Wabash, Indiana, US

Markle to County Road 150 S (1.2 miles) (Markle bypass channel)

Gauge Information

Name	Range	Difficulty	Updated	Level
WABASH RIVER NEAR BLUFFTON, IN
usgs-03322985	300 - 3000 cfs	I-II(III)	01h13m	302 cfs (rc= 0.0 )
	Low, but can be fun. Gauge (508 sq.mi. drainage) is about 15 miles upstream. A good number of tribs intervene. They're mostly small, so gauge should be fairly accurate for reach.

River Description

Caution: 4-29-09 The run has changed. SCOUT it on the river left. The rapid by the island has changed a lot, all the water goes left of what was the island so SCOUT this drop.

Graig surfing the hole at 287 cfs

Put in on south side of the dike at the end of Wilt Street. Walk past the gates and down the stone road to the river's south channel. (The north channel is all flat water.)

The rapids start 600' downstream of HWY 3 bridge and continue for 1,500'. Starting with a class 1 followed by a river wide ledge that has a wave to surf. The next ledge is broken with some 1.5' to 2' waves.

Scout the next one -- the waves and hole are close together so look at them both. A sloping drop of 3' to 4' with some bigger waves and a good eddy on the left next to the waves. Just below is a big river wide hole with good eddies on both sides so you can stop to play. This hole can be a stopper and hard to get out of at some levels: 500 cfs or a little more is a good play level. At higher levels the hole gets bigger than any on the East Race.

After this is a smaller rapid that has a fast chute with a strong eddy line on the right with deep water that is fun to play in. A bit of flat water leads to the take out on your left at the end of County Road 150 S. This is an older photo, most of the trees to the river right of this paddler are washed away now and the drop is a bit wider.

Brian's turn

. At 2,000 cfs the waves can reach 3 to 4' and the holes get big. Rescue could be difficult and scouting is recommended.

Brent runing the hole at 551 cfs 

At 2,500 the river starts to go out out of it's banks. At this level it is wide has big waves and the holes are stoppers but they don't seem to keep you. The current is very fast so be careful

. 
This is a man made channel and changes some each year, in fact it has changed a lot in the last two years.  If the water is high, Rock Creek is a good warm up that uses the same take out.

Dan with another good run

Tom testing the hole at 580 cfs

The following YouTube video shows Markle at 1300 cfs.