Arkansas Day 4

From Big Creek to...Somewhere Else

It has been a while since I last wrote about our trip...sorry. You may want to back up and check out the previous posts:

Day 1- From Here to There

Day 2 - From Buffalo Point to Rush Landing

Day 3 pt 1 - From Rush Landing...

Day 3 pt 2 - From the Rapids to Big Creek

We awoke on Wednesday to fog (and thus the wet laundry on the line). 

(yep, all those clothes...wet.)

We had spent most of Tuesday soaking wet - thanks to rapids and rain storms - and it had been really nice to change into dry clothes (those of us who had dry clothes that is). 

It took a while, but we got a fire going; wet, rotten driftwood can be hard to light... and it is SMOKEY!

If you have ever been on TREK you know that there is something magical that happens after a few days in the wilderness - pan fried spam becomes a delicacy. Any other time I'd save myself the trouble and just chew on the can, but when I started frying that spam...

The day was getting off to a pretty good start. The fog was clearing and the skies were not filled with death storms. After a good breakfast we loaded up and noticed that in fact the river had risen a good bit in the night, but everything was good. 

We even caught a couple fish before getting going. 

Everyone had paid the money to get an Arkansas fishing license for this trip and so far the results were pretty abysmal. We knew that the flow of the river was a bit fast, which had to be the problem. What we didn't realize was just how fast that river was getting.

Before leaving Texas we'd checked and the water was moving at around 300 cfm (cubic feet/minute) - nice leisurely float and slow enough to hopefully coax some fish into a frying pan.

What we didn't know was that by the time we got in the river on Monday afternoon the flow was at nearly 1000 cfm's...and by Wednesday it was at nearly 10,000 cfm!!!!

Somehow, the trip down to Middle Creek didn't take us very long...

The water level rising had transformed the calm river into the mess that had nearly drown us the day before and now its rising had actually made it so that the rapids we encountered were just rushing water through narrow areas - mostly passable and just fun.

We were all getting pretty good at navigating these still dangerous areas and took turns going through first. Though we were getting more comfortable we were still not taking any more chances and so at each one of these white water excursions we beached our kayaks and scouted out what we anticipated would be the safest route to take. After the first person entered the rapids then the rest could get a better idea of where to go and what to expect. 

It was just after one of sections that we found ourselves at Middle Creek - way sooner than we'd originally thought (I guess 10,000 cfm of water helps the paddling process...). 

Chris had gone through the rapids first and I could see that he was scouting out a cut back in the river. I followed him in and then I heard a sound that was almost as unwelcome as banjo's...

The unmistakable Arkansas accent calling out, "Oooohh, look! Kayakers! Woooooooo!!!!!"

"This is it," I thought, "I am NOT going out like this..."

I looked up on the hillside and there was a line of folks on horseback. 

Well, we may have to sacrifice Robey...I'm sure he'd want us all to continue on with happy lives. We'll tell your story friend...

After a couple minutes we decided that the hillbillies were mostly harmless, though I still wonder the 12 year-old was their spokesperson. We asked them if this was Middle Creek - they didn't know - and we asked them if they'd heard a weather report for the next couple days - nope, but they were quick to give us some guesses. Big help. Thanks.

We decided this was Middle Creek. We were lucky because where the creek entered the river there was a nice calm pool which was out of the flow of the river. We were unlucky because this bank of the river was incredibly steep. 

That meant were going to have to make camp on the other side of the river and hope we could make it across the current before being carried too far downstream - there was no coming back up stream in that stuff!

Middle Creek was the destination that most of were looking forward to most because it was where we'd found (via maps) several 80 foot tall waterfalls. The plan was to spend a whole day scouting out these falls. I was really excited. 

We made it across the river with no real problems and actually found a great campsite up on a ledge. Obviously this place had been used by folks on several occasions - there was even a homemade table! 

While we were getting water (which was an exhausting process that we got to repeat when we accidentally dropped the container and got river water in it...), we saw more people. These were other floaters - a guy in a small sit-in kayak and a skinny dude single-handedly navigating a large aluminum canoe like a champ...I was impressed. They were quickly out of sight and we went back to getting water and setting up camp.

For some reason there were bees all over this campsite, but we survived. Everyone's tent got up, a small pile of firewood was already started, clothes were drying on trees down by the river...awesome!

We grabbed some stuff for a quick scouting trip across the river and headed back down the kayaks. We'd only been at this site for about an hour but when we went down to the water we realized that there was about 2 or 3 feet less of beach...

The river was still rising.

Nobody wanted to be the one to say that we should move on, but nobody wanted to get stranded on this stinking river either.

After a while we made the difficult decision to abandon Middle Creek and head for Cow Creek. It would only be a short trip into Buffalo City from there and hopefully we'd be able to get out even if the river continued rising.

So, back up the hill to the campsite, break everything down, a sad farewell to the table we'd barely gotten to know and the campsite at Middle Creek was history...tiring useless history.

It wasn't too long before we came upon the two paddlers we'd seen earlier. Their canoe had apparently been loaded down with the REI base camp starter kit.

These guys had a great big tent, a cooler with who knows what and a bunch of random supplies - our kayaking / canoe trip on the Brazos last week with some guys from Granbury was actually pretty similar.

We stopped and talked to these hardcore guys from Minnesota (of all places) and learned that not only would the rain continue but they were actually predicting snow and possibly blizzard conditions in the next couple days.

Perfect.

I looked at the guys and asked, "so am I the only one who didn't pack for snow?"

I wasn't.

One of the reasons that the decision to leave Middle Creek was difficult was that it was getting close to dark. As much as we didn't want to get stuck in the middle of the wilderness if the river rose too much we also didn't want to get stuck on the water when the sun went down. Around here if you need to get out of the water you just head for the bank and get out. In the Arkansas wilderness the 200 ft cliffs, steep hillsides and thick underbrush make exit points rare.

So we paddled pretty steadily and kept moving toward Cow Creek - which was identifiable by the Elephant Head Rock...which was much more elephanty than the pictures had seemed. Weather permitting the plan had been to spend a day at Cow Creek also - there was a loop hiking trail here with some historic landmarks and interesting scenery. 

There were also people camped there...PEOPLE! We were getting very tired of seeing people on this day when we were in the middle of the wilderness getting away from people. 

We decided to press on and found a great campsite not long before sundown...there was a large stretch of beach and then a steep bank up to a ledge about 20 feet above the water. Surely this would be safe even if the river rose all night!

The rain started about the time we got the tents set up and dinner started. We scrambled to set up the rain fly (a chore we had perfected on Tuesday!) and I finished cooking dinner while the guys secured the kayaks a little higher up the bank, just in case...

All in all the evening turned out pretty good though. The rains stopped after a little while, dinner was good and we felt pretty good that the kayaks would still be there in the morning.

Good night Arkansas.

Arkansas Day 3, part 2

From the Rapids to Big Creek

We got back in the river pretty quickly and knew we had several miles to get to Middle Creek. I wasn't worried about the rain that was coming, but I wasn't excited about it either. In between us and Middle Creek was Big Creek. Initially this had been a stop on our itinerary but we'd decided to leave it off so that we could have an entire day for waterfall hunting.

The rain came before we even got to Big Creek. 

And ahead of the rain was thunder. And with thunder comes lightening.

As the clouds started moving in we started paddling pretty hard trying to make some time. As the thunder started moving in I started looking for a place to beach these kayaks and find shelter. That isn't easy to do on this river. Lots of stretches are impassable - 100 foot tall cliffs rising out of the water or steep hillside with thick brush.

Not everyone was real keen on stopping when we did - I was already starting to feel like an overprotecting parent, but I also wasn't interested in taking chances. 

We got out of the river, grabbed a few things and moved up the hillside to find a place to put up our rain fly. As we were doing so the rain started. And then the lightening strikes began.

Our first shelter was not put up very well, but it kept us mostly dry. We sat under that tarp until the storm passed and we hadn't heard any thunder for half an hour. 

Then it was back in the river for about 100 yards before navigating more rapids. I think we were a little more cautious this time - I was definitely more nervous. But these ended up just being pretty fast, no real craziness.

(Ira was taking these pictures...that's why there isn't one of him)

After maybe a quarter of a mile we heard more thunder. awesome.

So...back to the beach...gather some gear...head up the hill...set up the tarp a little more carefully this time...and sit.

The rain was really coming down and the lightening was striking a lot closer than I would've liked. And we were sitting under a tarp hoping that it didn't start hailing for the second time in an hour. Nobody looked like they were having much fun...

So we broke out something tasty to drink and played poker! After all, this was our vacation!

Eventually the rain stopped and we were able to get going for real. After all these setbacks we decided to go ahead and make camp at Big Creek. And rarely have I been more happy to see a creek!

This place was awesome. You can sorta tell in this picture, but there were several terraces here. Each level was covered with mud and decaying driftwood from previous floods, but also a bright green carpet grass. We had to climb up to the level we where we camped and then there was another level about 10 feet above us. It was a pretty awesome campsite.

Once the fire was going we began drying our backpacks...

And Chris started trying to dry all of his clothes! 

We learned a few things while camped here. 

After a rain in the Ozark Mountains, the stars are about 10 times brighter than any you've ever seen.

Small backpacking stools that you are trying to dry by a fire will begin to melt if you aren't careful.

So will the new pants that Chris had bought specifically for this trip.

Zatarains Red Beans and Rice and instant mashed potatoes are among the most delicious foods in the world when prepared at a campsite after a day like we had.

Clothes hung out to dry actually end up wetter if you leave them over night and a heavy fog sets in just before dawn.

Wet clothes are heavy.

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Day 3 was a long day, but Ira was right, its already been filed away as a good memory. There were lots of other things that happened on this day, but its the nearly drowning and getting electrocuted parts that I remember most clearly.

The last thing I thought before drifting off to sleep was, "I wonder how much the river is going to rise tonight?"

Arkansas Day 3 part 1

From Rush Landing...

Most of the people reading this know that the Arkansas Kayaking/Camping/Hiking trip is the result of many hours and months of planning by me and my brother's-in-law on Rachel's side. For those that don't know, this refers to Rachel's brother Ira (yellow kayak), Rachel's sister Lydia's husband, Chris (red sit-on-top kayak) and Rachel's sister Jodi's husband, Robert (red sit-in kayak).

The four of us haven't had the opportunity to do much as a group - which isn't that surprising since Rachel and I just moved back home 6 months ago and Lydia and Chris have only been married for about a year. Since we survived the trip, we're probably going to make something like this an annual adventure (we may or may not be able to do a whole week in Arkansas...but still).

I know that Robert took some pictures and video on the trip and I'll likely give some links to his stuff if he publishes it. A few of the pics on these posts are from the little disposable camera I took along, but most are from Ira's fancy-schmancy camera... I'm glad he took the risk of bringing it because he got some great shots.

Okay, enough house keeping, today's post is where the story starts getting good!

Tuesday morning we awoke at our camp high above the Buffalo River at Rush Landing. There were no animal attacks during the night, no rainstorms drenching our gear and even though we were a little nervous when the winds started howling a little after midnight, no one's tent blew away.

We were anticipating a little rain later in the day and the clouds were already building, but our plan was to hike up the trails along Clabber Creek and Rush. There were some abandoned mines, a scenic lookout over the river, trails along the mountain ridge and ghost town. 

Hopefully there wouldn't be any murderous hillbillies living in the abandoned ruins of the old zinc mining town...

Our first minor obstacle was figuring out how to get across the creek for our hike without getting wet - wet shoes and before setting out on a several mile hike didn't sound appealing.

I'm not naming any names but there were a few alpha male types on this trip - and these alpha male types all like to choose their own path. So, we pretty much all took different routes to get across the creek and up the steep hillside. 

We all made it. Some of us were dry. 

But meanwhile, the scenery was already pretty astounding - even down in this hollow. One of the things that struck me, which Ira did a good job of catching in pictures, was the contrast of colors. Being early spring, there were still lots of trees that were bare and yet everywhere we looked there were astounding colors breaking out as well.

And that trend only continued as we hiked up the trails to higher elevations..

We didn't have a very good map of these trails, which didn't really matter that much, because alpha males always know where they are...we were in Arkansas on the side of a mountain. Duh.

It wasn't long before we began to find abandoned homes and structures. We noticed that it looked a similar to a few movies which rarely end well...

But, no boogy men tried to get us, so we pressed on. At this point we started being able to see Clabber Creek and the abandoned mines. It was a pretty cool hike.

We continued following the trail around until we finally came to the ghost town. It was a little underwhelming, but still pretty cool.

We REALLY wanted to get moving down river before the rains started so we hit it pretty quick back to camp and prepared to set off. This was a significant launch for us. Up to this point we'd still been somewhat close to civilization. We were definitely in "the woods" and didn't have electricity or anything like that, but the campsites were managed (and had the most impressive portapotties ever...we could've taken shelter in those things, seriously) and there were roads within easy hiking distance.

But leaving Rush Landing meant entering the Wilderness Area - no cell phone signal, no ranger stations, no roads...the real trip we'd been preparing for was about to begin and I think we were all pretty ready to get started.

Arkansas had already tried to get us with milky poison water and as we were hiking we caught a glimpse of the next hurdle (really the first legitimate one!) Just down stream from where we'd camped for the night were rapids (probably about class 2). So what, right? 

Well our sit-on-top kayaks are rigged out for fishing, not white water and this stretch of river had been chosen because it was perfect for the gear we were bringing...it wasn't supposed to have rapids.

We scouted them out and decided that if we stayed to the left we could make it through.

Well Chris went first and for some reason he didn't stay to the left. Robert didn't stay to the left either. When I headed into the rapids I realized why. The flow through this little stretch was unbelievably fast and as I tried to make it to the left side (we had to start toward the middle because of debris) I discovered that trying to make it to the left side was going to mean that I'd hit the first rapids sideways...that would not be good.

Let me back up and say that my kayak is a great starter boat. It has a good set-up for fishing and decent storage space. But it isn't designed to hold a lot of weight and while it did a LOT better than I anticipated with all my gear loaded on, I was still pretty nervous at this point in the week.

Since going around the rapids wasn't an option, I was going to have to just tackle them head on. So I straightened up and started paddling hard. 

When the first wave went over my head I felt that I may have made a strategic error.

However, I didn't sink, so I figured I'd be okay. After that it was totally awesome - biggest adrenaline rush I've had in a long time!

But as I came out of the rapids I realized two things that were immediate buzz kills.

First of all I still had my skupper-stoppers in. Sit-on-top kayaks have holes in the bottom that allow the water to self bail. You get pretty wet in these kayaks and this makes it so that you don't have to constantly bail water out. When the water is calm you can stop up these holes (skuppers) so that you stay a little more dry. Well the water was not calm. And my boat was completely full and was sitting VERY low in the water...in other words I was sinking.

The other thing was that the current was moving very fast away from where I needed to be and my boat had zero maneuverability (thanks to being nearly submerged in the river). 

As I tried to sludge my way out of the current, my kayak started turning sideways (not good) and soon I flipped.

Luckily the water wasn't deep and I got the boat turned right side up pretty quickly. Everything was lashed down so all I lost was my hat and sunglasses.

Only Ira (whose kayak has a rudder system) avoided the rapids. We all decided a rudder system is a worthwhile investment.

As we stood on the bank of the river draining the water from our boats and backpacks, I think the realization set in that we were now committed - there was no turning back.

Surviving the rapids was just the first time we avoided disaster that day.

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Arkansas Day 2

From Buffalo Point to Rush Landing

So, luckily the Monday morning rain was really just a few sprinkles which passed pretty quickly. My new sleeping bag was warm in my new tent...both of which had so far served more as a staging ground for my global war on terrorist raccoons than a humble home away from home.

Eventually I decided to begin the process of waking up and rearranging my gear so that it would fit on my kayak without sinking me in the river (I was a little concerned about that...).

The water from the pump looked even worse this morning than it had the night before. We boiled some more and had our first (of many) breakfast of instant oatmeal with powdered milk...actually pretty tasty.

When the park ranger drove up a few minutes later we asked him about the water - assuming he’d say, “Yeah, that happens from time to time...just let it run for a minute.” Instead he said, “Uh...no, its never done that before.”

Of course, special milky poison water for the Texans...
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We finished packing up our gear and loaded stuff in the truck for the short drive down to the river. Poisonous or not, this place was unbelievably beautiful.

So here we were at Buffalo Point, Arkansas preparing for our 30ish mile, 6 day kayak trip down to Buffalo City. Our plan was to paddle to Rush Landing (about 7 miles) and camp for the night. Tuesday morning we would hike the Rush trails which climbed up the side of the mountain, along Clabber Creek and around abandoned mines and a mining ghost town. From there we’d float down to Middle Creek to make camp.

On Wednesday we would spend the entire day waterfall hunting. Robey had found a book which described how to get to several 80 foot waterfalls around the lower Middle Creek.

Thursday we’d paddle a few more miles down to Cow Creek. Friday we would hike the Cow Creek Loop and then probably camp a second night at Cow Creek. Then we’d get up Saturday morning and finish the trip with a short jump to Buffalo City, get the other vehicle and head home. Before we any of this could happen we had to drop off one of the vehicles at Buffalo City.

A 30 mile float. So the drive from Buffalo Point to Buffalo City should take 30 minutes? 45? Yeah, that would work if there were any roads in this place...but there were no roads, only milky poison water.

So the drive was going to take about an hour and a half each way.

We unloaded the kayaks at the river. Got our gear mostly ready to go, snapped a couple pictures... 

Then Ira and Chris headed off with the vehicles while Robert and I stayed with the yaks.

Sounds like fun.

We took the kayaks down to the waters edge...

we filled everyone’s water bottles up...tested out the kayaks...

we tried a little fishing (no luck)...we ate some food...we took pictures with our phones and emailed them...

called our wives (probably our last chance to have contact until we got Buffalo City)...sat on the ground...got sand blasted by the 40 mile/hour winds...and then we waited.

Sometime after lunch Ira and Chris got back and we headed out for Rush Landing. The first leg of the float was filled marked by unbelievable cliff faces butting up to the river and occasional waterfalls coming down the hillside.

It took a little while to find the campsite at Rush Landing which is the entry point to the Lower Buffalo and Leatherwood wilderness areas. But in the end there wasn’t much drama...we secured the kayaks, set up camp, fixed dinner and went to bed.

Pretty boring...surely the raccoons would show up and liven things up, eh?

Nope. Sorry. But the wind was crazy. That’s exciting right??

Well, maybe the excitement was over and the rest of the week would nice and relaxing...