Metro Parks to offer free canoe trips

With classes out Friday for Jefferson County schools, Metro Parks employees hope an all-day canoe event will get kids off the couch and on the Ohio River.

For the third year, Jefferson Memorial Forest and Minneapolis-based Wilderness Inquiry will launch free canoe trips Friday at Shawnee Park and Saturday at Riverview Park.

The Urban Wilderness Canoe Adventure will give passengers history lessons and show them a different perspective of the city from an asset that’s in their own backyard, Jefferson Memorial Forest administrator Bennett Knox said.

“In spots, you don’t really see buildings,” he said of being on the Ohio River. “You see the shoreline, you see trees, and you can get a sense of wilderness being on the river.”

Organizers started the event — with funding from Metro Council members Rick Blackwell, Cheri Bryant Hamilton and others — as a way to provide more outdoor opportunities for residents living in west and southwest Louisville, Knox said.

Canoeing is on an upswing across the city, and residents in those areas have told park employees that they are interested in joining the movement, Knox said. But the hobby is not as accessible to them as it is in other areas, such as the Parklands of Floyds Fork east of Middletown.

Free canoe trips are not offered outside the Urban Wilderness and West Louisville Appreciation Days events, and Shawnee doesn’t even have a formal boat launch point, Knox said.

Jefferson Memorial Forest, located south of the Snyder Freeway, is currently attempting to increase canoeing and other outdoor opportunities in west Louisville with the proposed creation of an outdoor learning center in Shawnee Park, but the project is still in the planning stage. Knox said he expects designs for the center and other amenities, such as the restoration of a pond in Chickasaw Park, to be completed by June.

For the Urban Wilderness event, Wilderness Inquiry will provide six 24-foot Voyageur canoes that fit nine passengers each for trips between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Shorter trips will take about half an hour, while longer trips are available at the start and end of the events, Knox said.

Organizers hope to draw about 700 people this year — an increase over the 500 who attended last year — though the canoes can carry more than 1,500 passengers total between the two days.

Seats will be first come, first serve, and Knox said the wait should not be longer than five or 10 minutes. Participants should wear close-toed shoes — no flip-flops or Crocs — and can bring a bottle to refill at water stations. Food vendors will be on site.

Each passenger is required to fill out a waiver before getting in a canoe and can do so ahead of time at Jefferson Memorial Forest’s website. Click on the calendar tab, then print the permission/release/waiver form.

Reporter Bailey Loosemore can be reached at (502) 582-4646. Follow her on Twitter at @bloosemore.

URBAN WILDERNESS CANOE ADVENTURE

Friday: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at Shawnee Park, 4501 W. Broadway

Saturday: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at Riverview Park, 8202 Greenwood Road