White River Rafting: Friday Aug 10.

Jack and John have been talking about kayaking the White river for some time and we finally got it together. So it was Jack and John and Mike and me off on a beautiful Friday.

We left around 8:30 and got to the drop off in Lyons around 9ish. We had to take one vehicle to the destination point so we would not be stranded and have to call someone to come and get us. No problem, John and I took our vehicles to the park in Burlington. I locked up my truck got in John’s and we headed back. I put my keys in John’s glove box so they wouldn’t get lost and we were on our way back to Lyons.

The river was up since we had had a lot of rain over the past week. I knew it would be fast but didn’t know how fast or how high. So we were tentative at first. But what a ride. We didn’t have to paddle at all just steer. John was in first and before we went 200 yards he found an apple tree and was munching away. Mike had studied a lot of biology and knew many of the plants we saw along the way.

Two minutes after we left the launch we might as well have been in Canada. We saw no sign of human habitat. No houses, cars, wires nothing but nature. We are very lucky to have such a remote area so close to home. Did I mention the water was cool and fast, the sun was hot, but we had lots of shade from overhanging trees.

Our first sign of human life was a wire stretched across the creek to keep a farmers cows from going up the creek off his land. He owns land on both sides of the creek and the cows can go and come from either side. There were no cows there today be and the wire was easily lifted to get by.

Not long after we saw a yellow canoe buried under a tree, trapped there by the current. We probably should have stopped and investigated, but we were early in the trip and had to keep going.

The water was so high that we never hit bottom or worried about hitting rocks or trees in the river. I would guess the water level to be 14-18 inches over normal. So no one tipped over unless of course you count the time I got out to stretch my legs and tipped over getting back in. The water felt great actually.

Farther down we came across a carving of a penguin out of a tree truck. It was about 40 inches high and a foot in diameter. I went buy but Mike and John decided they needed this trophy so they tied it to John’s boat and began to drag it. And I mean drag. The boats skim right along but with a 40 lb log on the back it’s all together different. John began to lag so Jack took a turn at the tow, then Mike, then Me.

It was decided that it would go to John’s Tiki bar and we needed a name for it. We thought it kind of looked like the penguin on the KOOL cigarette so we called him Mr Kool.

We got to Burlington about 3 hours from when we left and planned to stop for a great burger there in town. Just as we were taking the canoes out of the water I began to think about my keys that I had put safely in John’s truck which was back in Lyons. Feeling like a dumb shit, I advised the guys we had no keys. John was able to reach Michelle and she rescued us. She asked if any of the wives had help plan this trip. We said, no we did it all ourselves. Figured: was her only reply.

But the burgers were great and Mr Kool, rescued from a fate worse than death, is settled in a long life at the TiKi Bar.

Another group went the following Sunday since there was no wind and had a good time. They did not get stranded without keys or any other problems. To prevent any of that they took Judi along.

peter

Sunday August 12

Due to the entheusiastic Kayaking stories from Friday.  Joe Kovarik, Jim and Judi Johnson wanted a chance to explore the White River. 

Jack and I agreed that it would be fun to do the upper part of the River.  Jack had explored the places to potentially put in near Grand Geneva and a bit further down stream.  We decided to put in near the Grand Geneva.  That part of the river is a bit slower moving and very meandering through large open fields.  We went for about an hour and likely didn't get more than a linear mile because of the very serpentine nature of the river. 

After we crossed the other put in spot on Sheridan Springs road, the river picked up speed quite a bit and had light rapids.  While the first part was relaxing and pretty, everyone agreed this was more fun. 

I failed to heed Peter's admonition not to hold on to overhanging branches.  We came across a low lying tree and I couldn;t duck low enough.  When I put my hand out to protect my head,  the Kayak tipped enough for the rushing river to fill it.  No big think in a few inches of water, but my paddle decided to rapidly float down the river.   I looked like an idiot chasing the paddle but caught up with it. 

Back on the river, the rapids went on for quite awhile.  Near the end we encountered the short "falls" .  The river maybe goes down 5 feet.  We had previously talked to a woman who told us it was doable so over we all went successfully. 

The day was beautiful and the company was great.   

Click here for the pictures!

John Hamilton