New kayak and canoe trail in heart of Glasgow trail open to public

Crews began working to clear hazards on the Beaver Creek Blue Way Trail, making the water more accessible and easy-to-navigate for kayaks and canoes.

“You go on a river and there might not be signage,” Jerry James, Founder of the Explore Kentucky Initiative says, “but you go on a blue way trail and there’s signs that tells you mile-markers, hazards, a little bit of interpretative information about the stream you’re paddling so it’s open and accessible to everyone and it also has dedicated put-in and take-out’s.”

Right now, those who kayak and canoe must travel to the outer edges of Barren County to get on the water, but beginning tomorrow, that trip begins just minutes from downtown Glasgow.

“It’s a great location right here in the heart of the town,” Glasgow Mayor Dick Doty explains, “you can get right on the outer loop, launch at the VFW, run down to Beaver Trail Park, park there, shuttle there, pull-out down there.”

James agrees the location is the most exciting factor—“to have a stream that’s near an urban area that you can hop on, paddle, and go home versus having to go all the way out into the county and out to the lake or go out to the Green River.”

The work on the three-mile-long blue way trail began right across the street from the Veterans of Foreign Wars post 5906, a facility they hope can eventually house water equipment and a shuttle service for travelers to and from the in and out points.

“Hopefully one day you’ll see a hundred kayaks and canoes going down here,” James says as he stands by the blue way trail.

Mayor Doty even got in on the action and took a couple trips around the trail.

“These guys that do kayak say they thinks it’s going to be really well perceived by the community and used quite a bit,” Doty says with a laugh, “I got in there this morning and haven’t fell out yet so I’m pretty excited.”

On May19th, locals can spend their first Saturday on the water right in the heart of the city.