Upper Big Walnut May 21

I was the last one on the water when I waded in at the end of the sandbar and let the strong Big Walnut Creek current push the kayak between my legs until the seatback bumped me and I lifted my feet and began to paddle along with Nancy, Dean and Bryce. The upper Big Walnut Creek in Hendricks County must be run before the end of June because the water is too low most of the summer. It had been draining a foot and a half of rain for about 36 hours and the projected temperature was 77 (air), the creek was muddy and cold. High sandstone walls remind me that some Indiana creeks were cut as the glaciers receded and I want to see the Eastern Hemlock trees that still grow on the banks since those days. History buffs, here are your tales of days of yore on these banks. I want to find one just for that... they live a thousand years but I was not to see one this trip.

The creek demands my full attention. There are standing waves indicating rocks beneath the surface (and some above). After avoiding the rocks successfully there is a brief respite as the creek pools and gathers strength for the next downward plunge. These are the most difficult conditions I have tried in my two years of kayaking and I am not one who normally seeks out challenge. Years ago I sailed the Pacific out of San Diego Bay and as I learned to crew on a 26' Erickson my favorite days were those when you could stand on the bow and light a cigarette. Basking in the sunlight and the slight salt spray were the payoff for me and I wondered at the nature of men who felt compelled to race each other on boats. Back to my roots at advanced age (and weight), I wonder anew why not "Up a Lazy River"? The nature of Big Walnut Creek between McCloud's Nature Preserve and Big Pine Bluff is to pool up and then drop to the next lower level then pool again. It does this for the eight miles or so we paddle today. 


The current moves through the pools but not as strongly and there is a chance to look at the banks. Giant Sycamores and Maples form cathedrals that demand reverence. Conversation stops and a column of kayaks become a row or two rubber-necking at the way the sun filters through dense forest or glistens on the banks. Then, too soon, the sound of water rushing over rocks ahead makes me strain to see what hazards might lay ahead and prepare to navigate it.

We disturb a Great Blue Heron and watch the flight and we watch hawks circling at great height and I wonder how they can see detail from such great distance yet still see their prey at close range. My hardening presbyopic view makes me forget sometime that there are animals and even birds of prey whose eyes adapt to changing conditions better than human beings past middle age. A wild turkey hen struggles with 10 or so chicks and some of them tumble down the bank. 

Following another paddler through a run shows me that it can be done if I can position my kayak so that the current will take me where I want to go and I observe that even the roar of water over shallows has a different sound after you pass it and wonder if that is an objective observation. Now and then a run is too shallow or the line I picked through it is and I have to wade. Ankle high river boots insulate my feet but I am in swim trunks and bare legged like Bryce. Nancy and Dean wear matching Farmer John wet suits. The sun warms me and the life vest traps body heat and makes me sweat slightly in the first half of the trip.

My skills at reading the water ahead and paddling have returned after the long winter but they are not enough for the worst this creek has to offer. Nancy got too close to a tree and was brushed into the water but recovered. The cold water shocks for a minute or two but it is trapped between her wet suit and her body and warms quickly. She is ready to go.

When we passed under the steel trestles of the Putnam County Line Road bridge in the first half hour my camera was not set to record it. Then the county road 800 crosses on a modern concrete bridge. Cold sandwiches later when we cross under the arched bridge of county road 650 it becomes an overcast day. The air temperature begins to drop. I didn't notice it after clearing a run of bubbling water over rocks and between downed trees, I went to a sandy bank to reflect upon those thrills when I noticed Nancy's kayak was upside down. Bryce retrieved her paddle and Dean helped her to the bank just upstream from me and had left his kayak to wade chest deep to retrieve her kayak. Nancy didn't take this shock so well, her face lost color and she yelled to Dean to bring her inhaler. She says she hasn't had choking asthma for a long time but needs it now and it is in a bag strapped to her capsized kayak. Once Dean realizes what she needs, he finds a back-up inhaler he carries for her in his kayak. We all breath easier.

The current has become even stronger in this section and there are many downed trees. We walk through the worst of it and look for a place to remount. Dean takes on the responsibility of Nancy's kayak and tries to control everyone's for an ugly moment. I start on the last mile in the lead paddling hard and putting distance between me and my friends. Out of their sight around a bend, I ran the right side of my kayak up onto a submerged log and knowing it would flip, slid off to the left into waste deep water. I remounted thankful that I found a shallow place to do so and continued downstream toward a roar of water. A tree had fallen and blocked Big Walnut bank to bank. At its lowest point there might have been 4 inches of water passing over the trunk... I might have tried to jump the tree on a warmer day but I wasn't going under this water if I could help it. I stepped into the water and pushed my kayak over and waited to warn the others. It seemed a long time and I was beginning to worry when I saw Nancy in the lead and warned her. My thought was that maybe Bryce could jump this tree and help the others from the other side and then I noticed Bryce was not wearing his Cincinnati Reds cap. Nancy was leading him as he had lost his glasses too. I later found out that he had been dumped on the same log that got me but went in head-first. He wore a glasses rope loosely and the strong current took that too.

Dean found a foot path that had looked impassible through the roots of the fallen tree and pulled two kayaks through it and got them launched and then his own. Not wanting to risk dumping in this cold water by trying to climb on from the tree, I went face down crosswise on my kayak to shallow water where I could put my feet down, get control and get started again. Bryce was shaken and chilled and we all stopped at the first sandbar and dug around for towels to dry him and he tried my insulated kayaking jacket.

It had become a chilly day and Bryce shivered until he finally took his wet T-shirt off. Dean led Nancy and I followed close behind Bryce warning him of hazards I could see. This worked for the short remaining distance. The Pine Bluff Bridge came into sight, our take out point.

We all dried off, shook hands and started home