The Elkorn Creek..........

I can't even begin to explain just how much fun the Elkorn Creek was to us as children. We spent so much time in the creek no matter what time of the year it may have been. I also cannot believe how we never drowned in that creek with some of the stupid adventures that we had in that dirty brown water. These include........

1.) Many times when the creek had flooded to a very dangerous or to us "fun" level we would wade down Jason's backyard which would be flooded to the main part. Then we'd swim out to the main part into the current and let it take us away downstream. I never thought about how dangerous this was cause it was sooo much fun. Some of these times it would be so deep you could go under and be at the bottom and raise your hands up and not break the surface. This from a creek that on the average was maybe knee to waist high. We'd jump in a let it carry us down to the Midway Road bridge and climb out, then walk back down and get in again. I remember one time Jason's mom coming all the way out to the bridge and yelling at us and made him come home. I will say none of us ever came close to being injured though.

2.) Another time when the creek had flooded late in the fall we went down to this little I guess dock/hangout place. It wasn't really on anyone's property but someone had built a nice rectangle wooden dock with benches that overlooked the creek. This time it was kinda cold out and the current was moving too fast to just to just get in. So what do we do....tie a rope to an inner-tune on one end and to the dock on the other. We took turns jumping into the current on the inner-tube and letting the current shoot us down the creek until the rope let all the way out, then pull ourselves back in. It wasn't freezing but it wasn't really warm either and we ended up quitting because after Nace's second turn he was freezing and thought he was getting hypothermia.

3.) Of course there were numerous fishing trips of all kinds from canoing to wading. This is actually an activity the continues to this day as you can catch many small mouth bass, bluegill, and sunfish in the Elkorn. I can remember soooo many lazy days just floating down the creek fishin, smokin cigarettes, and having heart to heart talks with the fellas.

4.) Behind Jeff Besser's house which would turn into Nace's house there was a small area that had two dug in holes on each side of a hill. We used to have some of the best mud and water fights in this area.

5.) I remember one time when Jason and I were playing in the down by the creek in early spring. It was still fairly chilly out but we saw a tree that had washed down behind his house during one of the spring floods. We walked out on it with no real intention of swimming or getting wet that day. However, since this was a huge tree we noticed a large branch hanging off of it that extended out over the water. We found you could jump out and grab the branch and it would dip you into the water then bring you back up. This was a very enjoyable time until we decided to both jump at the same time. The branch couldn't quite handle the weight of both of us and broke and sent us both into the water. We couldn't stop laughing!

6.) Finally I guess the kicker would be the time Jason, Greg, and Nace had to be rescued by the Scott Co. Search and Rescue Team. Now the first I heard of this was when my dad told me that some of my buddies had been on the news for having to be rescued out of the creek. Greg's mom I think to this day has recorded footage of the news of the event. I was not there so I may get the story a little wrong(Greg hopefully you can fill in some) but I know it was another day the creek had flooded. It was no worse than any of the other times we had been in it but the current was pretty bad. I guess they had "borrowed" a canoe from a neighbor and were out playing in the creek. Apparently some of the neighbors saw them tip over in the canoe and called for a rescue team. Now all three of them claim they weren't in any trouble but the news footage shows them all clinging to different trees awaiting rescue. I don't know if we will ever let them live that one down.