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2008
Dam 4 in
The Steele
Branch Ramp is located in yet another great place on the river alongside some
beautiful farmland. In fact, just getting to it along
Greeting me at the ramp I found a large, brown woolly worm that seemed to head straight for me as I stopped to take a picture. It then seemed to look up at me as if begging for food! :) It wasn't until later, while I was in the process of confirming the correct spelling for this creature, that I found there’s a Woolly Worm Festival in Beattyville each year! Beattyville, as you may know, is where the three forks of the Kentucky River meet to form the main river.
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Anyway, once I’d gotten everything down to the water and was putting it in the kayak, I realized that I’d forgotten to bring the hand towel that I use for both sun protection and as a way to cool off. Oh well, maybe I wouldn't need it. It was cloudy #1, it would be the coolest day yet #2, and my hair was getting a little long #3 (sorry mom!). No, I’m not really superstitious as it relates to #3, but if I make any changes now like cutting my hair I might just screw something up. Besides, shorter hair would make me more aerodynamic and without the extra hair to slow me down I could misjudge my speed and go straight over a dam! :) Anyway, I’m told that I look better with long hair – especially if it helps to cover up part of my face! Bottom line: the locks are long enough to cover most of my neck now, so there’s some added sun protection there.
Anyway, you'll note that the ramp I used is at the furthest downriver point in this section. Yet, since I've been describing this navigation in a downriver manner I'd like to start with Lock and Dam 4 which is at the furthest upriver point and then describe thing from there. Thus, when you're at the lock and dam you're very near the heart of Frankfort, Kentucky.
In fact, you can see a tall downtown building over it in the distance. I was a little bummed here, however. There was a little corner that I’d not be able to fully see since it was in the restricted area. I could have climbed over the shoreline rocks to view it but there were some fishermen that I didn’t want to pester.
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You'll note a
building with a deck atop the bank here. This is
Jim's
Seafood, a nice restaurant. According to the web link the restaurant
has been here for 35 years on a site that once belonged to an old hemp factory.
Among the many
things I like about this restaurant is the classic old sign they have out by the
roadside. Signs like it give the places that have them a nostalgic feel
that I love! I'd noticed another such sign on my drive in between
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Back to the river... As you look downstream the first ½ mile on the right is a rocky ledge above which lies the community of Leestown Terrace. Meanwhile, on the opposite side you have - guess what? Another area that could be an awesome beach! The portage from this lock side would be fairly easy too. You’d just have to watch your step over some large rocks at the edge, or you could simply go further down to a more easily negotiable area along this beach. It was here that I saw another old barge that had been laid to waste as well as a few other discarded boats.
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Meanwhile, wafting over the river all this time had been the smell of fermentation along with the hum of machinery. The source? The Buffalo Trace Distillery! It’ll slowly emerge more clearly into view with each downriver paddle stroke. This place is amazing to me! It’s an incredible amalgamation of different building materials and architectural styles from different eras. In fact, it looks like they’ve added buildings on top of (and alongside) each other as the distillery has grown. There are also several pipes from which steam was emanating from this eclectic structure. It’s something that begs to be seen! I'd definitely put up their link, but I don't think I'm allowed to do that for distilleries and casinos. You can't tell it from this perspective, but the grounds of this distillery are really beautiful. I actually went to a wedding that was held on the grounds.
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Would you believe that I got the oddest feeling here? The sight of this factory affected me in a way that I couldn’t at first put my finger on. I eventually decided that it was a comforting feeling! Is that WEIRD? Maybe I was getting drunk on the fumes, but that was the feeling! I spent a great deal of my childhood in
Just downriver from the
distillery there was a lot of construction going on, and I wondered if this was
for a park or for a distillery expansion.
The trees by the shoreline were still there, but all the low hanging branches
had been cut down. As you round the left turn here you’ll see
more houses just above the Leestown and Jolly Roger Bars.
Leestown is more like a shoal, really, so this area starts rocky and then
becomes sandier as you go. There’s also a private boat ramp
here.
It
was in this area that I was reminded of another relative.
I’ve decided to dedicate this site to my grandmother because it was she who
taught me how to truly appreciate things. She especially
loved nature and animals, and what I saw here were a couple of multicolored
mallard ducks. What one lacked in color, the other one had,
so that between them they had just about every color in the rainbow. She would have marveled at this! “I just can’t
UNDERSTAND it James!” She’d say, meaning that she
could not comprehend how wonderful the Lord must be to have given us such
incredible things in this world. She saw His love everywhere - not only in the animals but in how the trees grow and even in
the formations that the clouds make! Even when her health
finally confined her to a chair in her apartment she still had it all in
perspective. This is how I endeavor to appreciate things!
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The
next 3 miles (64-61) comprise one big “C” curve to the right, and it’s in the midst of
this that you’ll notice the farms have made a
comeback. In fact, this whole section reminded me a lot of
those above Beattyville as well as the section from Dam 11 to
Three dry incoming streams enter from the left in this stretch. Petty’s Ripple Branch was almost nonexistent, while Jones Ripple Branch was only slightly more substantial. Finally came Macy’s Branch at mile 62.5. Between the last 2 I saw the remnants of a wooden structure that I’m guessing was a pier. The shad minnows clearly loved it here, as they’d formed more of their fish highway/tapestries that extended for about ½ mile! I saw them forming these in more than one place today though – they were all over!
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The other thing
I noticed here was that
the heron have gotten more and more vocal the further downriver
I’ve gotten. “Mraaaaaaack-ack-ack-ack!”
They’ll protest, as they flee downriver from me only to have to do it again as I
scare them off another 100 yards further down.
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At mile 61 the river curves left with the hills on the outside bank and the farmland on the inside... But is it farmland? The charts indicate that there may be some summer camps up there. I’m not sure. The only evidence I could see of any camps were some concrete steps coming half way down to the river. At mile 60 the Stony Creek comes in from the left. I got in about 400 feet. More shad tapestries in here…
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After a straight mile you’ll bend to the right at mile 59 where the Steamboat Hollow Creek enters on the left. Looking at this curve I took the photo below. Of interest to me here was how the incoming streams had eroded the mountain so that it looked as if there were different curtains of landscape. You'll notice 4 "curtains" below. There are three on the left and one is jutting in from the right. The river meanders between the last one on the left and the one on the right. Streams might sometimes be quite small, but they sure can have greats powers of erosion over time! Of note regarding Steamboat Hollow Creek - according to the charts, the downriver side was actually a spot where steamboats were built in the early 19th century - hence the name.
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In the next mile I encountered
some cows that just seemed to be standing in the water along the shoreline.
They may have been stuck.
The mud bank was really steep here, and I imagined that
with their weight they may have caused it to break off as they came down to the
water. In fact one of them, spooked by my presence, frantically tried to
get back up the bank. Yet, it would just tumble and fall back down into the water.
The more it did this the more the bank crumbled and, once reserved to the
fact that it could not get back up, it turned and glared at
me, stomping its hoof. There were about a half dozen cows in
this predicament. Hopefull I’m wrong in my assessment their
plight.
A long 2 ½ mile curve to the left begins at a dry Grindstone Creek between mile 58 and 57 and it would take me all the way back to the ramp at mile 55. Duvall Branch enters (also dry) at mile 56.5, and the Kentucky River Campground and its ramp enter at the shoal for Steele Branch just past mile 56. Steele Branch was also dry.
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Back at the Steele Branch Ramp I stopped to think that it was going to be a loooong trip the next time. It’s a 26 mile circuit not counting a couple larger streams that enter (Elkhorn Creek and Flat Creek). I can’t break up the trip because there aren’t any other put-ins in this pool. The next one I know of is all the way down at mile 31 in the next one. Thus, I’ll be getting out here at the break of dawn the next time. Lord willin’ and the crik don’t rise I’ll relate that story in a few days!
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DIRECTIONS:
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