge, much easier than trying to negotiate the steep banks right at the bridge.
Location: Eagle Creek – Turkey Foot Park to 96th Street & Ford Road
Distance: +/-5.5
Date: 3-31-07
Gauge: 2.5 (Zionsville)
Paddle Time: 1 hour
Weather: Cloudy & 65, intermittent rain & thunderstorms
We posted an earlier trip report for the second half of this trip, from Lions Park to 96th Street, so this won’t add much detail to that portion, but just describes the section from the future Turkey Foot Park to Lions Park.
This trip was a replacement for a planned overnight on Lake Monroe that was canceled due to thunderstorms in the forecast. On the way to meet the rest of our party we had a little rain, and while we were waiting for the others to arrive we everything from light rain to downpours with thunder. Since the rain was supposed to be intermittent throughout the day we decided to go ahead with the trip.
Turkey Foot Park is an undeveloped park at the northern end of Turkey Foot Road north of the Zionsville Golf Course (coordinates 39°58'21.48"N 86°16'5.87"W). The road continues northwest into a development, but dead ends alongside the park if you go straight ahead. This is an old drive that leads to someone’s house so we avoid blocking it, but we have gotten permission from the parks department to put in there. At the northern end of the park is an easy walk to the water and a sand/gravel bar that makes a great put-in.
About a half mile into the trip is a sandbar/strainer combination that put two of us in the water last November. It was more manageable this trip with the water level around a foot lower, and everyone got through with no problems. This obstacle requires a pretty quick left turn upstream of a strainer and across the downstream end of a sandbar while the water is trying to carry you directly through the strainer so it can be a challenge. There is also an eddy upstream of the strainer alongside the sandbar which can force the front end of your boat toward the bar and spin you. It is definitely a place to go single-file and make sure the person ahead of you is completely through even at lower levels.
There are several small drops and riffles in this section that can be entertaining. One is just after the creek turns east on the north side of the golf course, then south along the road. There are several large rocks there to look out for.
About a quarter mile after you pass under the bridge for County Road 1100 is the confluence with Little Eagle Creek. This creates a sandbar and a shallow spot that may require a short portage. Approximately another tenth of a mile downstream there is a small drop with rocks all the way across…you’re going to scrape bottom here if the water level is below 3. Last time we ran it at 3.7 we went right over, this time we all tried different lines and scraped. It’s a fun spot, though as the picture shows. The rest of the way to Lion’s Park is pretty straightforward.
You can see the earlier trip report for the remainder of the trip to 96th Street below, but there have been a couple of changes worth noting since that report; one was a logjam just past the railroad bridge that we portaged around (there is a trail river right) and another tricky sandbar/strainer combination just a couple of hundred yards before the takeout. This one involves the creek being forced to river left at the upstream end of the bar into a fairly narrow channel next to an undercut bank. The bank has some bushes growing over it that you can get caught in. If you get into the bushes but can keep your boat headed straight downstream you should be OK, if you get caught and turned sideways there is enough velocity through there that the creek can easily flip you. We had one swimmer here, fortunately both the water and air temperatures were fairly warm and we were close to the end.
The last couple of trips we have used the bank before the bridge to take out, the pulled the boats under the bridge and up to the parking area. While a longer drag/carry this helps you avoid the steeper bank on the downstream side of the bridge.
Keep in mind when portaging that Eagle Creek in Boone County is not designated a navigable waterway, so please tread lightly and obey any no trespassing signs you may see.
Distance: +/-5.5
Date: 3-31-07
Gauge: 2.5 (Zionsville)
Paddle Time: 1 hour
Weather: Cloudy & 65, intermittent rain & thunderstorms
We posted an earlier trip report for the second half of this trip, from Lions Park to 96th Street, so this won’t add much detail to that portion, but just describes the section from the future Turkey Foot Park to Lions Park.
This trip was a replacement for a planned overnight on Lake Monroe that was canceled due to thunderstorms in the forecast. On the way to meet the rest of our party we had a little rain, and while we were waiting for the others to arrive we everything from light rain to downpours with thunder. Since the rain was supposed to be intermittent throughout the day we decided to go ahead with the trip.
Turkey Foot Park is an undeveloped park at the northern end of Turkey Foot Road north of the Zionsville Golf Course (coordinates 39°58'21.48"N 86°16'5.87"W). The road continues northwest into a development, but dead ends alongside the park if you go straight ahead. This is an old drive that leads to someone’s house so we avoid blocking it, but we have gotten permission from the parks department to put in there. At the northern end of the park is an easy walk to the water and a sand/gravel bar that makes a great put-in.
About a half mile into the trip is a sandbar/strainer combination that put two of us in the water last November. It was more manageable this trip with the water level around a foot lower, and everyone got through with no problems. This obstacle requires a pretty quick left turn upstream of a strainer and across the downstream end of a sandbar while the water is trying to carry you directly through the strainer so it can be a challenge. There is also an eddy upstream of the strainer alongside the sandbar which can force the front end of your boat toward the bar and spin you. It is definitely a place to go single-file and make sure the person ahead of you is completely through even at lower levels.
There are several small drops and riffles in this section that can be entertaining. One is just after the creek turns east on the north side of the golf course, then south along the road. There are several large rocks there to look out for.
About a quarter mile after you pass under the bridge for County Road 1100 is the confluence with Little Eagle Creek. This creates a sandbar and a shallow spot that may require a short portage. Approximately another tenth of a mile downstream there is a small drop with rocks all the way across…you’re going to scrape bottom here if the water level is below 3. Last time we ran it at 3.7 we went right over, this time we all tried different lines and scraped. It’s a fun spot, though as the picture shows. The rest of the way to Lion’s Park is pretty straightforward.
You can see the earlier trip report for the remainder of the trip to 96th Street below, but there have been a couple of changes worth noting since that report; one was a logjam just past the railroad bridge that we portaged around (there is a trail river right) and another tricky sandbar/strainer combination just a couple of hundred yards before the takeout. This one involves the creek being forced to river left at the upstream end of the bar into a fairly narrow channel next to an undercut bank. The bank has some bushes growing over it that you can get caught in. If you get into the bushes but can keep your boat headed straight downstream you should be OK, if you get caught and turned sideways there is enough velocity through there that the creek can easily flip you. We had one swimmer here, fortunately both the water and air temperatures were fairly warm and we were close to the end.
The last couple of trips we have used the bank before the bridge to take out, the pulled the boats under the bridge and up to the parking area. While a longer drag/carry this helps you avoid the steeper bank on the downstream side of the bridge.
Keep in mind when portaging that Eagle Creek in Boone County is not designated a navigable waterway, so please tread lightly and obey any no trespassing signs you may see.
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
White River, River Road Park to 116th Street
Location: Carmel, Indiana
Stream: White River – River Road Park to 116th Street
Distance: 1 mile
Date: 2-28-07
Paddle Time: 30 minutes
Weather: 35 degrees; rain, sleet, snow; snow on the ground
This was a token trip to get in February paddle....we had set a goal in December of 06 or January of 07 to paddle at least once a month in 07. In February James had to have knee surgery so we put this trip off as long as we could, but we had run out of February.
Fortunately River Road Park has a handicap accessible fishing area along the river, so I left work early and took my tandem and James' wife drove him to the park to meet me. While I was waiting for them to arrive it both rained and snowed...within about a 10-minute period. I knew the distance was not long but I was beginning to wonder if we were going to be soaked by the time we finished.
Since winter didn't really arrive until February this year there was a pretty good snow cover on both the concrete ramp down to the fishing station and the ground beside it. Due to the snow cover on the ramp James had to go down the riprap next to the ramp, but he managed to make it on his crutches without falling.
By the time we got on the water it had stopped raining and snowing so we set off. In the photo you can just see James' crutch down in the boat. It's a really short trip, so we were only on the water about 20 minutes, but we got in our paddle for the month in spite of everything.
We had to call Anne at the end of the trip to pick up James, she said she had just gotten home when we called...it probably would have made more sense to have her drive straight there. She said she was glad we went, though, beause James had gotten a bit stir-crazy being cooped up in the house after his surgery.
Stream: White River – River Road Park to 116th Street
Distance: 1 mile
Date: 2-28-07
Paddle Time: 30 minutes
Weather: 35 degrees; rain, sleet, snow; snow on the ground
This was a token trip to get in February paddle....we had set a goal in December of 06 or January of 07 to paddle at least once a month in 07. In February James had to have knee surgery so we put this trip off as long as we could, but we had run out of February.
Fortunately River Road Park has a handicap accessible fishing area along the river, so I left work early and took my tandem and James' wife drove him to the park to meet me. While I was waiting for them to arrive it both rained and snowed...within about a 10-minute period. I knew the distance was not long but I was beginning to wonder if we were going to be soaked by the time we finished.
Since winter didn't really arrive until February this year there was a pretty good snow cover on both the concrete ramp down to the fishing station and the ground beside it. Due to the snow cover on the ramp James had to go down the riprap next to the ramp, but he managed to make it on his crutches without falling.
By the time we got on the water it had stopped raining and snowing so we set off. In the photo you can just see James' crutch down in the boat. It's a really short trip, so we were only on the water about 20 minutes, but we got in our paddle for the month in spite of everything.
We had to call Anne at the end of the trip to pick up James, she said she had just gotten home when we called...it probably would have made more sense to have her drive straight there. She said she was glad we went, though, beause James had gotten a bit stir-crazy being cooped up in the house after his surgery.
Sugar Creek
Location: Mechanicsburg, Indiana
Stream: Sugar Creek – S.R. 39 to U.S. 52
Distance +/-9
Date: 12-15-06
Gauge: +/-None
Paddle Time: +/-3 hours
Paddlers: James Nichols, Doug Mark
Weather: Sunny & 35 @ start, 51 at end
Note: As you will see in the report we found out part way through this trip that this creek has not been designated a navigable waterway or a recreational stream in Boone County. This means any wading, portaging or otherwise touching property adjacent to the stream is at your own risk of trespassing. In order to help you avoid trouble with access and property owners please review the following:
Indiana Navigability Report Summary:
Indiana law is somewhat confusing as it applies to recreational boaters. Boaters may clearly use larger navigable streams where the state owns the streambed, as well as smaller streams that have been statutorily designated as recreational rivers. Whether smaller navigable streams, which have privately owned beds, may be used for boating is presently unclear. Despite the fact that Indiana authorities have discussed navigability, the law determining which Indiana streams are open to recreational boating is far from clear. The exception to this is any stream designated as a recreational stream.
Or, you can get more info at the American Whitewater.org law review section: (http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/Wiki/access:in )
Paddling Notes:
This section of Sugar Creek varies in width from about 20 feet to 40 feet. We saw a few scattered sand bars, but at this water level there were no places we could not paddle through. There is no gauge in the area for a reference.
It is roughly a four mile drive from the takeout to the put-in but the creek meanders north and south as it makes its way generally southwest toward Crawfordsville resulting in a paddle of about 8.8 miles. There are a few fun riffles and small holes to add interest, but also several trees down across the creek. We were able to slide over and under a couple of trees but had to walk around a few more.
We put in on the east side of the S.R. 39 bridge where we have access on private property. ( 40° 9'41.99"N, 86°29'8.17"W) It looks like decent access and parking for a couple of vehicles is available in the highway right-of-way on the northeast side of the bridge. About 1.5 miles into the trip we came to a large island we could not see around, and elected to go to the right. That route turned out to be blocked by an old farm bridge low to the water, so we portaged around. We went river right since the bank was lower, but this is in someone’s yard. Fortunately we were back in the water before the dog noticed us…he was not looking too friendly as we paddled away.
There is an old concrete arch railroad bridge about 1.2 miles downstream and an iron truss bridge about 4.6 miles downstream. The iron bridge is another possible takeout point for a shorter trip, it is located on Creek Road at 40° 9'10.40"N, 86°32'3.50"W.
After passing under the iron bridge then Interstate 65 we noticed that the property owner on river left had posted notices reading “No Trespassing” and “Notice Regarding Public Access to Sugar Creek” in large letters and a lot of small print underneath that you couldn’t read from the water. Since it seemed like a good time for a bathroom break we stopped to do that and read the rest of the notice. The small print contained the warning that because Sugar Creek has not been designated a navigable waterway touching the bank or bottom is trespassing. We decided it was nice of them to post that part in letters so small you have to be within a few feet to read them, so you are essentially trespassing to find out you are trespassing.
This is such a rural area with so little development that I don’t believe that most people are aware of the river law or would care if you did portage for a short way as long as you are within the normal high water mark like any navigable stream. However, this particular property owner has fenced around 1400 acres to create his own hunting area and is also apparently concerned about invasion via water. Since that trip we have seen a lot of comments about the owner and his attitude toward access to the creek on the discussion boards for the local paper.
We continued on our way scaring up a couple of whitetail bucks that would run downstream a few hundred yards to hide, then jump up and run again when we got close. They finally got tired of the game and crossed the creek about 50 yards in front of us and took off through a farm field.
We also saw several squirrels and, surprisingly for the time of day, a raccoon. We saw evidence of beavers as well, but no animals.
About a half mile from the end we got to “the maze”…the creek had split around a very small island, and was completely blocked by trees that had fallen from either side and brush that had washed down into them. We scouted a bit to find a way around, and were amazed to find that there were several more small islands downstream basically held together by tree roots with water running through in several directions. We portaged river right and continued around to the right since that seemed the smoothest. This will be a fun place to come back and play around in on a warmer day this summer.
While not the easiest access in the world due to the slope, the water level was perfect at the takeout for us to be able to pull over at the bottom of the roadside drainage ditch on river right and haul our boats up to the northbound U.S. 52 shoulder where we had parked. ( 40° 8'54.38"N, 86°35'6.30"W)
This is a fairly easy paddle, but you do have to look out for downed trees. Some of the maneuvering would be tight for inexperienced paddlers or possibly a larger boat (although ours are 14 & 17' long), but there were no other major obstacles. Since this section is through farmland it is not as scenic as the sections downstream of Crawfordsville with the bluffs and forests, but it was still enjoyable.
Stream: Sugar Creek – S.R. 39 to U.S. 52
Distance +/-9
Date: 12-15-06
Gauge: +/-None
Paddle Time: +/-3 hours
Paddlers: James Nichols, Doug Mark
Weather: Sunny & 35 @ start, 51 at end
Note: As you will see in the report we found out part way through this trip that this creek has not been designated a navigable waterway or a recreational stream in Boone County. This means any wading, portaging or otherwise touching property adjacent to the stream is at your own risk of trespassing. In order to help you avoid trouble with access and property owners please review the following:
Indiana Navigability Report Summary:
Indiana law is somewhat confusing as it applies to recreational boaters. Boaters may clearly use larger navigable streams where the state owns the streambed, as well as smaller streams that have been statutorily designated as recreational rivers. Whether smaller navigable streams, which have privately owned beds, may be used for boating is presently unclear. Despite the fact that Indiana authorities have discussed navigability, the law determining which Indiana streams are open to recreational boating is far from clear. The exception to this is any stream designated as a recreational stream.
Or, you can get more info at the American Whitewater.org law review section: (http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/Wiki/access:in )
Paddling Notes:
This section of Sugar Creek varies in width from about 20 feet to 40 feet. We saw a few scattered sand bars, but at this water level there were no places we could not paddle through. There is no gauge in the area for a reference.
It is roughly a four mile drive from the takeout to the put-in but the creek meanders north and south as it makes its way generally southwest toward Crawfordsville resulting in a paddle of about 8.8 miles. There are a few fun riffles and small holes to add interest, but also several trees down across the creek. We were able to slide over and under a couple of trees but had to walk around a few more.
We put in on the east side of the S.R. 39 bridge where we have access on private property. ( 40° 9'41.99"N, 86°29'8.17"W) It looks like decent access and parking for a couple of vehicles is available in the highway right-of-way on the northeast side of the bridge. About 1.5 miles into the trip we came to a large island we could not see around, and elected to go to the right. That route turned out to be blocked by an old farm bridge low to the water, so we portaged around. We went river right since the bank was lower, but this is in someone’s yard. Fortunately we were back in the water before the dog noticed us…he was not looking too friendly as we paddled away.
There is an old concrete arch railroad bridge about 1.2 miles downstream and an iron truss bridge about 4.6 miles downstream. The iron bridge is another possible takeout point for a shorter trip, it is located on Creek Road at 40° 9'10.40"N, 86°32'3.50"W.
After passing under the iron bridge then Interstate 65 we noticed that the property owner on river left had posted notices reading “No Trespassing” and “Notice Regarding Public Access to Sugar Creek” in large letters and a lot of small print underneath that you couldn’t read from the water. Since it seemed like a good time for a bathroom break we stopped to do that and read the rest of the notice. The small print contained the warning that because Sugar Creek has not been designated a navigable waterway touching the bank or bottom is trespassing. We decided it was nice of them to post that part in letters so small you have to be within a few feet to read them, so you are essentially trespassing to find out you are trespassing.
This is such a rural area with so little development that I don’t believe that most people are aware of the river law or would care if you did portage for a short way as long as you are within the normal high water mark like any navigable stream. However, this particular property owner has fenced around 1400 acres to create his own hunting area and is also apparently concerned about invasion via water. Since that trip we have seen a lot of comments about the owner and his attitude toward access to the creek on the discussion boards for the local paper.
We continued on our way scaring up a couple of whitetail bucks that would run downstream a few hundred yards to hide, then jump up and run again when we got close. They finally got tired of the game and crossed the creek about 50 yards in front of us and took off through a farm field.
We also saw several squirrels and, surprisingly for the time of day, a raccoon. We saw evidence of beavers as well, but no animals.
About a half mile from the end we got to “the maze”…the creek had split around a very small island, and was completely blocked by trees that had fallen from either side and brush that had washed down into them. We scouted a bit to find a way around, and were amazed to find that there were several more small islands downstream basically held together by tree roots with water running through in several directions. We portaged river right and continued around to the right since that seemed the smoothest. This will be a fun place to come back and play around in on a warmer day this summer.
While not the easiest access in the world due to the slope, the water level was perfect at the takeout for us to be able to pull over at the bottom of the roadside drainage ditch on river right and haul our boats up to the northbound U.S. 52 shoulder where we had parked. ( 40° 8'54.38"N, 86°35'6.30"W)
This is a fairly easy paddle, but you do have to look out for downed trees. Some of the maneuvering would be tight for inexperienced paddlers or possibly a larger boat (although ours are 14 & 17' long), but there were no other major obstacles. Since this section is through farmland it is not as scenic as the sections downstream of Crawfordsville with the bluffs and forests, but it was still enjoyable.
Friday, May 4, 2007
Eagle Creek Section 3
Location: Zionsville, Indiana
Stream: Eagle Creek – Turkey Foot Park to Lafayette Road
Distance +/-9
Date: 4-27-07
Gauge: 2.3
Paddle Time: +/-3 hours
Weather: Sunny & 70
This post will be out of order with some trip reports, but it will complete the Eagle Creek reports from Turkey Foot Park to Lafayette Road. We haven't gotten around to exploring upstream of Turkey Foot Park yet, but would like to this summer.
We set a goal in January of wanting to paddle every month this year, and this was to be our April trip, and we had also talked about trying to get in an evening trip that finished up in the dark so we packed our headlights and didn’t start until about 6:45 PM. The first two legs of the trip were uneventful since there was plenty of daylight and we had all run them several times before.
Tucker dragged his boat through the strainer that tipped us last November but made it through the one that sent him swimming on our March trip without any problems. He was pretty happy about that.
We all agreed that this water level was about as low as we would want to go. There were a lot of rocks visible that had not been on the last trip, or that were just underwater before. James was a bit left of the good line at on one drop and dragged bottom pretty hard.
I was glad we had left Tucker’s SOT at home, I don’t know if the patch would have held up the whole way.
Below the Ford Road bridge the creek doesn’t change much. On the map it’s about a 4-mile leg from there to the takeout. About half way down we decided it was a good time to get the headlights out as it was starting to get dim. There weren’t a lot of drops or riffles to deal with, really similar to upstream.
Just before it got dark James took a swim when the current didn’t take him away from a down tree as expected and he ran up on it. Fortunately his headlight was not lost and his GPS is waterproof.
After it got full dark we ran a couple of riffles without hitting anything major, then after 86th Street we came upon a large tree blocking the way. Fortunately there was a sandbar river left to use to portage around, but just below that the current made a hard break to river left upstream of another tree, and it looked like it would be difficult to avoid a strainer just downstream of that. We scouted for a way around, but there was no way back onto the creek for a long way downstream. After deciding we could launch from the downstream end of the sandbar and paddle hard right to fight the current James took off as the guinea pig. Just after passing the end of the tree he was grabbed by an eddy and swung to the right away from the sweeper…piece of cake. Tucker and I went through after that with the same results and we continued on downstream.
The stream below that is basically flat water as it is coming into the reservoir. There were no additional obstacles and we reached the takeout at river right about 9:45. It is an easy drag over an embankment and about 100 yards through grass to the parking area along Lafayette Road just north of the bridge, much easier than trying to negotiate the steep banks right at the bridge.
Unfortunately we forgot the camera. We could have had some pretty cool photos of us the time near sunset and of us paddling in the dark.
Stream: Eagle Creek – Turkey Foot Park to Lafayette Road
Distance +/-9
Date: 4-27-07
Gauge: 2.3
Paddle Time: +/-3 hours
Weather: Sunny & 70
This post will be out of order with some trip reports, but it will complete the Eagle Creek reports from Turkey Foot Park to Lafayette Road. We haven't gotten around to exploring upstream of Turkey Foot Park yet, but would like to this summer.
We set a goal in January of wanting to paddle every month this year, and this was to be our April trip, and we had also talked about trying to get in an evening trip that finished up in the dark so we packed our headlights and didn’t start until about 6:45 PM. The first two legs of the trip were uneventful since there was plenty of daylight and we had all run them several times before.
Tucker dragged his boat through the strainer that tipped us last November but made it through the one that sent him swimming on our March trip without any problems. He was pretty happy about that.
We all agreed that this water level was about as low as we would want to go. There were a lot of rocks visible that had not been on the last trip, or that were just underwater before. James was a bit left of the good line at on one drop and dragged bottom pretty hard.
I was glad we had left Tucker’s SOT at home, I don’t know if the patch would have held up the whole way.
Below the Ford Road bridge the creek doesn’t change much. On the map it’s about a 4-mile leg from there to the takeout. About half way down we decided it was a good time to get the headlights out as it was starting to get dim. There weren’t a lot of drops or riffles to deal with, really similar to upstream.
Just before it got dark James took a swim when the current didn’t take him away from a down tree as expected and he ran up on it. Fortunately his headlight was not lost and his GPS is waterproof.
After it got full dark we ran a couple of riffles without hitting anything major, then after 86th Street we came upon a large tree blocking the way. Fortunately there was a sandbar river left to use to portage around, but just below that the current made a hard break to river left upstream of another tree, and it looked like it would be difficult to avoid a strainer just downstream of that. We scouted for a way around, but there was no way back onto the creek for a long way downstream. After deciding we could launch from the downstream end of the sandbar and paddle hard right to fight the current James took off as the guinea pig. Just after passing the end of the tree he was grabbed by an eddy and swung to the right away from the sweeper…piece of cake. Tucker and I went through after that with the same results and we continued on downstream.
The stream below that is basically flat water as it is coming into the reservoir. There were no additional obstacles and we reached the takeout at river right about 9:45. It is an easy drag over an embankment and about 100 yards through grass to the parking area along Lafayette Road just north of the bridge, much easier than trying to negotiate the steep banks right at the bridge.
Unfortunately we forgot the camera. We could have had some pretty cool photos of us the time near sunset and of us paddling in the dark.
Eagle Creek Section 1
Location: Zionsville, Indiana
Stream: Eagle Creek - Turkey Foot Park to Ford Road
Distance +/-5
Date: 11-18-06
Gauge: +/-3.7
Paddle Time: +/-2 hours
Weather: Overcast & 35
Difficulty: Moderate at this water level
Notes:
This is labeled Section 1 even though it appears on Google Earth that we could possibly put in upstream and check out some of that area. If we manage to do that we'll post a report and re-label the sections
Turkey Foot Park is an undeveloped park at the northern end of Turkey Foot Road north of the Zionsville Golf Course (coordinates 39°58'21.48"N 86°16'5.87"W). The road continues northwest into a development, but dead ends alongside the park if you go straight ahead. This is an old drive that leads to someone’s house so we avoid blocking it, but we have gotten permission from the parks department to put in there. At the northern end of the park is an easy walk to the water and a sand/gravel bar that makes a great put-in.
Pretty high water level. 0.5 miles into the trip we hit a fast narrow section with a sandbar in the middle and two strainers on the right. The plan was to make a quick turn around the end of the sandbar before hitting the strainers. James went first and when it appeared he was through Tucker and I started through. Unfortunately about that time James was caught in an eddy which forced his bow onto the sandbar, and we were too close to stop. We tried to get around his stern and turn in front of the strainer, but got swept on past and into the branches. We leaned downstream to counteract the water, but then the tree bent and we went over.
The water was pretty cold, so it was a breath-taker to go in, but I hung onto the boat and we didn’t lose any paddles. One ended up in the strainer, the other a little way downstream. The bank didn’t really leave us a place to get out, so Tucker walked across to the middle of the creek and stood on the sandbar. After I got the boat relatively near shore James was able to come over and help me get it the rest of the way in. Tucker then had to wade back across to get to me and the boat which he wasn't real happy about, but he didn't have much choice. This photo is just after we got out of the water...at least he's smiling. The overcast and 35-degree temperature didn't help much.
We were pretty cold, so I got out a couple of dry shirts I had brought and gave them to Tucker. After he got them on and warmed up a little we decided to go on down. The rest of the way down to Lion’s Park was pretty uneventful.
There are a couple of interesting drops/riffles, one being just on the northeast corner of the golf course. That's a pretty quick right-hand bend into a small drop with several large rocks river left, the best course is to the right.
There is a large sandbar where a creek enters from river left - I think it's Little Eagle Creek - where you can find some very large freshwater mussel shells.
Approximately another tenth of a mile downstream there is a small drop with rocks all the way across, the photo below the Eagle Creek heading from a later trip of Tucker hitting it with style shows why.
You can see the earlier report on the section from Lions Park to the Ford Road takeout. This water level did make a couple of the tight spots more challenging, but still not difficult.
We have started taking out before the bridge because the bank is a little less steep, but it's a tradeoff for a slightly longer drag/carry to get up to the parking area
Stream: Eagle Creek - Turkey Foot Park to Ford Road
Distance +/-5
Date: 11-18-06
Gauge: +/-3.7
Paddle Time: +/-2 hours
Weather: Overcast & 35
Difficulty: Moderate at this water level
Notes:
This is labeled Section 1 even though it appears on Google Earth that we could possibly put in upstream and check out some of that area. If we manage to do that we'll post a report and re-label the sections
Turkey Foot Park is an undeveloped park at the northern end of Turkey Foot Road north of the Zionsville Golf Course (coordinates 39°58'21.48"N 86°16'5.87"W). The road continues northwest into a development, but dead ends alongside the park if you go straight ahead. This is an old drive that leads to someone’s house so we avoid blocking it, but we have gotten permission from the parks department to put in there. At the northern end of the park is an easy walk to the water and a sand/gravel bar that makes a great put-in.
Pretty high water level. 0.5 miles into the trip we hit a fast narrow section with a sandbar in the middle and two strainers on the right. The plan was to make a quick turn around the end of the sandbar before hitting the strainers. James went first and when it appeared he was through Tucker and I started through. Unfortunately about that time James was caught in an eddy which forced his bow onto the sandbar, and we were too close to stop. We tried to get around his stern and turn in front of the strainer, but got swept on past and into the branches. We leaned downstream to counteract the water, but then the tree bent and we went over.
The water was pretty cold, so it was a breath-taker to go in, but I hung onto the boat and we didn’t lose any paddles. One ended up in the strainer, the other a little way downstream. The bank didn’t really leave us a place to get out, so Tucker walked across to the middle of the creek and stood on the sandbar. After I got the boat relatively near shore James was able to come over and help me get it the rest of the way in. Tucker then had to wade back across to get to me and the boat which he wasn't real happy about, but he didn't have much choice. This photo is just after we got out of the water...at least he's smiling. The overcast and 35-degree temperature didn't help much.
We were pretty cold, so I got out a couple of dry shirts I had brought and gave them to Tucker. After he got them on and warmed up a little we decided to go on down. The rest of the way down to Lion’s Park was pretty uneventful.There are a couple of interesting drops/riffles, one being just on the northeast corner of the golf course. That's a pretty quick right-hand bend into a small drop with several large rocks river left, the best course is to the right.
There is a large sandbar where a creek enters from river left - I think it's Little Eagle Creek - where you can find some very large freshwater mussel shells.
Approximately another tenth of a mile downstream there is a small drop with rocks all the way across, the photo below the Eagle Creek heading from a later trip of Tucker hitting it with style shows why.
You can see the earlier report on the section from Lions Park to the Ford Road takeout. This water level did make a couple of the tight spots more challenging, but still not difficult.
We have started taking out before the bridge because the bank is a little less steep, but it's a tradeoff for a slightly longer drag/carry to get up to the parking area
Eagle Creek Section 2
Location: Zionsville, Indiana
Stream: Eagle Creek - Lions Park to Ford Road
Distance +/-2.2
Date: 9-17-06
Gauge: +/-2.0
Paddle Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: Easy
Notes:
At lower water levels this is a nice easy after work paddle or short trip. When the gauge is above 3.5 there are a couple of areas that are more challenging due to trees, sandbars and strainers.
We normally put in the north side of the bridge, I have seen people go under and to the south side, but it tends to be muddy.
About 150 yards downstream was the first significant riffle. It’s about 40 feet long with a 3’ or so boulder on the left. The best way through is to the right of this rock. Immediately after the riffle you have to make a right turn to avoid a small island. Tucker and I went through first without too much drama, then turned around to see what everyone else did. Miguel made it through fine, and said Julie and Austin were close behind. After waiting a few minutes, they came into view…backward. They almost got through, but went to the left of the rock and twisted, pinning the middle of the boat on the rock crosswise. Austin was pretty scared when the upstream edge of the boat started to go under, but after we got him out of the boat he thought it was pretty cool. It took several minutes to get the boat off the rock because it was almost full of water, but we eventually got it free and continued downstream.
The rest of the trip was fairly smooth. There were several tight bends that required quick steering, a couple had strainers on the outside that were hard to avoid. After the lead boat dragged bottom and became stuck for a short time in several riffles we started keeping more space between the boats to avoid hitting a stuck boat. This level is about as low as you would want to go for this trip.
When we crossed under the trail that runs on the old railroad bridge Tucker yelled really loud and got a great echo off the arch of the bridge.
Our spacing didn’t quite work out for Miguel when he hit a hidden rock and spun sideways. Tucker and I were in the last boat and we tried to wait until he was off, but we got caught in the current and ran into him. He was already out of the boat, his first “swim”, but us hitting him didn’t help. We got both boats over to the side and emptied out, and Tucker and I pulled the boat back upstream a short way to take another run at it. The rock really was hard to see, but we avoided it that time.
We took out on the west side of the Ford Road bridge. The takeout was not bad, but it could use a little clearing out. There was a little poison ivy on the trail out, so Julie and Austin went out on the south side of the bridge. Their boat had so much water in it I had to let it drain for several minutes before I could get it out of the water.
All in all a great trip, but if the water were any lower it would be difficult in some of the riffles. Definitely one to do again.
Stream: Eagle Creek - Lions Park to Ford Road
Distance +/-2.2
Date: 9-17-06
Gauge: +/-2.0
Paddle Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: Easy
Notes:
At lower water levels this is a nice easy after work paddle or short trip. When the gauge is above 3.5 there are a couple of areas that are more challenging due to trees, sandbars and strainers.
We normally put in the north side of the bridge, I have seen people go under and to the south side, but it tends to be muddy.
About 150 yards downstream was the first significant riffle. It’s about 40 feet long with a 3’ or so boulder on the left. The best way through is to the right of this rock. Immediately after the riffle you have to make a right turn to avoid a small island. Tucker and I went through first without too much drama, then turned around to see what everyone else did. Miguel made it through fine, and said Julie and Austin were close behind. After waiting a few minutes, they came into view…backward. They almost got through, but went to the left of the rock and twisted, pinning the middle of the boat on the rock crosswise. Austin was pretty scared when the upstream edge of the boat started to go under, but after we got him out of the boat he thought it was pretty cool. It took several minutes to get the boat off the rock because it was almost full of water, but we eventually got it free and continued downstream.
The rest of the trip was fairly smooth. There were several tight bends that required quick steering, a couple had strainers on the outside that were hard to avoid. After the lead boat dragged bottom and became stuck for a short time in several riffles we started keeping more space between the boats to avoid hitting a stuck boat. This level is about as low as you would want to go for this trip.
When we crossed under the trail that runs on the old railroad bridge Tucker yelled really loud and got a great echo off the arch of the bridge.
Our spacing didn’t quite work out for Miguel when he hit a hidden rock and spun sideways. Tucker and I were in the last boat and we tried to wait until he was off, but we got caught in the current and ran into him. He was already out of the boat, his first “swim”, but us hitting him didn’t help. We got both boats over to the side and emptied out, and Tucker and I pulled the boat back upstream a short way to take another run at it. The rock really was hard to see, but we avoided it that time.
We took out on the west side of the Ford Road bridge. The takeout was not bad, but it could use a little clearing out. There was a little poison ivy on the trail out, so Julie and Austin went out on the south side of the bridge. Their boat had so much water in it I had to let it drain for several minutes before I could get it out of the water.
All in all a great trip, but if the water were any lower it would be difficult in some of the riffles. Definitely one to do again.
Location: Big Vermillion River near Cayuga, IN– Ann Wright Bridge to Eugene Covered Bridge
Distance 4.5 miles
Date: 9-2-06
Gauge: None
Paddle Time: 3 hours
Difficulty: Easy
Notes:
A nice paddle with lot of shallow areas, but that meant a plenty of sandbars to stop and rest and/or play on. We weren't in any hurry so we did that several times. One 50-yard portage was needed around some trees and there was one area we had to thread through carefully to get around trees but overall it was pretty clear.
My parents hadn't been canoeing in a long time and managed to tip over getting back in the boat after a sandbar stop but we all had a lot of fun.
This is a very rural area without much development along the river, so it's a pretty quite trip. There is also little other boating activity on the river so you should have it pretty much to yourself.
Tucker had some fun with his SOT playing in a riffle at the covered bridge at the end.
We did this trip through Outpost Outfitter in Eugene. It's a bare-bones operation using pickup trucks to shuttle, but they were nice people, their place has camping and showers availabe and all in all a good trip.
We rented boats but they did say if you have your own they would let you use the put-in and shuttle your vehicle back for a few bucks.
Distance 4.5 miles
Date: 9-2-06
Gauge: None
Paddle Time: 3 hours
Difficulty: Easy
Notes:
A nice paddle with lot of shallow areas, but that meant a plenty of sandbars to stop and rest and/or play on. We weren't in any hurry so we did that several times. One 50-yard portage was needed around some trees and there was one area we had to thread through carefully to get around trees but overall it was pretty clear.
My parents hadn't been canoeing in a long time and managed to tip over getting back in the boat after a sandbar stop but we all had a lot of fun.
This is a very rural area without much development along the river, so it's a pretty quite trip. There is also little other boating activity on the river so you should have it pretty much to yourself.
Tucker had some fun with his SOT playing in a riffle at the covered bridge at the end.
We did this trip through Outpost Outfitter in Eugene. It's a bare-bones operation using pickup trucks to shuttle, but they were nice people, their place has camping and showers availabe and all in all a good trip.
We rented boats but they did say if you have your own they would let you use the put-in and shuttle your vehicle back for a few bucks.
Eagle Creek Points of Interest
Here's a short list of various points of interest compiled over a the course of 2 or 3 trips in the Zionsville, Indiana area. The format is Google Earth KMZ.
If you don't have Google Earth, go get it: http://earth.google.com
If you don't have Google Earth, go get it: http://earth.google.com
Intro
Welcome to Indiana Adventures, a blog by James Nichols and Doug Mark.
This blog is dedicated to sharing information about our paddling trips and other outdoor adventures in Indiana and wherever we may go.
We called it Indiana Adventures because we live in the Indianapolis are and that's where we normally paddle. We have been exploring some lesser-known paddling locations in the area and posting trip reports to paddlin.net (http://www.paddling.net ) to let people know about some of the more obscure locations you can paddle, but we were unable to include GPS tracks and Google Earth placemarks so we decided to start this blog to be able to include more information.
Paddling trip reports will be added soon, we also do some adventure racing and geocaching so as time allows we will add information about that as well.
This blog is dedicated to sharing information about our paddling trips and other outdoor adventures in Indiana and wherever we may go.
We called it Indiana Adventures because we live in the Indianapolis are and that's where we normally paddle. We have been exploring some lesser-known paddling locations in the area and posting trip reports to paddlin.net (http://www.paddling.net ) to let people know about some of the more obscure locations you can paddle, but we were unable to include GPS tracks and Google Earth placemarks so we decided to start this blog to be able to include more information.
Paddling trip reports will be added soon, we also do some adventure racing and geocaching so as time allows we will add information about that as well.
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