Braving the Buffalo River

 

Braving the Buffalo River

 

            I floated down the Buffalo over ten years ago with my teenage daughter.  I loved it and wanted to introduce my wife and friends to it.  But a lot can change in ten years.  We should have gotten a clue when we were checking in with our shuttle, and heard them explaining to a group that the Upper Buffalo is only for experienced paddlers.  We thought we were experienced paddlers.

 

             A beautiful day in May, we, along with many other canoers, started at Ponca by driving across the low water bridge to load and launch the canoes. We chose this spot as we would have an easier access to the section of the river which immediately goes under Hwy 74 bridge.  Once our canoes were launched, we quickly realized the strong current of this river would make it difficult to steer, so that, by the second set of rapids we found ourselves being swept around a curve straight into an upended tree.  Our friends seeing our predicament, paddled into the shallows, only to be swept sideways. 

Launching at Ponca

 

            The river was deep, the current was strong and the rapids non-stop.  We felt as if the river and fallen trees were colluding to cause us problems.  Early in the day, the strong current worked to push the canoe into an overhanging tree as we tried to maneuver the bend.  As the current pushed the canoe closer to the overhanging tree, we struggled with immense paddling and prowess, only to lose; and found ourselves pushed from the canoe into the water. We soon saw a pattern.  We would be pushed by the river into a fallen branch, and then shoved by the branch into the river.  We were glad that we had worn our quick dry clothing and that the sun was shining!  It was also at this point that I decided that I was actually going to wear my life preserver.  Our advice would be: be prepared to get wet – not only from trees shoving you out of the boat, but from two-foot waves splashing over the boat caused by underwater boulders.  Also, make sure you bring something to bail out the canoe.

 

            Having barely gotten started on our trip we found it to be a tension filled river with the technical rapids of quick bends and downed trees, so we were relieved to take a break for a hike to the Hemmed-in-Hollow Falls.  Surprisingly, a man on horseback appeared on the shore and pointed us to the falls takeout. From the river, it is approximately a mile walk along a bubbling creek of small falls and ledges.  Hemmed-in-Hollow Falls is a 209 ft fall, the tallest in the state and some say the tallest between the Appalachians and the Rockies.  It had a calming effect, wiping away our tensions from the fast paced river.

 

The Trail

The Brook

Hemmed-in-Hollow Falls

Back on the river, our anxieties soothed, we were able to start enjoying the towering cliffs of gold, black and white, the trickling of water falling off the ledges and the milky lichen green river.  Even so, we still had to stay alert at every minute.  It was rare to be able to have time for a drink of water or to take a posed photo.  We were pleased to find that we hadn’t seen the first evidence of trash in the river.

         The Gold, Black and White Towering Cliffs (Credit: Debbie Braaksma)

 

            Our first night, we camped at Kyle’s Landing, a well maintained campsite.  A cost of $20, it had real toilets, water, picnic tables, and a fire ring with wooded sites that are widely spaced from your nearest neighbor. A nice service on the Buffalo River is that each campground has a free emergency phone located at the restrooms.

 

            As we talked over the day, we rationalized that our difficulty in controlling the canoe was because we were very loaded with gear.  So, the next day we emptied our water containers which reduced our load by 50 pounds.  But we found that wasn’t the answer.  We had not gone far the second day when the fast current and branch partnership colluded to knock me out of the canoe.  I couldn’t get my footing and kept trying to reach the canoe coming up to try to grab the canoe and get a breath of air.  As the canoe came into this obstacle, the bow paddler had ducked and missed the branches, but was now trying to control the canoe in a fast current level 1+ rapids from the bow.  She finally got the canoe to calmer, shallow water, and the rocky shore.  As I got my footing, we turned around to see our friends canoe completely upside down, going sideways down the river.  When we righted it, every piece of camping equipment remained in the canoe.  That sure was some good rigging and tying down.  One of the rules for the Buffalo is that everything must be tied down, and now we could definitely see the advantages!  It did take us awhile to bail out the water, to just sit on the shore in the sun to get warmed up and recover from the adrenaline rush.  We compared all our bruises and scrapes while taking time to pep each other up.  I lost a hearing aid and our friend lost his glasses, unfortunate losses but there was no backing up for a “do over”.

 

            Everyone we talked to on the river had some story of tipping over, many with the same words, “We have never tipped before; until today!”  And others with the words, “The Buffalo is some SPECIAL river!”  After this third time of being edged out of our canoe, we decided on a new way to tackle the rapids – just walk through the shallow areas and pull the canoe through, going around the more difficult parts.

Credit by Debbie Braaksma

Credit by Debbie Braaksma

Photo Credit by Debbie Braaksma

             We ate lunch across from a beautiful craggy bluff between mile marker 112 and 111.  When we were almost to Erbe, there is a standing wave across the entire river. We should have paid closer attention, because this is a drive through concrete road that crosses the Buffalo River.  If we had known, we would have gotten out on the left side and explored the Jones farmstead and the remains of the Erbe town.  On the map it appears to be a bridge crossing the river.

 

            This, our second day, had been a whopper of a day, so we were glad to have only traveled 6 miles. We camped at a group campsite at Erbe.  It was a long trek to carry all the camping gear.   These campsites are not as maintained as Kyle’s Landing. Several of the vaulted toilets were closed. In fact, there is no running water even though the current National Geographic map led us to think there was.  Remember we threw out all our drinking water to make our canoe lighter?  That wasn’t very wise and we weren’t mentally prepared.  So, what we figured out is that we need to use the National Park maps for up- to-date information about the conveniences at each campsite, but use the National Geographic topographic map for more details on the river.  We spent two nights at the campsite, reading, fishing for small mouth bass, hiking and exploring the local historic Parker-Hickman farmhouse. 

 

            The ½ mile hike to the Parker-Hickman farmhouse is along a dirt rocky road from the campsite.  The house was built in the 1840’s, added on to, and lived in until 1978.   The house and farm buildings are all intact and are open so you can visit inside.  The walls were plastered with newspapers and the ceiling with wallpaper samples.  There was no indoor plumbing so one interesting addition was an outhouse built by the WPA in the 1930's.  We continued past the farmhouse down to the river and realized we were on the road that became a concrete slab, which we had seen while in our canoes,  to cross the river.  During this last part of the dirt road, the road is mostly pebbles making it harder to walk.  This becomes a good place to talk about the bottom of the river, a constant supply of large pebbles.  Minimalist water shoes were not the best choice for walking this river.

Parker-Hickman Cabin

The WPA Outhouse

            Our third day on the river was from Erbe to a gravel bar past Pruitt.  The river was less intense and even though we still got out and walked a few rapids, it was less technical.  This allowed us to relax a bit and enjoy the scenery.  It seemed as if the bird life became more abundant, but in reality, it was probably because we didn’t have to focus on the rapids as intensely.  We saw little green herons, great blue herons, pileated woodpeckers, indigo buntings, pipits, and many warblers.   

 

We stopped at Ozark campsite for water.  It is not well marked, but we could see some cars through the trees.   As we were collecting water, the sky darkened and the wind was whipping up.  It was going to rain. It was great timing for lunch.  We beelined for the large covered picnic pavilion and had the opportunity to wait out the storm.  It would have been a nice place to camp, with flush toilets, water, and campsites near the water, but we still had quite a bit more river to cover.

 

            We had remarked on the pristine quality of the Buffalo River and its lack of trash.  Yet after Pruitt, we started seeing tires in the river.  It was as if people stood on the bridge of Hwy 7 and pushed them over into the river.  Since we left Ponca, we had not gone under a bridge until Pruitt. The other boaters had also all disappeared.

 

            Our last night camping on the river we found a secluded gravel bar on the Little Buffalo, where it joins with the Buffalo River.  The gravel campsite gave us a view of both rivers and bluffs across the river.  It was perfect for the evening.  A lone Canada goose flew mournfully in, circling and honking.  It’s partner soon joined it.  We had company.

Campsite on the Little Buffalo Confluence

 

            The last day on the river was from the confluence of the Little Buffalo to Carver, a trip of 7 miles.  It was uneventful and quick.  As we got out at Carver, fishers were launching their boats and Park Rangers were in their vehicles on the shore.  We were allowed to load up our vehicle on the rocky shore and the responsibility of the rangers was evidenced by their waiting to make sure we didn’t get stuck in the sand or the steep ascent off the beach.

 

At the end of our four days on the water, we took notice of a sign that we should have read as we embarked on our trip.  “River is High and Dangerous.  Experienced Floaters Only.”

 

 

NEED TO KNOW:

 ·       Wear life preservers.

·       Wear eyeglass straps.

·       Strap Everything down and include a locked cooler.

·       Make sure you have dry bags or that your dry bags work.

·       Be certain that you bring along only essential items.

·       Be prepared to get wet and make sure you are wearing quick-dry clothes.

·       Don’t trust the maps for conveniences.  Talk to rangers ahead of time.

·       Be ready to bail water.

 

 

NEARBY ATTRACTIONS:

·       Arkansas honey

·       The town of Mountain View for local  mountain music

·       Serenity Farm Bread, a bakery in Leslie