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Sunday June 25, 2006
Normally I write about hiking, as this forms the main portion of our enjoyment of nature. But summer
in Indiana brings hot weather and deer flies, two ingredients of a hike which make it less than
enjoyable. So on this day we elected to try a canoe trip on the lake at Versailles State Park in
southeastern Indiana.
The boat rental is located in a small shack near the Nature Center. The rates (2006) are $5.00 per
hour, $20.00 per day. We elect to rent by the hour as it is mid afternoon. The canoes are lined up
on the beach. Also available are paddle boats and row boats. We prefer canoes as they are more
maneuverable and easier to row than rowboats and better to manage for our type of trip than
paddleboats.
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Versailles Lake is over 200 acres, so it is large enough to make a canoe trip interesting. I
elected to go right from the beach, up the channel of Laughery Creek. We figured on being out about
two hours. There is a shallow area just before you reach the channel, the paddles reaching the
muddy bottom of the lake. At this point we saw something on top of the water that we couldn’t
identify. . Long, reddish shapes swimming rapidly away as we approached. Initially I thought they
were eels, but they didn’t look quite right for that Later we saw more of these and determined that
they were probably catfish spawning.
After entering the channel of the creek, the water deepens again. From here on the channel would
vary in width from about thirty feet to over 150 feet in some places. The shore is heavily wooded in
all places and fairly steep in most places. The shallow areas are populated quite heavily with
herons, which fly away as we approach. It is wild and quite beautiful on this stretch, and quiet
as we were the only canoe on the water.
After about one hour we still had not reached the real creek channel, still being in the portion
flooded by the dam. It is quite easy canoeing, no discernable current. We elected at this point to
return to the boat dock. Another day would see us return to spend a day canoeing Laughery Creek and
Versailles Lake, a very pleasant canoe trip in southeastern Indiana.
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