Big Pine Creek
Rainsville to Twin Bridges (0.5-6.7 miles)
| Difficulty | II+(III) |
| Length | 6.4 mi |
| Avg Gradient | 13 fpm |
| Gauge | Big Pine Creek at Pine Village, in |
| Flow Rate as of 1 hour | 62 cfsbelow recommended |
| Reach Info Last Updated | March 15, 2024 |
River Description
In what most folks think of as the 'flatlands' in Indiana, northwest of Indianapolis, this run has considerable merit for its play potential and its scenery.
The run begins less than a mile southeast of Rainsville, where a gravel 'ford' (to cross thru the river at low water) exists. The creek is quite uniformly wide, and trips across a bedrock base in the next quarter-mile to create numerous playable waves. In general there is a lack of eddy service, so most features tend to be catch-on-the-fly, one-shot play, or a fight to regain, or a carry-up to re-play.
After the opening sequence, a few more playable waves (strung out a bit more than the first series) lead to S-curve. The river turns left, where it encounters a bedrock ledge extending at least halfway across the stream from river-right. At low water (under 2.5') the ledge will be dry, funneling all the water to the left, creating a playable wave/hole followed by good current through the large pool below, heading toward a wall of rock (the left bank) where it is diverted back to the right to proceed downstream. At high water (somewhere above 4'?) water will pour over the ledge on river right to create a potentially nasty, uniform hole. Beware!
The gradient then dies down for an extremely scenic float until the next features. The stream is regularly flanked on one or both sides by rocky bluffs (I believe mostly sandstone and shale). The presence of mostly deciduous trees make this an extraordinarily beautiful reach to paddle in fall. Eventually one encounters a few more playable features in the lower stretch. The best of these are All Day Wave and Hawaii 5-0.
Many local boaters just do the initial 0.6 mile of river as a 'park-and-play', carrying up the country road which parallels this part of the river. However, the scenery of the rest of the run and the good eddy service for the playspots on the lower river make it worthwhile to do the full run. Note Park an
...River Features
Put In
Rocky Ford
The put-in is at a 'ford' (low-water crossing) in the river. Immediately the boater encounters a fine series of ledges, waves, and holes. Many are playable (at good flows), but few have any eddy service, meaning most will be 'catch-on-the-fly', 'one-and-done' play. Not a problem, because the next wave/hole is always just downstream.
S-Curve
At most levels, this is the biggest and best playable feature on the run. A bedrock ridge extends from the right shore. At low-to-moderate flows, it diverts all water into a couple good waves and a wave/hole. Downstream current pushes through a large eddy and heads into the river-left wall/bank. At higher flows, water will spill over the ledge, and may form a bigger wave/hole.
All Day Wave
A bedrock ledge/intrusion creates a sweet wave here. Boaters exclaim 'You could surf all day on this,' hence the name.
Hawaii Five-Oh
At high water, this area contains some wild wonderful waves.
Take Out
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportKayaked the full run from rocky ford to the bridge on 5/2/20. Level was somewhere in the 400-500cfs range on the USGS gage. It was scrapey in some places but overall very runnable. The first mile or so is the best part, some good surfing to be had at S-turn. Very pretty and relaxing float down the rest of the river with a few play spots and rapids scattered throughout the run.
A nice day on the BP
On 1/22/2017, 12.1 ft/1940 cfs at Pine Village was just over 4' on Rainsville Bridge. A correlation from Ed R. Pine V. = Rainsville Br. (ft = ft): 13' = 4.5'; 12' = 4'; 11' = 3'; 10' = 2'.5'; 9' = 1.75 to 2.0'; 8' = 1'; 7' = 0.5'
Josh Struble doing spins and playing the hole on S-Curve. Really nice playable hole at about 1.5 ft in the bridge guage. 10-14-14
I ran this 5/10/14 (@173 cfs) out of desperation for some swift water, being based out of the flatlands of Champaign, IL. Just ran a 'PnP' from the twin bridges take-out and attained a 1/4 mile or so until the last three sets of ledges, there was just enough water to dig a blade in and ferry across the little waves. With the beautiful weather it was certainly worth the drive! Especially if you were coaching a beginner or for someone like me trying to get comfortable with eddy turns and ferrying in an open boat (recently traded in my LL playboat for a canoe when I moved to Illinois). The last ledge I was able to surf with my dagger impulse! This was the bare minimum level, but I'd go back at 200 cfs for sure. Looking for new paddlers to meet up with since I'm new to the area, let me know if anyone's going there in the future! Taylor.strohmeyer@icloud.com
The lower WW section of the Big Pine from the Harrison Bridge (Below the confluence of the Mud Pine and Big Pine) to Twin Bridges, can be run at much lower levels than the Rocky Ford S-curve section. Down to around 200cfs on the Vermillion gage. It offer some fun class 1 Rapids and ledges with good easy surfing and is a very scenic paddle. In fact this section is excelent when the upper section is getting too low to run. Around 0.5? on the Chuck Weis (Rainsville Bridge) gage.
A little 'Zooming' on a cold Indiana day.
Rainsville, IN Bridge Putin (Chuck Wies Guage) 1 FT
USGS Guage upstream at Pine Village was at 7.62ft 533 cfs