De-Stress Outdoors

2008 Kentucky River Kayak Trek

Friday, September 27, 2008

Steele Branch Ramp to Dam 3 (Mile 42)

This turned out to be a dawn to dusk paddle. :) It was so foggy at 7am that as I looked down the river from the Steele Branch Boat Ramp it was like looking at a blurred vision. I could only make out vague lines of scenery. It was an odd, eerie kind of experience, somewhat like watching a person as they awoke from slumber and wondering what kind of mood they would be in once fully awake. Would this day go on to have a sunny disposition or would it be cloudy and rain? I hadn't looked too hard at the weather report so I wondered what answer would be revealed with the lifting of the fog...

I actually didn't mind the fog too much. It introduced me to some great river scenes that I'd previously not arisen early enough to see. I do like the dawn. It's such a gentle time of day and it's the time that my thinking is at it's clearest - although I can’t necessarily put those thoughts into speech yet. I’m more of a thinker than a talker.

Anyway, the first glimpses of sunlight I saw were amid some clouds over a tier of trees in the distance and the view was akin to looking at another wall of landscape. What I mean by that is that there was one tier of trees, then another, and then there was a white tier before a fourth, grey one in the sky. I imagined the fourth to be the clouds and the third, white one, to be the sun shining over what would be a clear sky. It’s hard to describe this so I’ve included the picture below.

At any rate, I was enjoying the misty atmosphere so much that the first 3 miles went by very quickly. If you look at the charts you'll find that these 3 miles take on a funny shape too - the upper torso of the Geico Gecko! This is the tightest curve I can recall seeing on the river since the Soap and Tallow Bend back at mile 222 in Ravenna. The Elkhorn Creek enters just past mile 52 at the tip of the gecko's nose, and here I saw remnants of an old ramp to the right side of the mouth. It didn’t look like this was your ordinary, run-of-the-mill ramp though. It was more substantial. Then, as I ventured further into the Elkhorn I found two more ramps in quick succession. This may all be part of the Shrohmeier Campground (now known as Still Waters Campground) that's up there on shore. On a side note, I noticed an odd light green hue to the water in here. Hopefully natural...

Meanwhile, as I paddled the Elkhorn it had me thinking of Thanksgiving! I think it was the color of the banks. Halloween was closer in time, but that’s the feeling I got. Nothing like beautiful scenes to make you thankful! Speaking of which, I heard something this weekend that made me think: “Grateful people are happy people; ungrateful people are unhappy people.” This is probably true. I would point out, however, that if you are unhappy you can always come to a place like this and there, once having had a chance to engage in some honest introspection, you’ll find something – maybe many things – to be grateful for.

I, for example, haven't achieved some of the things I most wanted in life. However, I’ve come to realize that not everyone was meant to be successful in every sense. One has to work with what one is given. My own search for meaning has led me to the conclusion that I was meant to be a “peacemaker”, called to live a kind of missionary life. What's the mission? I think it's to help others find places of natural tranquility; there to escape some of the stresses brought on by an over-competitive and sometimes over-aggressive world. This assumed calling of mine is just one of the things I'm thankful for - a sense of purpose in life.

Anyway, I'd ultimately get into the Elkhorn about 1/2 mile before a large fallen tree would halt my progress. It’s no wonder. Will you look at these trees (below)! I’m not sure how any of them are able to remain standing! NOTE: Almost the entire Elkhorn River can be seen via Canoe Kentucky river trips - highly recommended. I made my first paddling trip with them in 2007 and that trip spawned the love of paddling which eventually led to this site.

Once back on the Kentucky River I caught my first glimpse of the sun through the morning haze. I also noticed that the river had gotten wider and that it would stay that way throughout the rest of the day. I would note that while it might seem obvious that the river gets wider the further downriver you get, there are certain periods when it enters your awareness more than others. The last time I can recall noticing a significant widening in the Kentucky was just upriver from the Drowning Creek at mile 205 near Bybee Pottery.

You’re now entering the “neckline” at the end of the gecko shape I mentioned, next to enter a long slooooow right curve that extends from mile 51.5 to mile 48. By this point the skies had cleared a good bit but there were still some wisps of fog over the water. Some rock cliffs visible on the left side made for an interesting feature as I entered into the curve.

Then, toward the middle I was really vexed by a couple birds. The first was one that I can’t recall seeing before, so I was eager to get a good photo, yet I couldn’t because every time I tried it would start preening itself again. Below was the best one.

At the same time and immediately to the right, there was another avian I’d never seen and it was just sitting there posing for me. I jammed on the “brakes”, and once I finally got my boat positioned and my camera ready, I couldn’t see the dog-boned thing! I ended up getting 2 blurred pictures with it being completely cut out - I got pictures of the tree branches instead. Birds! I tell ya…

I said it in the last entry but I’ll say it again: the farmland has come back with a vengeance! After seeing only little doses of it for 2-3 pools due to the towns and the palisades, it's back now and becoming more and more of a shoreline standard. In fact, this would be the first section to have the same scenery on both sides of the river for an extended period (i.e. more than a mile). Prior to that the landscape had always been different from side to side. If there had been the same thing on both it was quick to change. Not here. I'm also finding that the farms are becoming more visible with the river being wider. What I mean is that if you can't see them you can generally get a better view if you paddle well to the opposite site of the river.

The community of Polsgrove enters the picture and extends from about mile 49 to mile 48, with the Flat Creek coming in between. I got further into it than I did into the Elkhorn - 550 vs. 450 pulls on the paddle – but still about 1/2 mile. I saw remnants of something near the mouth and it could have been a bridge, but there were traces of both a metal support and a stone wall here. Then, a little further back I passed under a current bridge. There might also be an orchard up on the right. I was seeing little trees as I paddled, and toward the end of navigability I encountered something I found extraordinary. You see, I was paddling through a dense green alphabet soup! I couldn’t believe my eyes!

What… in… the… heck?!?

Unlike the green stuff in the Elkhorn, there was no doubt that this stuff was natural. Something else: I cut a swath through it with my boat when I went in, but when I looked back the path had been completely swallowed back up! Might these be some kind of tiny water lilies? I’ll sure try to find out! UPDATE 2021 - It's Duckweed! What an awesome name!! As per the web link, these are the smallest flowering plants known.

Back at the Kentucky River you’ll be looking at what appears to be a farm atop the outside corner of Payton Bend (a right curve). This bend is interesting in terms of county divisions. The stretch between it and the next bend, Webb’s (a left curve) appears to be the dividing line between 3 counties: Franklin on the south, Henry on the west and Owen on the east. Meanwhile, on the outside of Webb’s Bend, I found that some land was being cleared out and that there was a crane here. They were doing something – don’t know exactly what…

After mile 47 you’ve got another slide shape if you turn the page on the charts and face it in the direction you’re heading. You’ll be moving up the ladder for the next mile and a half. Then you'll be going down a bumpy slide for the next 3 (miles 45-43). Sand Ripple Creek enters at the top of the slide and I spotted some horses and cows mingling among the shade trees on the bank here. I was able to paddle in ¼ mile, encountering more of the green alphabet soup at the end. Meanwhile, Sand Ripple Bar lies on the opposite side and it looked very much like an overgrown herb garden with many varieties of plants. It was interesting to smell the many aromas.

Balls Branch enters just past this at mile 44.5 but it was blocked by a deadfall right its mouth. Then, just before I'd reached yet a third stream (Steven's Creek at mile 43.5), I saw an old turquois colored car down by the water on the left side. I wouldn’t mention this but for the fact that it really looked like this might have been a classic. I have no idea what kind it was but, had it not been junked here, it might have fetched the owner a small fortune! As for Stevens Creek at mile 43.5, it was almost identical in terms of paddle length to Sand Ripple. It had some green alphabet soup too. :)

In the midst of all these streams I saw more houses on the left side - and more than I'd seen back at Polsgrove. It had me thinking that this area was more "Polsgrovish" than Polsgrove! OK, maybe I’ve completely lost it now… From this point you’ll begin to see Lock and Dam 3 after a nice looking farm in a clearing on the right (although you'll want to be well to the left, lock side, of the river now). You'll notice some more dwellings amid the rolling hills just past the dam (that's Monterey, Kentucky), and just before reaching the lock you'll pass a massive mooring cylinder – the largest I’d yet seen.

Then, once at the corner of the lock, I saw that the only real impediment to a portage would be some weeds along the muddy bank. It wasn’t a bad climb, and I was really tempted to try it so I set one foot outside the kayak... Then, when it sank what seemed like a foot deep in the muck I decided to pass. :) I hope to check out the area more thoroughly the next time when I approach from the downriver side. There might be a lock house up there... So far the best preserved locations I've seen - and the ones where you can still see both lock houses - are at dam 10 in Boonesbourough. That's where the Kentucky River Museum is and those houses have been totally restored. The ones at dam 12 in Irvine are nice too, but they're in need of some TLC.

On the way back it became more and more apparent that I was getting one of my optical headaches. My father and I are both cursed with these. They start over your eyes, gradually move to the back of them, then to the back of your head, and finally down almost to your neck. They’re bad, and mine don’t go away until I’ve taken two Excedrin and gotten a full night’s sleep. Well, I had no aspirin and I certainly couldn’t sleep! Thus, the trip back seemed to take a looooong time! I tried to paddle in shaded areas as much as possible to avoid more eye strain from the sun. Unless, that is, I found something that I absolutely had to take a picture of.

I got back to the ramp about 7:30, yet the drive back to Lexington also seemed eternal. Oddly, the headache had receded a bit by the time I got home, but I still went to bed almost immediately. After the headache and the almost 30 mile paddle I was pretty drained. How well did I sleep? Well, the best way I can describe it is to borrow a line from what Eddy Harris wrote in his incredible book, Mississippi Solo. I slept: “Like a dead man!”

DIRECTIONS:

Take US127 to Steele Branch Road at head west. Meander down past the campground and take a left just past it into the parking lot for the ramp.