New guy

[cmahar826]

Hello I just recently purchased an old town canoe. I live in the van buren fort smith area in Arkansas. I was wondering if someone could direct me to a web site that shows me the local water levels? An I'm also looking for a few places to go try my new boat out this weekend. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Cody

[Cowper]

Welcome!

Several of the best sites for checking levels are linked from the front page of this website - so go to http://www.arkansascanoeclub.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and look for the "River Info" on the left side. Click "Ozark Creek Summary". Another page will pop up; near the top of that are your three main choices

Ozark Creek Information Summary - Takes you to Fish's Ozark Creek gages. This one is a favorite because it color codes the level (red, too low, blue, very high, etc), shows the trend (going up or down), and can be sorted either by name, or by relative level (puts those with most water at the top)

AW pages - Notable mainly because it lists some creeks and rivers not found on the Ozark creek page, and provides some information on where put-ins and take-outs are.

USGS gages - the true "source" of the information presented on the first two pages. No reference for what is "good" and what is too high or too low is given, but on the plus side some of the USGS gages show other information like how much it has rained, and a few even show water temperature.

Almost all of our local streams are too low right now, but since you live in Fort Smith, I'd say drive over and up to the Illinois River, either near Siloam Springs, or Tahlequah. The sections near Tahlequah become a "party stream" in the summer, but I'm betting you could still have a nice quiet float any weekend up until Memorial Day. I'll leave it to someone from Fort Smith to make other suggestions - if you're interested in lake paddling and not just rivers and creeks, then there are probably many options.

[tomOzarkVideo]

+1 on the Illinois.

It's always runnable. just up OK-59.

Happy boatin'

[cmahar826]

Thanks guys I'll do some more looking an decide where I'm going to go. Thanks for the info an feel free to keep it coming! Haha

[RiverRummer]

Howdy new guy... new to area? or new to boating? or both?

Glad to have you join the rest of us.
you have tapped into a wealth of information and experience on this site!
( when you see how old some of these paddlers are, you will understand)LOL...I'm one of them. :myday"
..you should not have any trouble getting answers here
( sometimes, even the right ones)
But... I'm still trying to find out why they make me wear my helmet on the shuttle run (and in the campground)!
We have a bunch of great rivers and creeks to run in Arkansas
so warm up the credit card, one boat isn't enough
but that's always how it starts, so jump on in and have some fun

http://www.ozarkpages.com/cgi-bin/stages.pl?ST=level" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's the one i use the most ( and my homepage )
great for learning about rivers you haven't been to yet. and the color coding makes it fast to see all the good places on one site while not scrolling past every water gauge in the state like when on USGS site
but others are needed from time to time, for rivers not on the list.

Have you been to the Buffalo River yet? It's a must see

[cmahar826]

I'm just new to paddling. I know the area well. I have been on parts of frog bayou,mulberry, an Illinois. But never have been on the buffalo i guess.It's been some time an I never really did it serious. From what I can gather this is goin to be very rain dependent. Haha I'm just looking to float six to eight miles with some action in between is all I think I'm wanting to do

[RiverRummer]

Yes, mostly rain dependent around here, just gotta hit it while it's there.... Then spend the rest of the summer going to the spring river! Quiet and peaceful during the week & a Zoo on the weekends (holiday weekends even worse), or fun depending on what you like :)
but, it's on the other side of the state (practically) about a 5 hr. drive for you. Hope you have camping gear so if you're going to drive that far might as well stay a day or two or three....
which O.T. did you get? I just got a O.T. "Pack" last year. fun little solo canoe.
every time the rivers came up this year, I couldn't go for one reason or the other. so I'm itchin' to get out.

[cmahar826]

I got the old town saranac 146 xt. Was kind of worried after I bought it I read some reviews that said it didn't track very well. But I couldn't be more happy with it it's what I was looking for in a canoe

[RiverRummer]

Glad you like it! it's hard to put much faith in reviews from people you don't know. I've seen people try and return whitewater boats because they didn't track good?.
So this lack of water is your fault (always happens when you buy a new boat)
I washed my car on thursday, knowing this would bring rain, but it didn't come til sunday. so i cancelled plans to go to the Mulberry.

Something you may need to watch out for is where the seats bolt to the gunwhales. A friend of mine has a canoe with seats like yours and the plastic ripped thru where the bolts are (over time) I think this is a weak point with this style of seat, and you may need to make a bracket or something to strengthen this mounting point to keep this from happening to yours. :myday"
Just keep an eye on it so you can "fix" it before it's too late.
And your boat may not have this problem, as his was a cheaper off brand canoe.
but the seat style is the same, So i thought i would bring it to your attention.
Now go sell it!.... so we will then get the rain we need to paddle!
won't help you.... but I will appreciate it.