Richland?

[Zach]

Richland may go today, anyone else off for the holiday want to hit it?

[Lazer]

Yep. We'll be in Conway between 7:30 and 8. Hwy 65 exit

[dcheshier]

Anyone interested in running Lower Richland? Would like to run my creek boat on something creeky before running upper for the first time.

[Tmuse]

Andy you should run upper R, you'll have a great crew to run with. Tim Muse

[Tmuse]

That goes for you to Diane.

[Fish]

I'm looking for someone to head out of Fayetteville with. Holler - 479-263-1420.

- Fish

[dcheshier]

Andy and I are getting ready to head out . . . not sure what we will do when we get there. Call us on the road if you want 479-two zero six - 0940.

[jjones03]

is the gauge off or something?

did anyone run it?

[Roger]

Don't think so. Dr. Dale didn't metion anything about it back in September when we ran it at about 3.1 and I think that was the last time the upper was running which was the weekend of the 13th.

[paddledog]

Ran the "peak"
Very bony,
Like a dinosaur grave yard.
Good to get wet though.

[Roger]

Lucky Dawg! Know what you mean.

[A Savage spanke]

I think fish might need to change the OWP. It says anything below 3 is to low to run. Proved that one wrong!

[Cowper]

I think fish might need to change the OWP. It says anything below 3 is to low to run. Proved that one wrong!

Aw now, you're going to make me go get all philosophical on you.

I once wrote a definition of Low that looked like this:
Low = The level considered as "bare minimum" by many regular users of that stream. Floating is still possible even lower, but most regular users want significantly more water. At this level, some boaters will stay home; while others who live closer or have a greater need will go to the river.on you.

So I'm pretty good with Fish's 3.0 as a "minimum" or "low" for Richland. It's been pretty dry lately by Boater Standards, so the "greater need" factor was in play big time. I know I sure would have gone if I hadn't been stuck at work; I'm a sucker for Richland no matter how low she is.

Minor Footnote: Yesterday, if you look at the radar rainfall estimates, there was much more rain hitting on Upper Richland than on Falling Water.
Since the gage is below the confluence of those two streams, less water in FW = relatively more of the water on Richland, for the given gage reading. I'm sure that helped a little bit.

[shelbyjohnson]

Since the gage is below the confluence of those two streams, less water in FW = relatively more of the water on Richland, for the given gage reading. I'm sure that helped a little bit.

It didn't help much. Richland was still boney to the point almost everyone had to scoot themselves off Richland Falls by hand and scoot along in several other places. Nonetheless there were many smiles, laughs and a couple of hoots here and there. It was the hardest boatin' I've done on Richland in a long time. More than twice as much paddle strokes to attempt lines without hittin rocks. Running low water can be a blessing in disguise giving you a chance to work on strokes but it can also be a curse because it jacks up your timing for the next high run when the water is bigger and pushy.

[shelbyjohnson]

Some photogs from yesterday's trip. I should have taken more on the middle sections but forgot until we got to Maytag.

Members of the Optimistic 2008 Richland Optimist Paddlers Club. Membership privelages included fall paddle on Richland and plenty of opportunity to make new boats look like old ones.


Hero shot of Nick Hobbs running a sweet boof line at Maytag.


Diane Chessier at Maytag.

Here's the rest in a slideshow.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/18769938@N ... 1817/show/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;