After my earlier trips down the Ohio River in 2012 and Wabash River in 2013, the plan this year was to explore Southern Indiana’s Blue River by kayak from its source to the mouth.
That proved to be a challenge, but one well worth the effort.
It began early on the Saturday morning of Labor Day weekend heading off in search of the source of the river with a longtime friend, John Hughes. We traveled to the towns of Blue River and Daisy Hill, which are separated by a small bridge over the river, which is little more than a stream or creek at this point. The source of this branch of the river appeared to be on private property, so we abandoned our quest.
After participating in the Steamboat Days parade in Jeffersonville, we set off to Milltown, a town of roughly
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800 that straddles both sides of the Blue River in Crawford and Harrison counties. While its name notes its early history as a mill for corn and grain, it’s clear that canoeing and fishing are what make Milltown a destination in Southern Indiana for outdoor recreation. Several canoe outfitters sit along the banks of the river and provide everything for full- and half-day trips for people of all boating skills (David Letterman was still the buzz two weeks after he visited.) Our seven-mile trip helped explain why water level is an important part of travel on the river above Milltown, since some passages required pulling our kayaks over the shallow parts.
This part of the adventure was the most challenging, but following the spring rains it is considered the most fun for enthusiasts.
Canoeing on trips below Milltown for those who want a nice day trip is the choice of many.
After a catfish dinner at the Overlook Restaurant in Leavenworth and a restful night of sleep, we set off the next day to White Cloud where there is a public access site at the Blue River chapel. The river is deeper and the water slows as it moves closer to the Ohio River.
Another access point is called the “old iron bridge” and provides an easy launch into deep, slow moving water for the remainder of the journey to the mouth of the Blue River as it flows into the confluence of the Ohio River. There is equally easy access from there to take out at the DNR ramp, which is used by many boaters enjoying both
rivers. As the Blue River flows through one of the most scenic and interesting parts of our state, the trip reminded me once again the great resource our rivers provide the people of Indiana. It’s easy to recommend a trip on the Blue River. The karst topography with its caves and caverns, first explored by Squire Boone, and the extensive forests make it a memorable experience and reinforces a commitment to protect our water quality and land management so that this natural resource can be enjoyed by Hoosiers in future generations.
As I looked out the window of the restaurant, I could see the sun bouncing off the sparkling water below. Boats and other water craft scatter the water as well as people on water-skis and inner tubes. The picturesque view makes life seem so much better and just looking at the river makes a person calmer. The scene just described is the view from the window of a restaurant called Sophia in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the corresponding river is the mighty Mississippi. Although Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes, this scene could be found right here in the valley of Phoenix. The way this is possible is through the Rio Salado Project.
On Monday 5th of July we went and conducted a survey of the river Alyn
Contemporary writer, John M Barry, in his passage from Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America, seeks to communicate the extraordinarily perplexing river that has a life of it’s own. Barry illustrates the incomprehensibility and lifelikeness of the Mississippi, and how that makes it so alluring, by establishing it as far superior to all other rivers.
An ancient game trail once followed Hospital Creek. Lieutenant Gabriel Moraga, on his 1808 Tulare Township exploration, followed this track from the hills. When they reached the river, Moraga’s party camped before they forded the stream to explore the eastern plain. Moraga, with Fray José Viader, returned two years later. Again, they camped on the same dry, high ground.
In late 1912 Charles Schaeffer, founded the Dayton Canoe Club, and in 1913, they broke the ground for their new club to be built (Stoecker). Schenck & Williams Company, hired by Schaeffer, to be built with “all modern improvements,” commissioned Oliver Ritzert, who also designed and built the Ohio Theatre, for the building of the club (Hover 95). During the Great Dayton Flood of 1913, in the midst of construction, people rushed to the club to see if it was still standing, and to great amazement it was, one pamphlet stating, “…Possibly Neptune, understanding that we three, the water, the canoe and the individual, were inseparable friends, interceded and had the angry waters pass up, around, and even through our uncompleted Clubhouse, doing but little damage," (Stoecker). The club was almost finished only three months later, on the Eleventh of June, 1913 (Stoecker). Oliver designed the building in prairie style, with the building to seem to come naturally out of the bank of the confluence of t...
Follow The River by James Alexander Thom is about Mary Ingles gruesome but yet courageous tale of her remarkable 1,000 mile journey home after she had escaped form the captivity of the Shawnee Indians. Through Mary Ingles hard work and determination she proved that all obstacles big and small can be overcome.
...s cool all year round. Park goers have the opportunity to hike and climb around the ledges and explore the caverns (“Ritchie Ledges”). While the natural beauty of this park is the main attraction, the man made attractions should not be overlooked. The Ohio Erie Canal Towpath is the man made attraction that offers the most recreation to park goers. This trail follows the exact path of the historic Erie Canal. People have the ability to walk, run, cross country ski and bike on this trail (“Ohio Erie Canal Towpath”).
seem to be four or five stops along the river that except for one little detail,
Buckeye Lake is a very important place to a lot of people in central Ohio. After the Ohio Canal was shut down in 1894 the lake became a state park, with the lake itself covering 4000 acres and having thirty miles of shoreline (Buckeye Lake, para. 12). The lake became a vacation spot for families across central Ohio, looking for a day or weekend of leisure, earning it the nickname “Playground of Ohio”, a place close to home where they could swim and play in the water. It became even more popular when cottages, hotels, businesses, and even an amusement park starting popping up along the banks of the
The short story Big Two-Hearted River, written by Ernest Hemingway, is a piece that has drawn much literary attention due to its complex utilization of detail in brief simple sentences. With these factors Hemingway’s Big Two-Hearted River is able to have an abundance of critical expositions throughout the story, which shows the passion that Hemingway possesses for concise sentences. Most of the criticism for Hemingway’s River comes from the grave themes alluding to the war and the catastrophic events that harmed Nick’s mental and spiritual state. This somber theme becomes evident throughout the text especially when Nick returns to his hometown. The sentence describing the town as “nothing but the rails and the burned-over country,” makes the many dark themes apparent and shows why critics focus on these dark themes of physical and mental devastation. Despite the numerous somber critiques throughout Hemingway’s text there is ultimately a positive sensation in this story as a broken man endeavors to heal himself by returning home to nature to find and do what he loves.
With towering bald cypress trees and long stretches of calm water, the Frio River in Concan, Texas, provides public waters for visitors looking to go tubing. Sitting next to Garner State Park, which provides ample recreational activities like hunting, fishing, and hiking, the Frio River has created my best summer memories. I have enjoyed countless summers burning my skin under the hot southern sun. Tradition calls my family to Frio County each summer, along with hundreds more families looking to escape their daily lives. Driving in, cell phone reception dies and people get the chance to look up and see the wondrous nature provided by the Texas Hill Country.
Can you imagine having to leave everything you have ever known to live in a country on the verge of war? Lesley Shelby, the main character in One More River by Lynn Reid Banks, knows exactly how it feels. This Jewish Canadian girl has to emigrate to Israel with her family. Through the determination and courage of one person we see how challenges, complications, and differences of the world are overcome.
The first thing to see, looking away over the water, was a kind of dull line - that was the woods on t'other side; you couldn't make nothing else out; then a pale place in the sky; then more paleness spreading around; then the river softened up away off, and warn't black any more, but gray; you could see little dark spots drifting along ever so far away-trading-scows, and such things; and long black streaks-rafts ... and by and by you could see a streak on the water which you know by the look of the streak that there's a snag there in a swift current which breaks on it and makes that streak look that way; and you see the mist curl up off of the water, and the east reddens up.
I walk along the worn trail that leads towards a popular fishing spot at the Chattahoochee, a broad boulder looking over the river. I feel rejuvenated, away from my busy life, away from school, away from all the happenings of the world. I settle myself and my belongings. My parents have come along, too, to watch the moment the first fish a member of our family has ever caught flies out of the water. Once I’ve gotten myself comfortable, I hook a minnow onto my line and cast it across the sparkling water of
I was intimidated. Actually, let me be honest, I feared a thrashing at the hands of the River God. Trembling muscles warned me to just shoulder my boat and walk. I couldn't. I traveled all the way from Pennsylvania to run these rivers, how could I back out now? I had to run Sunshine Falls...the largest rapid on the Royal Gorge section of the Arkansas River. When would I make it back to Colorado to run this river? I considered the the portage again; it's an impressive drop with no shame in walking. But what if they dam the Arkansas?