White River in Indiana

Trip Overview

Driftwood to East Fork, White River

I first took this kayak trip with my 15 year old son on Sept. 7 and he had mixed feelings about it. He had fun for the first 2 hours and then he started asking for his phone from the baggie. I however, had a fabulous time and regarded this as the best birthday present ever from him.

We put in at the Lowell Bridge public area in Columbus, IN and traveled approximately 8 km (2.5 hrs) to the union of the Driftwood and Flatrock Rivers to the East Fork of the White River in downtown Columbus (Mill Race Park).

Yesterday my friend and I tried the same route. We took a more leisurely approach and it took us 2.45 hours. This was her first time kayaking. It hasn't rained substantially for quite a while here so the water was lower than usual and we did wind up on a few bars.

This trip is a slow meandering ride with quite a few slightly exciting "racy parts". I've kayaked rivers and lakes and find that I enjoy the intimacy with nature much more on a quiet river. On both trips we enjoyed seeing majestic Blue Herons taking flight, wood peckers in the trees and turtles drying out on logs. Yesterday we noticed that most of the Blue Heron have moved on but were graced with the presence of an American Bald Eagle that remained perched as we floated beneath it.

Accommodations:

Pubic put in; Public exit.
Put in provides no facilities.
Exit is in a city park so public restrooms and a parking lot is available.

Fees:

None. Not a state park area.

Directions:

From 65N exit, Traveling South into Columbus, IN on 31 N turn Rt. onto Lowell Rd about 1 mile. Turn left into Lowell Bridge put in.
Exit is in Mill Race Park, Columbus, IN

Resources:

Looked at the Indiana DNR maps