Boating on Elkhorn
We arrived in Frankfort, Kentucky late at night with threatening rain…again. But we were not disappointed as we were there to canoe the Elkhorn River and had learned on the internet that it was at the “green” level and the water kept going down. In fact, everything in Kentucky seemed very green and getting greener as we drove south on Highway 421. Even the sky had a greenish tint with the coming storm. We entered the historic old town and saw few people but several interesting shops. Huge and impressive government buildings loomed on one side of the historic area, and they too were devoid of people. We drove around them several times and only saw the occasional car and no fast food chains. Where was the real town we wondered? But we soon found a restaurant that served a fantastic pulled pork roast, and the friendly waitress, luckily, knew where Canoe Kentucky Rental was located. I had forgotten my directions in my eagerness to be at the river.
We drove into the verdant (verdant) Kentucky landscape on a country road lined with old stone fences for mile after mile. Later I learned that we were in the center of the blue grass region. New houses stood side by side with old southern mansions with their sweeping lawns and white columns, and everywhere the corn was as high as a mastodon’s eye and the hayfields gleamed golden in the rosy evening light. (Mastodons and mammoths can be seen at Big Bone Lick State Park on the way back to Indiana on Highway 127.) The clouds, the sun and the humidity had conspired to paint a landscape with a patina that any artist would envy.
Finally we reached the tiny village of Peak’s Mill and saw the old school that had been mentioned in my directions on the left. There was a full moon so we could make out the Canoe Kentucky rental place on the side of the road. We had no idea where their primitive encampment was, so we finally parked in the church parking lot and went to ask one of the few houses with lights in the windows at 10:00 p.m.
They gave us great directions and not too soon as someone was looking at our car through the dark church window. Of course, there was a cemetery right next to the church. Another twenty minutes, and we were at the camp. In the moonlight we parked alongside other RVs before I realized there weren’t any cars around. I thought it must be a trailer park and expected to see the ghost of an old trailer. We finally found the RV park to live in, packed up our RV, and set our clock for 7:00 am to arrive in Canoe Kentucky at 9:00 the next morning.
The Still Waters RV Park was very nice in the morning light. It was owned by the Strohmeiers, and Greta assured me that the ghost RVs were just RVs that were temporarily stored there. The road that ran next to the park was the Strohmeier road, and the park was a well-established park with a few permanent campers. The grounds were extensive and beautiful and of course very green. The camp is located on the Kentucky River at the mouth of the Elkhorn. Greta said that a narrow ancient path leading to the river guarded by a stone gate and a gate house were private. When she was asked why, she said that they had driven to an old hotel where the Cincinnati steamboats once stopped. The boats had traveled up the Ohio River and the Kentucky River to reach the hotel. Springs and beautiful rivers and streams, such as the Elkhorn, with its 200-foot-high limestone cliffs and whitewater, were the draw then as now. But now, canoeing and kayaking are added attractions.
At nine o’clock we were at Kentucky Canoe Rentals and we watched the canoe safety video with other people. We were a little worried knowing we were the only ones going to the whitewater section of the creek. We booked a thirteen mile trip that was part whitewater and part lazy river. The guys said some kayakers had been having trouble at the dam next to the Jack Daniels distillery and repeatedly warned us not to pull over and go around it. Once on the river with our two dogs, a small white Kishu and a large red Australian Cattle Dog, we felt confident that we could maneuver the canoe in the fast moving water. The dam was soon in sight, and we got to the left hand side and skirted it successfully, staying on the river’s edge rather than attempting to run the rapids below the dam. A couple of the distillery employees on their break were watching so we didn’t want to mess it up.
We soon had a lot of excitement as we reached a section of S-shaped rapids. There was no time to plan an attack and our boat bounced like a toy on the rocks, but the force of the current kept us heading in the right direction despite turning to the sides. We are seasoned canoe enthusiasts and really enjoy the challenge of the class II-III rapids. It was easy to see the “V’s” when you got to white water, and the waves were great at many of the falls. Even in the lazy river section there were some whitewater challenges. The water was clean and inviting and the sun was warm which made swimming enjoyable. The Royalex canoe was a decent craft. We did it. We stayed to the right as indicated on the bridge abutment, so we didn’t hit the cement wall and just had a bad run-in with branches from the spaghetti strainer. We stopped for lunch and had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that have never tasted so good and went “upriver in the midday sun” for the second leg of our trip. The total trip was about six hours and was well worth the four hour drive to Kentucky from Indianapolis.
We tried an old riverside tavern in the evening and had a beer with a Jaegermeister Chaser, a surprisingly good herbal liqueur. On the label you will find the German inscription which, roughly translated, means: “It is the hunter’s honor to protect and preserve his game, to hunt with a sporting spirit, to honor the Creator in his creatures.” All the youngsters in the bar were drinking it, and when asked what it was, they said it was “delicious.” The balcony overlooked the misty and mysterious Kentucky River. The full moon lit our way back to Still Waters Campground, where we enjoyed a second night in our pop-up caravan. Everywhere we had seen horses in green pastures, prosperous farms with black barns and black picket fences or old stone fences, fields of tobacco and corn and hay and pink-flowered mimosas. We hear friendly southern accents, cicadas chirping (sawing), crickets chirping and bullfrogs croaking and the air conditioner in our motorhome humming. It was a welcome sound in ninety degree, ninety percent humidity weather where feeling like a fish didn’t mean you wanted to eat one.
The next day we went to Frankfort and learned a lot about Kentucky history at the Historical Society museum and were surprised to find Daniel Boone’s grave at the overlook over Frankfort. Later we found the “new town” up the hill from the old town on the interstate, as well as more of the older town on the other side of the bridge over the Kentucky River. It was there that we found and toured the “new capitol building” which was actually not new at all, but newer than the very old one in town. The Governor’s Mansion was inspired by the Petit Trianon, Marie Antoinette’s summer villa. We enjoyed a bookstore with the entire second floor devoted to old books. I found a first edition by Booth Tarkington, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author from Indianapolis. Next to the bookstore there was an artists’ cooperative and a cafeteria where we were lucky enough to meet the mayor who invited us to a concert that night. Rebecca Ruth’s bourbon balls were quite a treat and some of the houses were reminiscent of an older, grander time. The day was complete when we attended the concert in front of the beautiful old courthouse and enjoyed a band that played 80’s music and did a wonderful rendition of “Billy Jean”. The town was full of people now, and everyone enjoyed a festive Friday. Some people we talked to said they didn’t like canoeing but liked Elkhorn Creek and some were very impressed that we had tried it. One man we spoke to had been on it quite a bit and loved it.
We also highly recommend the creek for canoeing trips and Canoe Kentucky for their great store, Wenonah’s rental canoes, and the professional manner of the employees. The city of Frankfort offered southern hospitality and a sense of history, and it was interesting to see the old riverside town preserved in a separate area from the new town. It was a great paddle and a great ride.