Canoeing the Cool, Clear
Current River
We camped our first night
just across the Current River from where six men, floating on this
cool, clear river, built a log cabin (now called the Pultite Cabin)
in 1911 as a retreat for fishing, floating, hunting and just relaxing
in this beautiful land. Over one hundred years later, the Current
River is still a retreat in this beautiful land. We are so thankful
that it has been preserved.
The Current and Jack's Fork
Rivers make up the first National Scenic Riverway, established in
1964 and called Ozark National Scenic Riverway. When you paddle (or
float as Missourians say) on this clear river with its multitudes of
springs it is easy to understand why it has been protected.
Life's situations these
past two years, have prevented us from our “floating” together
with our canoe-camping buddies, Debbie and Del. A celebration was in
order! We had just returned from a trip to Italy where we canoed the
Adige River and bought some good Prosecco. So, we popped the cork
our first night out and raised our glasses in a toast to river
camping. This first night camping was after a 6 hour drive to get to
the camping site, Pultite, across from Pultite cabin and close to our
intended shuttle service. Morning came and we loaded our canoes to
carry them to our put-in spot at Akers. There are many canoe rentals
and shuttle services along the river and we used Current River Canoe
Rental. They have a store at the Pultite Camp Ground which is closed
after Labor Day, but still offers ice and firewood which can be paid
for at Running River Canoe Rental on Hwy 19 on the way to Akers.
Akers has a store and an old ferry that has not been functioning in
the past year. (Plants are growing out of it). We left our car at
Akers for the shuttle company to pick up and drive to our ultimate
take out point at Round Springs – 20 miles downstream. The weather
was great! Cool and fresh air – a perfect October run. Finally
back in our canoes, we pushed off – Azul, our dog, was excited to
be back on the river too!
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| Azul Back on the River |
As we said, the river is from springs
feeding the river its cool clear water. In this clear aqua colored
water we could clearly see some good sized bass. The river flows a
good 3 miles an hour making our paddling easy. At the same time, the
fast little current liked to push us up against the outside banks on
a curve, so we still had to pay attention so we wouldn't get caught
off guard. The river was playful with fun ripples. As we enjoyed
the river, we were also on the lookout for Cave Springs on the left
side of the river.
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| The Entrance to Cave Spring |
There it was six miles down
the river, a little hidden making us turn our heads back a bit to see
it. We ventured into the cave in our canoes and could go about 3 or
4 canoe lengths into the cave and it was wide enough to turn the
canoe around. The cave seemed magical, to be able to canoe inside a
cave! Cave Spring is connected to Devil's Well. They said that
once people put a dye in the water at Devil's Well and found that in
5 days the dye arrived in Cave Springs. There is a 4 mile path to
Devil's Well at Cave Spring, or you can get there by car (which was
easier).
We continued our float down
the Current stopping for lunch on the bank of the river. While we
enjoyed our stop a large Indigo snake passed by us not really paying
us any attention. Back on the river we soon arrived back at Pultite
(11 miles from Aker) where we left our tents set up from the night
before. The Pultite campground is right on the river. Just paddle
up and set up a tent nearby. Picnic tables, fire rings, restrooms
and showers all available. It was really nice not having to unload
and set up our tents for the night. We bought a deck of cards at the
store so we could play cribbage after supper. We also collected
enough wood to have a nice fire to sit by. Also, the main shelter
has Wifi available.
Our second day
on the river, we canoed less than ½ mile to the Pultite Spring and
walked ¼ mile up a path to the source of the huge aqua colored
spring. At the spring we found water cress floating and growing on
the bottom of the stream and along the path to the large sturdy cabin
we found and tasted ripe paw paws. That was the first time ever that
we have found wild paw paws. The cabin is still standing but people
are not allowed inside. The six men built the cabin in 1911 with the
logs aligned vertically and it is still in good shape today. We
headed back to the river. We love morning runs because of animal
activity. Three otters were playing and fishing together in the
water near the banks, while kingfishers kept swooping in front of us
and a flock of unidentifiable ducks kept their distance. The turtles
didn't come out until later in the afternoon, sunning themselves on
logs.
We passed several
different canoe groups in the morning. Many were still dismantling
their camps on gravel or sand bars. There are so many good places to
camp or picnic on the river. Take your pick!!
This part of the river
includes Current State Park on the left with a beautiful retreat
center. There is an opportunity to get off the river here, although
we just kept going. Six miles down from Pultite campground is a cave
on the right side of the river. We could hear the rush of a spring
and enjoyed a short excursion to its opening. Thinking about all the
springs,we found that the river had an abundance of liverworts in the
shade of the rocks near springs. The vegetation on the river
consists of a canopy of sycamores with the ancient horsetail growing
in the moist soil. The banks were also abundant with river cane,
dotted with red indian paintbrush flowers and maiden hair ferns
tucked in for variety. Then around the eighth mile you pass Sinking
Creek on the left. There is an access road there from state road 19.
Near the river is a restroom and I am told there is a campground.
This is associated with Echo Bluff State Park. After that it is a
quick 2 miles to the take out at Round Springs. Round Springs has
two accesses, a campground and picnic area. It is a short walk to
the springs from the river. And a surprise are the wild horses
gathered together in this area.
The Current
River provides a great opportunity to be in God's creation, enjoying
its beauty and the cool clear water flowing in it!
