I75 Bridge to Dam 9

2008 Kentucky River

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

I75 Bridge to Dam 9 (Mile 157.5)

NOTE: For this section I put it close to dam 9, paddling upriver to the bridge and then back.

I’ve mentioned before that I’m both forgetful and that I’m a klutz. I forgot to mention something else: I'm prone to impossibly bad luck and timing as well. :) I can’t know what’s going on up there but I imagine it to be something like: “Hey everybody! Watch me pull another fast one on DiNardo!” And everyone explodes into laughter. Please don’t misunderstand. I haven’t lost all my pride. If it’s true that hardship builds character, then I may have more character than any 10 people on the planet! What's more, I've come to expect misfortune. Certain situations no longer irritate me the way they once did. I simply deal with things as best I can and hope that I don’t inconvenience others in the process of extricating myself.

What happened? It’s this simple: my keys were in my pocket when I went into church on Sunday and they were gone when I left. I covered every avenue to find them, even going so far as to check the pews twice. What did I end up doing? I walked 5 miles back home in my church shoes. Ouch! Then I spent Monday waiting for one locksmith to open my car and another to mold me a new key. Fate had cost me $155 and I still need to get the other keys made! Good thing my fortune is always better once I get out on the water!

Today I drove down the street from my place in Lexington and put in at Donaldson Park on the Jessamine county side of the Kentucky River. Donaldson has some amazing flood makers. It’s stunning to see how far the river has risen in years past! This is also the point at which the Valley View Ferry crosses the river. As for the drive here it's simply beautiful! Tate’s Creek Road winds through the rolling acres of many horse farms and while the area is getting built up with a few new subdivisions, there are still some really nice old farmhouses to see too. This is same the way you'd go to reach the Raven Run Nature Sanctuary, by the way. Raven Run is a great place to hike just south of Lexington. In fact, I’d paddle past their overlook later this day.

As for the Valley View Ferry, it was established in 1785 and it’s the oldest operating business in Kentucky. There used to be dozens of these ferries on the river but this is the only one left. In fact, every time I see an easy slope to the riverbank that’s been cleared out I automatically look on the other side to see if there’s another one. If so, I wonder if it was an old ferry site. Anyway, Valley View is so pleasant that I hear they once filmed a movie scene here. The first view is looking downriver with the ferry visible on the right as you seem some work being done on dam 9 further downstream. The second photo is of the ferry itself.

I began the day by paddling up to the I75 Bridge where I'd stopped the last time (I'm keeping with my ongoing narrative by describing this section in a downriver fashion). Near this bridge you'll find an old boat that I mentioned in the last entry. I couldn't find a name on it, but it had a gas pump on the side so it may have been some kind of convenience store at one point. There’s a paved ramp that comes in here too. The Clay's Ferry Ramp is located upriver from this point where Proud Mary's BBQ is, so I'm not sure about this one as far as whether or not it's public.

Anyhow, as you start out from the bridge the rocky bank will be the left one. It’ll begin with just a rocky bottom but it’ll end at a full palisade which contains a fault line. Yes, a fault line! Check out the curves the rocks make – especially at the bottom center! They seem to arch downward at a 90 degree angle. This is called the Bull Hell Cliff. For that matter, you’ll know you’re fully in the palisades region on this trip because a rock face will come in perfectly from a different side at just about every mile mark from mile 169 to mile 165. After this, you'll find a rocky side alternating for the next 3 miles though there’s no palisade. Mile 161 is then skipped, but a full mile of palisades follows. What can I say? This place rocks! Of note, too, is that the community of Clays Ferry will be on your right as you make the curve here. .

Nearing the end of mile 169, a family of little ducks posed for me. I couldn’t believe my good fortune on this! In fact, my luck with animals on this particular trip was quite extraordinary. I felt like Dr. Doolittle! These ducks were all just standing in a row on this log preening themselves. It was right after this that the minnows appeared again and I JUST missed getting an ideal picture of them swimming in a perfect circular formation (although I'd get one later). I also saw a couple deer, numerous gar, my first wild turkeys of the year, a few squirrels and more herons and other birds which I couldn’t properly identify.

The Elk Lick Creek comes in next, but it was dry over a large shoal today. This would have been a great place to stop but there were signs which discouraged doing so, and just before the next palisades at mile 167 you’ll see a Kentucky American Water intake. This location is truly amazing. There are at least 4 things going up this mountain. The water intake itself, another pipeline which apparently returns some water back to the river (I know this simply because there was a flow of water coming out at the time), a staircase and a kind of rail line. This is all accompanied by the hum of the machinery. As I paddled by today I got an unexpected surprise too - a guy coming down in a little cart on the rail! Altogether interesting!

A lot happens between mile 167 and 166. First, the rock faces end at the mouth of Raven Run Creek (which I know from my hikes to be really nice). This creek comes in from the right and the navigation here is quite hazardous. A power boat would have to get almost all the way over to the left because a rocky shoal juts out about 75 feet from the shore - almost to mid-river. This shoal lies just under the surface of the water, and although I’ve paddled here before, it still nearly caught me today.

Bill Lail Island (said to be the only island on this river) is located immediately after Tate’s Creek on the right, although it seldom looks like an island except at high water. It's very slender in shape. Today its channel was blocked by debris on both ends so it wasn’t navigable all the way around.

Meanwhile, Raven Bar lies on the other side of the river. It has the appearance of a narrow, sandy beach. Also on this left side is the ominously named Devil’s Meat House Cave which lies in the midst of the palisade at mile 166. I believe this to be the very large chasm in the rock that I could only just make out through all the trees, although I reserve the right to be wrong. :) As the rocky character of this left side ends, Hines Creek will come in after some power lines. It was choked off with debris from the onset, however.

Back on the right bank, and down to mile 165, was a cleared out landing which looked like it would be a perfect spot for a summer camp. It ended at what looked like the semblance of an old ramp which was complete with a U.S. flag at the top. Nice touch!

Contining on the straightaway from mile 165 to 164, there was a super nice farm visible on the left side immediately past Hines Creek which had its own ramp. There were also quite a few homes and/or getaways on this side after the farm, and on the right there was an interesting old stick of metal protruding from the ground which had a metal wheel midway up. If the wheel had been at the top, it would appear as if a pinwheel. Please forgive my ignorance, but intriguing as this was, I have no idea what it was. The mile ends on the right with a little dock that contains a nice shady river overlook at the top of the bank.

At a curve right after mile 164 the Jacks Creek comes in on the left. I got in about 200 feet by my reckoning and while I was heading in I noticed what looked like a hunters perch. There were wooden steps up a tree which ended at the platform. Paddling this stream was irritating though… How could gnats do something so utterly disgusting as to fly directly into your eye! I did, however, get the picture I so wanted of the minnows swimming in formation. There was a school of gar in this stream too so there must have really been a fight for survival going on.

It was just after emerging from this creek that a spontaneous stream of flowing water erupted from the left side out of a culvert. There were also many more fish visible here along with another really nice looking farm. In fact, there was a series of buildings on the left that appeared to be of the same kind of construction (log cabins with red metallic roofs) and it was on my last trip here that I noticed a “for sale” sign in one yard. The sign was no longer visible so I assumed that someone had quickly snatched it up. Across from here is the Jack’s Creek Bar on the right, and there could have been a ferry here too as there appears to be an area cleared out on both sides.

The navigation charts now go to another page as the banks clear a little from here to mile 162, thus revealing some nice rolling farmland. This farmland was nice to see since it had been so elusive upriver. In fact, I felt as though I was making up for some lost time. The rocky shorelines emerge here again on the left.

Halfway between miles 162 and 161, the Dry Branch enters on the right. It was dry (How bout that! Dry Branch – dry!) but on my way upriver I'd run into a nice couple here. They were just hanging out enjoying the scenery. The woman mentioned that she had been on a boat ride in the 1970’s that went from Boonesborough all the way to Cincinnati. Wouldn’t this have been nice! It seems that those who experience this river really develop quite a fondness for it with a tale that they’re always willing to relate. I’m always happy to meet them! On a side note, I only recently realized that I was misspelling Booneborough! The name has an “ugh” at the end of it! Funny... Nothing about the community would elicit this kind of response, yet I’ll go back and make the change. :)

After Dry Branch enters, you’ll see open hills of farmland on the right, while the rocky side of the river will be on the left all the way to mile 160.5. After this, the rocks will switch to the right again at a palisade which will extend for another mile and a half all the way to mile 159. There are 3 really nice little unnamed streams which come in in the midst of these rocks. In the springtime myself and a friend of mine paddled right into them and were able to see nice waterfalls in each one. Today, however, I wasn’t able to get in! Lovers Leap lies atop this palisade, although I know that there are more spots with the same name further downriver.

As this palisade ends at about mile 159, a ramp comes in from the left side, and it appeared that there could have been another camp here as there’s a kind of shelter atop the bank. It was here that I looked into the distance downriver and spotted a couple kayaks near the mouth of Tate’s Creek! Getting down there I found 2 guys fishing. Usually I’m hesitant to greet fishermen out of fear that I’ll scare away their fish so I paddle all the way over to the other side and don’t even say “hi”. I simply just wave. These guys didn't seem to mind talking, however, and it turned out that they had put in from Donaldson Park just as I had. One of them even mentioned that there had once been a crossing of civil war supplies near the mouth of Jack’s Creek. I'd just passed the creek without knowing!

On a side note, I happened to run into one of these guys the very next morning in Lexington! Have you ever been surprised when, after never experiencing a certain thing before, you happen to encounter it multiple times in a short span? This could be a person you meet, something you see, or simply a word you hear. This happens to me sometimes. As for Tate’s Creek at mile 158 I ventured up about ¾ mile. The creek was apparently named by Daniel Boone for 2 boys named Tate who escaped an Indian attack by running into this stream.

Jessamine County, Kentucky is on your right side at this point on the main river and when you're in this county you have access to a great resource. You see, the good people of this county have such affection for the river that they’ve put out a guide called the Jessamine County Kentucky River Task Force Guidebook. This fantastic guide contains vintage photographs along with historical information for the entire stretch of river in this county (all the way down to Brooklyn at mile 113).

Anyway, downriver from Tate’s Creek things get pretty interesting. There’s a private boat dock and ramp on the right and the aforementioned Valley View Ferry runs over the river as well. Today they were doing some work on dam 9 which was visible in the distance and there were also some more of those old bridge piers here - the same kind that I’d been seeing on the river ever since Heidelberg. I'd surmised that these were remnants of old railroad bridges, but the guide I mentioned provided the last clue to the mystery for me.

Apparently there was once a railroad called the RINEY-B (acronym for Richmond, Irvine, Nicholasville, and Beattyville – although you could also throw in Evelyn and Yellow Rock for the “E” and the “Y”) which used to run all along the river. These old piers are the last vestiges of that railroad. What a fantastic scenic railroad this would have made!! It all finally fell into place! The rails would have crossed the river at the old bridge remnants I'd seen in Heidelberg (mile 249) Evelyn (236.5) Irvine (217.5) and now Valley View (157.5)! I’ll see if there are any more.

Anyway, with all this – the ferry, the railroad and the boat dock – it’s apparent that Valley View used to be quite a hub of activity! This is especially true when you stop to consider that it’s the closest spot to Lexington on the river and that it would have been the point to cross the river if you wanted to head south from the city prior to the construction of the I75 Bridge. One of the 2 gentlemen I met had also mentioned this. There used to be a saw mill and a steamer line here too, the latter of which ran all the way up the river.

Spears Branch enters the river just at the bridge piers on the right, but it wasn’t really evident and at the dam it was obvious that they were doing quite a bit. Lock and dam 9 is, in fact, similar to lock and dam 10 in that both were washed out by the 1905 flood. Thus, this location also has a sheltered pool like dam 10 did - a pool which was apparently carved out by the debris from this flood. We’ll have to see if there’s a large beach on the downriver side like there was there. I’ll find out next time…

DIRECTIONS:

This is pretty easy. Simply follow Tate’s Creek Road all the way (Spears is the last town you’ll pass) till it ends at the river. There’s a small park on the right (Donaldson) with a few parking spaces.