Wabash River in Indiana - Weekend Trip Report

Trip Overview

A few friends and myself decided to paddle the Wabash river from Covington, IN to Terre Haute, IN. This trip is roughly 60 miles and varies in difficulty as the Wabash flood levels change quite frequently. During our trip, the river was a few feet over the typical flood stage of 16 ft. To determine the water levels and current speed, I used a Wabash website that gives insight to flooding from various gages along the river:
wabashriver.us/streamflow/index.htm

Knowing that this was roughly 60 miles of paddling, we decided to make the trip a three-day, two-night excursion. Giving ourselves the option of only 20 miles per day. As we began paddling, we realized that the wind was with us the whole trip and the current was flowing at about 4mph, calling for only 5 hours of paddling per day.

We made camp after day one on the West side of the river due to Manhattan Island being too flooded for camping. We made sure to be cautious of "No Trespassing" signs as we looked for a perfect spot. After about 30 minutes of searching, we found a small tributary that allowed for us to paddle in and find dryer land to sleep and camp on. We set up camp and slept until the next morning. Upon waking up, we noticed that the tributary had dwindled down to almost nothing, causing for us to pack up and launch off directly into the river.

As we paddled the second day, we made quick ground and leaving at around 7:30 that morning decided to finish the trip that day. Day two was roughly 38 miles of easy paddling, giving us time of course to stop at Clinton, IN public access point and enjoy a lunch from Dairy Queen.

Overall, the trip was great! The weather was fantastic and the water was easy to navigate. When finished, we checked the levels once again and the river had dropped roughly 4 feet in the two day period of paddling. Showing the definite and undeterminable changes that the Wabash can deliver.

Here is a link to a quick summary video I filmed while on the Wabash. Unfortunately, the footage only ranges from Covington to Clinton as my battery died.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOUZ-K-eC8c

Accommodations:

Various Public Access points along the trip allowed for rest stations.
There were few places to eat with the exception of Clinton, IN (Dairy Queen!)

Outfitting:

Old Town Loon 120 Kayak
Old Town Dirigo 120 Kayak
Sea Eagle SE330 Inflatable Kayak

Fees:

None

Directions:

US 63 will provide the exit for 136 to drive into Covington, IN. Once in Covington, turn right onto 3rd street and then turn right onto Washington Street. Follow Washington until you find the public access point. Feel free to park your car and leave it for a few days!

Launches:

Covington public access point

Resources:

Google Maps