Paddling the Palisades of the Kentucky River

Paddling the Palisades of the Kentucky River

Early Morning Wisps of Fog 

Imagine being in a canoe, paddling this river.  It is early morning on a cool autumn day and the fog is dense, limiting the ability to see the bends in the river.  As the wisps of fog lift, the 220 foot magnificent rock cliffs loom in front of us.  THIS is why we are on this stretch of river.  THIS is why we challenged ourselves to paddle 18 miles in one day. 

To be able to paddle the 18 miles in one day we had to get an early start, so we organized to shuttle our car to the take out the day before and to stay at the Inn the Country Bed & Breakfast nearby (located right across from Camp Nelson Cemetery) hosted by Marceline who is listed on Airbnb.  This is a great place to start your trip because it is just a few miles from the put in on Hwy 27.  Marceline is friendly, accommodating and has plenty of room and many beds if people are willing to share rooms.  (Ask her about possibilities of a shuttle.)

This section of the Kentucky River is remote and the next access point from Camp Nelson is 18 miles down the river at High Bridge. That being said, we figured that to do 18 miles in one day we needed to be sure to do at least 3 miles an hour.   The almost still river was not going to give us much of a push so making a 3 mile an hour speed was going to be mostly on us.

We were excited to begin early and get on the river.  We loved the feeling of being surrounded by the looming cliffs and the blanketing fog.  As you paddle past the limestone cliffs, you see the weathering of the rocks from the passage of the river over the eons of time.  The river has shaped these cliffs into columns which have acquired names that are listed on the map. The area near Hwy 27 is part of the Tom Dorman State Nature Preserve on both sides of the river. It preserves the natural beauty of the cliffs, which are some of the oldest exposed rock in the state along with the rare plants found in this area.  Some of these cliffs are homes to vultures and birds of prey.  But other than a few turtles out on a cold day, wood ducks, and kingfishers, the only other animals were the cattle roaming around at the base of the cliffs at Polly’s Bend (from mile marker 131-129)

As we paddled along we kept our eye out to find a place to stop and have lunch.  Both sides of the river had steep sides, one with the rock cliffs going up almost from the water’s edge and the other side had steep muddy banks that were several feet high making it difficult to even get out of the canoe.  We did find a rock shelf at the bottom of a steep cliff that would be a waterfall on a rainy day. Today, with having no recent rains, the shelf was dry enough for us to pull up and take on some nourishment.  It was on the left side of the river before the Boat Hollow Creek enters the river about 10 ½ miles from where we put in.

The day was long.  After 5 hours of almost constant paddling our arms and backs were telling us that we needed to stop.  We had Kentucky River Authority Navigation Charts (found online as a PDF file) along and watched to see, by the map, how much of the river that we had left to go – it was probably two more hours. 

Late afternoon, we realized we were getting close to High Bridge when houses started appearing on the right side of the river.  We also started seeing our first sign of other boaters. Many boaters put in at High Bridge and kayak/canoe up stream to the Dix River which they said has a few small ripples that make it fun.  As we approached High Bridge, a train was going over.  We thought it was a pretty cool bridge to canoe under and to think of the past.

Before getting to the take out on the right 1/3 mile past the High Bridge, Shaker’s Landing is on the left.  Parked at Shaker’s Landing is the excursion boat, the Dixie Belle.  The road from the Landing leads to Shaker Village.  There are so many historic possibilities in the area to explore once getting off the river or even on the river. The take out is within view of Lock 7.  Jessamine County has produced the Kentucky River Guide, which includes historic activities that occurred on the river, along with their GPS.  Jessamine County has also been instrumental in establishing a Kentucky River Task Force which includes working with other organizations to create a Kentucky River Water Trail and to be responsible stewards of the River’s watershed and its resources.

This is a beautiful river encompassing lots of history that keeps calling you back to experience yet another day of joy, paddling your canoe.