These barriers at Cedar Rapids Country Club are the last portage on Indian Creek and the first formidable obstacle for fish migrating from the Cedar River. (John Lawrence Hanson/Correspondent)
A trio of teenagers waved at me from the tee of hole 17. I waved back.
As a high school history teacher, I don't expect boys to do such things. But I guess they didn't expect to see someone kayaking on Indian Creek. In a civilization, we approach new experiences with an open mind.
The author's journey down Indian Creek began with a kayak ride. (John Lawrence Hanson/correspondent)
I have lived with Indian Creek as part of my community for more than half my life. I have driven across it countless times, run and biked along it, cast a line and set a trap, and even picnicked along it.
However, I had never paddled there. In fact, I have never seen anyone paddle on it, although I know some do.
Maybe Indian Creek and other similar rivers in Iowa are being avoided because of pollution. The French spent about $1.5 billion to permanently clean up the Seine for the Olympics. I'm sure it wouldn't take that much money to permanently clean up Indian Creek. And I also know there's no political will to do it. Cedar Rapids for the 2032 Games?
The creek had dropped to 3.5 feet four days earlier, after a storm that had caused an eight-foot drop. It was time to leave before the water level dropped any lower. I set sail at the 29th Avenue wetland, just south of the Linn-Mar campus. As I dragged the boat along the grassy path, I met a man walking along who told me he had floated the creek with his granddaughter a few weeks earlier in a canoe. He said they had to get out to push a little. He added that he and his son had paddled Indian Creek from Marion to Palisades Park 45 years ago. Adventure is all around us.
The hum of the water kept me moving without much paddling. The feeling of being in the city quickly disappeared, which was nice. I had to get out to get around the obstacles in Willow Park and on Eighth Avenue. According to the Indian Creek Management Plan, Indian Creek is 35 miles long. However, I don’t recognize that number because of the many man-made barriers that prevent the migration of aquatic life.
The author took a moment to look back upstream on Indian Creek as it joined the Cedar River. (John Lawrence Hanson/correspondent)
The artificial segments of Indian Creek are biologically compromised, like living with clogged arteries.
Before I knew it, I found myself walking through Thomas Park. Instead of just being a park user, I felt like a tourist. The new perspective from the water changed my perception of the park and the people: “Hello!”
I have often encountered deer in the water. After struggling and failing to get my cell phone out of the plastic bags in time to take a picture, I wisely gave up and just enjoyed the spontaneity. How much pleasure are we losing because of cell phones?
I had to exit twice near Highway 100, but that made me smile because I knew what they were foreshadowing. The sewer upgrades to massive 60-inch pipes from Cedar Rapids meant the long wait for the CEMAR bike path was just around the corner.
Behind the excavation, the trail will parallel Indian Creek and connect Marion to Cedar Rapids. Maybe more people enjoying the creek will spark the will to act? Maybe.
In 2015, the Indian Creek Watershed Authority released a 166-page report, which included survey results. When asked to assign blame for poor water quality, farmers and residents cited runoff from hard surfaces as the primary culprit.
Yet one of the top five most common responses from city residents was about farmers using too much chemicals. The top five most common responses from farmers blamed gardens for the excess chemicals. A tie preserves the status quo.
The ride continued with new views around every bend. Softshell turtles scattered as I approached, deer bounded toward the shore and then spied me as I passed. I refused to look back. Paddling through Cedar Rapids Country Club was a sharp break in the landscape. Wild vegetation and bends transformed into manicured grass and a controlled aesthetic.
This is where the biggest obstacle on the stream was. The old steel dams caused falls of several meters. Woe to the clams or fish that yearn for a better life.
Shortly after Americans put men on the moon, Congress passed the monumental Clean Water Act. The second goal of the act is this: “Clean Water Act section 101(a)(2) The national goal is that, wherever practicable, an interim water quality objective that provides for the protection and propagation of fish, shellfish, and wildlife and that provides for recreation in and on the water will be achieved by July 1, 1983.” High praise!
Coe College has released 2016 water quality data for Indian Creek. Professor Marty St. Clair's team recorded average water quality in the summer Escherichia coli score of 9,756 from samples at Thomas Park. They added that Iowa Escherichia coli The standard for children's water recreation was 235.
Soon I was next to the Sac and Fox Trail. As a runner, I always felt like I was following the trail—the creek was right next to it. Now, in the water, it felt like the trail was following me. No more deer, no more turtles, and every grass, native and invasive, you could imagine in a humid Iowa summer.
There was no charge for making this trip.
South of Mount Vernon Road, the current changed. The turbulent stream became a lazy river, or that French word, Bayou. The air became lazy, too, no longer repelling mosquitoes.
And then I found myself at the confluence of the Cedar River. I was clearly on a tributary of a larger river. I had been out for four hours and 17 minutes. I let the kayak sit in the mixed water before paddling upstream about 300 yards to get out of the river.
Indian Creek has flowed through this land for hundreds of thousands of years. It is a life journey and you are invited to learn from it.
I look up, I look ahead and I keep my pencil sharp.
