Trip Difficulty: Moderate. This is a fairly winding stream with riffles, boulders, and often time strainers and complete blockages. This trip is not recommended for newbies. Good boat handling skills are required and you may need to be able to crawl over or around log jams. The water may be moving fast so there will be little room for error.
Hopefully the air will be warm and the water should be running. What a great combination for a fun paddle down Big Walnut Creek. Located about 10 miles northwest of Danville, this is a very scenic and interesting stream. It has lots of limestone cliffs along its path and we will paddle under a couple of covered bridges. The creek has plenty of curves and ripples to make it a bit more challenging than some, with some boulders and trees thrown in to make it even more interesting.
Since it is a stream we will have to arrange to have vehicles at the takeout point to take us back to the starting point. Some of us will get there early so we can drop off some vehicles at the take-out site. Bring some food and we’ll have lunch along the river. This trip is about 12 miles long and should last around 5 hours. We will put-in at the McCloud Nature Park and take-out at the US 36 bridge PAS. (Upstream river right)
This stream needs a good rain prior to paddling on it so we may have to go to an alternate location if the water levels are too low or too high. Please give your cell phone numbers when you RSVP and watch your emails.
Suggested items to bring: Wide brimmed hat, sun block, hand sanitizer, sunglasses, large sponge, bilge pump or container to bail out water, water, snacks, weather radio, towel, change of clothes, water shoes, paddling gloves, rain gear, bug spray, safety whistle, drybags, Ziplock bags, camera, binoculars, rope, headlamp or flashlight, a sense of adventure, and a good dose of humor.
For clothing try to use something other than cotton, especially if the weather is cool. Polypropylene or polyester are good choices since neither holds water and they wick moisture away from you.
IYAK policy is that all participants MUST wear a PFD while on the water.
Carpool/Caravan Site: Meet at Focus Therapeutic Massage, 8711 Southeastern Ave., Indianapolis, 46239 by 9:15am. We will leave at 9:30am.
If anybody needs to rent a kayak contact Freedom Kayak Adventures at[masked]. The rent for this trip is $50 for a single seat boat and $60 for a tandem boat.
The Googlemaps link for the route to McCloud Nature Park is: https://goo.gl/maps/QoeettLnsxAF4RsU9
Trip Leader: Paul Hilton[masked].
WAIVER OF LIABILITY
By RSVPing to this event you and your guests agree to the term of the IYAK – Indiana Kayakers Liability Waiver located at: https://www.meetup.com/IYAK-Indiana-Kayakers/pages/25179426/Liability_Waiver/
