Newbie looking for some help

[CGriff]

Hey everyone! So I'm living over in SE Oklahoma for the summer while I work as summer internship here in Broken Bow and bought a 17' Old Town Canoe a few months before coming down with hopes of doing several multi-day trips... Well as I'm sure you all know the water levels are horribly low here and I've only managed to put together small day trips. So I'm looking to get away over the 4th and wanted to see if anyone knew of any locations in AR with water levels capable of keeping me on the water for a few days...

Thanks!
-Chris

[Cowper]

In Arkansas, the best bet for a multi-day trip in the summer would be the Buffalo River, from Rush on down to the White.

Other than the Buffalo, there are actually very few rivers that offer really good multi-day trips here; civilization has essentially broken many of our rivers into a series of nice day floats, and private land ownership on other creeks in some cases leaves us with good public access, but limited camping opportunities unless you have time to research the land ownership a little bit and either get permission or camp on those spots that are publicly owned.

Our brothers from NW Louisiana have done some overnighters on the Red, my understanding is that it is good camping on big sandbars, but I don't know any specifics so maybe they'll add on to this thread.

The Mountain Fork near Broken Bow Oklahoma has some nice floating if you pay attention to their generation schedules; that would be worth checking out since you're right there. On Saturdays, it is somewhat of a "party stream", but we generally find that 90% of the crazyness on our party streams occurs on Saturday only; Sundays are "light", and weekdays they are just nice places to be. I don't know if there are overnight opportunities, but the local outfitters could fill you in.

You should probably check the Spring River in NE Arkansas at least once; again, Saturdays get roudy. From SE OK, you would need a three day weekend to make it worth your driving. But it a dry summer it, the Mountain Fork, and the Ouachita at Malvern/Rockport are often the only games in town.

Another weekend, you should plan on going to Malvern and floating from Remmel dam down to the Rockport ledge. It's a short float, but you can then hang all day with the boaters at the ledge and watch the kayaks surf and do tricks. It's a little bit of a party scene, but if you have a boat, then you're one of the partiers, not an outsider.

Visit the Cossatot Falls area at least once; you won't want to run it in a 17 footer and it will be too low anyway, but it is a beautiful place to take a very short hike and swim in the pools through the summer, with good camping. They have clean toilets, but bring your own drinking water. This is another one that is too close to you to not go check it out.

Finally, there is island camping on Lake Ouachita. Search this message board for "Bird Island". In a 17 footer, you could paddle out to one of the islands NEAR Bird Island, set up a base camp, and then paddle over to Bird Island near sunset. It is not a river trip, but I think it would prove to be a fine weekend adventure. Don't get caught out on the lake on a windy day; in a big canoe the fun factor would be really, really low if you did that (unless you have it rigged for sailing).

[CGriff]

Thanks for the info! I actually just got off the phone with an outfitter on the Buffalo and booked a few day trip for the 4th, Can't wait!

I've floated the mountain fork a few times now and your right on Sat it's a party for sure. Checked out the Cossatot Falls yesterday, amazing place.

I'll have to check out Quachita Lake, I've backpacked in that area but didn't think about the island camping!

-Thanks again!

[ROBERT GEORGE SCHARNHORST]

if u ever think of doing the glover river give me a call. i have been thinking about it for a long tine.. robert 870-329-1159

[Jim E]

Be aware of the required Three Rivers WMA Permit to float the Glover. According to the maps, they have recentally expanded the "permit areas" to where one can no longer put in and take out (like we used to be able to) without the $85 non-resident permit.

The Ouchita River in AR is really set up for overnight floats with the several float camps along it's banks. Rain dependant though.

The Lower Mountain Fork hasn't run at all to speak of since they voided the lake out of flood stage back in the spring. For several weeks now they have only generated 1/2 unit every other day or so. This is to maintain cooler water temps strictly for the trout and isn't really enough water to do much with.

[okieboater]

It has been years since I floated it but the White River from selected sites below the dam down to the Buffalo entry point used to be a favorite float for a bunch of us.

We had canoes and just put in where ever and floated down drift fishing along the way and camping usually on gravel bars or the odd place on the bank. Be aware tho that sometimes gravel bars will flood if the Dam lets out water so check schedules. Plenty of current and us guys normally sat up front and fished while the ladies steered the canoes.

This was a summer time float for us and the White River is clear and cold even in summer.

I never caught one but there are monster german brown trout and we normally caught enough hatchery trout to eat for supper.