RAPPEL IN AND RUN THIS IF YOU HAVE THE NERVE

[CAPTAIN ALEVE]

.
Yes, this creek is in Arkansas; Fall 3 of 6:




Fall 6 of 6:




Fall 2 of 6:




All of the above occur in the first quarter mile of the creek. More photos and details when I have time.

Captain Aleve, alias Mike Coogan

[gannon_w]

Can I borrow your boat?

[CAPTAIN ALEVE]

The creek is Wagon Branch in downtown Fairfield Bay. I hiked less than a half mile of this 1.1 mile long creek and found six falls near the top. That area will be great for filming kayaking action since everything is real close together and the foot access is good.

You can't run the Fall 1 since it drops onto rock, no pool. Also, two creeks converge right above Fall 2, so that's probably where you want to start. The 5 are runnable based on what I have seen in the Walden Ridge videos.

Take-out is at a boat ramp on Greers Ferry Lake at the end of Circle Acres Road after a 1.25 mile lake paddle, or you may be able to talk to a homeowner whose yard goes down to the lake. That home on Lake Park Drive is reached after a 0.5 mile lake paddle.

It took me an hour and a half to make the 0.1 mile descent into the creek from the west side of the valley; that was a very steep and risky descent. I don't recommend coming in from that side; the east side is a longer hike/drag, but is not all that steep. You may be able to park in what appears to be a city storage area for old equipment that is located at the intersection of E. Ridge Drive and Castle Ridge Heights road, resulting in a downhill hike of less than a half mile including all the zigzagging you may do. Turn south off Highway 16 onto Circle Acres Road and follow it on around to E. Ridge Drive.

I would sure scout the rest of the creek before running it. There is some wood that needs adjusting. There were also several sieves that looked bad in the short section I hiked. Those may disappear with enough water to run the creek.

I'd love to video/photograph some paddling action on this creek. Let me know if you are going.

Full photos can be found here:

http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/579916075fendHM" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Video to follow later.

Captain Aleve, alias Mike Coogan

[Clif]

Think we've hiked that one before. Couple of times up from there, once down to the lake. Beaautiful when the water is running.

[CAPTAIN ALEVE]

Whoops! The pictures have been fixed and should show up now.

Captain A

[waterhog]

sweet lookin creek you said they look runable from what youve seen on waldens ridge whitewater so its been run before

[CAPTAIN ALEVE]

Probably the case, meaning someone's been holding out on us. Someone needs to create a creek database and make it generally available. A lot of paddlers are not finding out about these places. Sounds like a project that needs a volunteer to step up. Maybe set it up to get a volunteer to adopt each county and record its lesser known runs, be they whitewater, swamp, or whatever. Hmmmm.

Captain Aleve, alias Mike Coogan

[JTarver]

Looks like an awesome creek Mike. Great shots! How tall is Fall 6 would you guess. Looks like about 18 feet or so? It's hard to tell from the pics. Is there that much flow to the creek for most of the year, or had it just rained? I was impressed with the amount of flow in Peter creek without any more rain than there had been. Is this one about the same?
Joe

[CAPTAIN ALEVE]

That's a good guess for the height of #6 though it seems a lot higher when you look down from the top. There had been rain the day before, probably between 1 and 2 inches. It will take a heavy rain and a rapid response to catch Wagon Branch running. The terrain is steep and rocky so it will run off fast.

The tributary of Little Peter Creek has a much flatter drainage basin with a lot of soil above the rock layers. I'll guess that it will run off much slower than Wagon.

You'll have to watch the radar precipitation summary to see if the small drainage area of either one gets a good hit.

My video camera suffered from a dirty head starting about 60 seconds after I started filming at Wagon. The footage I got was unwatchable. I plan to go back and video Wagon after a good rain.

Captain Aleve, alias Mike Coogan

[prophet]

found this one sunday, prob 25'. takeout at Shores lake

[ARzach]

The 5 are runnable based on what I have seen in the Walden Ridge videos.

Where are these videos?

Thanks for all the info!

--Zach

[ARzach]

found this one sunday, prob 25'. takeout at Shores lake

Any more info you're willing to spill? :)

--Zach

[prophet]

found this one sunday, prob 25'. takeout at Shores lake

Any more info you're willing to spill? :)

--Zach

Long Branch. not sure if its open all the way to the lake yet.

[A Savage spanke]

Are there multiple long branches? I the one I've heard of I thought flowed into EFLB

[prophet]

Are there multiple long branches? I the one I've heard of I thought flowed into EFLB

probably, this one runs into Shores lake and is about 3 miles long just over the hill from Fern Gully