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2008
Today was fun. It was kind of a milestone day, you see. At this point I’d finally retraced all the miles I’d paddled last year and I was finally entering some new territory. I’d done parts of the river below this point at 3 locations, but for the most part I hadn’t paddled the bulk of it. Today was all brand new. I was psyched, and at this point I’d made up my mind: my inability to finish the trip last October had really led to a bad year. If I didn’t finish this year then I shuddered to think what would happen. I’d finish even if I had to swim the rest!
Today I could have driven over the I75 Bridge to get to the
put-in I'd selected, but I thought it would be nice to take the
Valley
View Ferry instead, so I drove down Tate’s Creek Road and got on.
It’ll hold 3 cars at one crossing, and once aboard I mentioned to the guys the stories
I’d read about their ferry. They were kind enough to give me
a pamphlet on the history of the boat and helped assist in confirming my
directions to the put-in.
I
was to go down about 10 miles once I got off the ferry and take a right on
Anyway, the first part of the drive was
great. I wouldn’t have a problem living in Valley View at all! There
are quite a few nice houses here and the location is great and historic.
As
far as Tate’s
Once you've taken the right on Goggins Road, you’ll take another one onto Barnes Mill
(Route 876)
and then after going about 7 miles the fantastic countryside will
begin to wage a shock and awe campaign on your senses (
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I got my gear down to the end of the ramp and was heading back
up when
I saw a dog at the top. Uh-oh… What to expect here? I supposed the dog was probably used to people being
around, this being a park and all, but I got a handful of trail mix just in case… No
problem - it turned out to be a really cool dog. I’ll mention the
Jessamine
County Kentucky River Taskforce Guidebook again at this point because it's a great historical
guide to the river and it indicated that in the 1800s the father of Cassius Clay
operated a warehouse here. I wasn’t sure which side of the river this was
on though... Incidentally, there’s a paved ramp on the other side too -
the Hunter's Ferry Ramp.
Once on the water I headed nearly straight upriver to dam 9, but I usually
like to get the side streams in first if I can. This is because the mouths
of these streams are very popular with fishermen and I don’t like to disturb
them, so if the streams are open when I start I do take the time to go ahead and
paddle them. There might be someone there on my return. I need to
also mention something else here that I haven’t
mentioned before. Going under tree branches
on any stream or lake – no matter how large or small – is hazardous.
I don’t care if you’re power boating, paddling or even swimming. You’ve
simply got to be wary of fishing lines. I’ve seen them all over
the place. I don’t know if they get stuck in the trees and the fishermen
just leave them there or what, but they can snag you. Please
be very wary of these when you’re out there and always bring a first aid kit in
case something happens.
Once I got up to Lock and dam 9 (about 8 miles upriver from the ramp I used at mile 157.5) I technically began the trip. This lock and dam still had a lot of work being done to it, and it looked like they were reconstructing it with a totally new design. It had the appearance of a string of large metal cylinders filled in with concrete. As mentioned in a previous entry, this lock used to be directly onshore, but the 1905 flood essentially put it in the middle of the river and a new wall then had to be built to reach back to it. I saw what could have been a lock house atop the bank here, but I wasn’t sure if it was part of an actual lock house or just something new.
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A newspaper article some weeks
back had mentioned that in the process of rebuilding here, they’d pulled up some
old logs from the bottom of the river that had brands on the ends.
Apparently they were left over from the sawmill era of the late 1800’s to early 1900’s
and it was amazing to see how well the river had preserved them! I’d have
thought they’d be completely decomposed in over 100 years – that there wouldn't be
anything left!
There’s a beach here on the
downriver lock side, but it’s covered with large
rocks, debris and foliage. They could probably clear it all out to make a really
nice beach (it may have been one at one time - I don’t know).
People from
Meanwhile, on the other side of the river there are some rock cliffs that will extend down to mile 155, at which point they’ll switch sides near the Devil’s Pulpit rock formation (which I’ll mention again in a minute). Walden Run comes in on this side too but it wasn't navigable. A general note about the streams in this stretch: there are 12 of them, but only one was navigable today. All of the others were dry over shoals.
Anyway, the river makes a right curve downstream from the dam, and the Cedar Point Run comes in on the left at mile 156.5. I saw a fish here that I hadn’t seen before on the right. It looked like a gar but it was colored black. I also spotted what I guessed were a couple large catfish on this trip as well as a ton of minnows.
Marble Creek next comes in
from the right at mile 156. It would have been navigable, but it was
pretty mucky with a lot of debris which included a submerged car right at the
entrance! It was about 80% under. I could only see the back tires over
the water. I really wish I could have
paddled into this creek though, because one of the guys from Tuesday was telling
me that there are some more old RINEY-B railroad support visible back
there and , judging from the Jessamine Boating Guide, these supports look to
have stretched waaaay up the palisades. They’d really have been something to see!
This will therefore be one of the first places I come back to at higher water.
Camp Daniel Boone used to be here too, but it apparently
only operated until the 1970’s.
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Anyway, after the old camp the rocky shorelines rise quickly and significantly on the left side to form the tallest palisades I’d seen yet (first picture below) and at a curve left at mile 155 these rock walls will switch to the right side as the Devil’s Pulpit comes into view (second picture to the left of center). Now, honestly… life must have looked pretty bleak indeed for people to have named such beautiful things with such ghastly names! So far I’ve paddled into one Hell Creek, curved around a Devil’s Backbone, rounded Bull Hell Cliff, gone under the Devil’s Meat House Cave, and now I’ve reached the Devil’s Pulpit rock formation! There’s a great picture of this formation in the Boating Guide too. The pulpit is said to be free standing and it was said to have been first noted by none other than Daniel Boone himself.
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The Pulpit's palisade continues almost to mile 153, but at mile 154 there’s another incredible looking water intake. This one is for Nicholasville and it looks similar to the one Kentucky Water had
in the last upriver pool for Lexington. However, whereas that one had cut through a forested mountain, this one nearly comes right down the side of a palisade. The part of it that’s down by the water also seemed to have a different structure. Thus, I couldn’t resist including a picture of it so that the reader can compare the two intakes if desired (the picture of the
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Paddling on, I saw something else for a second time today. When you look under the water when passing downed trees you'll sometimes see orange globs on them which appear to have white specks. I’m wondering what these are? I know the turtles like to sun themselves on limbs protruding from the water. Could these be turtle eggs? I noticed that the fish aren’t getting to them. Maybe they have a substance on the surface that's poisonous to fish. I’m fairly clueless here. If anyone can shed any light I'd be appreciative.
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Anyway, after the water intake the river is pretty much straight for almost 4 miles from mile 154 to mile 151. The palisades are gone for the most part, although they will crop in briefly from time to time during the remainder of the trip. Sea Lion Branch and Boone's Run come in from opposite sides directly across from each other over shoals at mile 153, and it was here that 2 ferries once operated side by side - the Boone ferry and the Carver ferry.
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A few more streams come in here too. Christopher
Run enters at mile 152.5 with Marble Yard coming in at 152, both over shoals on the left.
The streams in this section do have pretty large shoals overall, but the largest
of these was at the Stony Fork which also enters from the left down at
mile 151. This shoal stretches half way across the river
making it the largest I'd seen since Raven Run at mile 166.5 (Raven Run was much
stealthier, however, lying just underneath the surface). Another
ferry once operated here at Stony Fork. It was located on the Jessamine county side either near or on what’s referred
as Renfro Bar. There was once a general store here
too.
At this point you’ll enter into a tight backward “S” curve with some nice rolling hills visible atop the left bank in the distance and, nearing mile 150, the Silver Creek comes in. I did get into this one almost 1/2 mile. Another large sandbar lies across from it (in fact, this whole mile is almost all sand on the right) and there was apparently an island here for a time while they were building dams 8 and 9. Guess what I also saw here – more minnows! I see these all over on every trip now but I never tire of them. If I ever do then something has gone wrong with me!
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At mile 149.5 I was back where I began with the ramps coming in from both sides and Hunter’s Run entering on the right over Upper Hunter's Bar. The first picture below was taken at the bottom of the ramp I used while the second was taken looking at it from across the river.
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Following this, I ended up paddling another mile and a half down to the Sawmill Run at mile 148. Here the river took a curve right, and guess what? ANOTHER ferry ran here! Sawmill Run comes over a sandbar called the Lower Hunter's Bar (as opposed to the Upper Hunter's Bar I'd just passed) - hence the name of the ferry. The scenery on this part of the river was predominantly farmland on the right with a rocky left bank.
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When I got back to the ramp the dog was gone, and as I drove out I took my time so that I could get some pictures of the countryside. A drive out here in the fall would be very rewarding with all the trees changing color. You could even have a picnic at the Poosey Ridge ramp! There were a couple picnic tables.
DIRECTIONS:
Pretty easy here... Find KY595 from wherever you’re located and follow it north until it reaches its end. The ramp is here.