Canoeing the Cool, Clear Current River

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! 

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.

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!