Current River trip report over Memorial Day weekend

[Jetlab67]

Finally getting around to getting this out - Paul Smith.

Gear -
Me –Liquid Logic Remix XP10
Doug – Old Town Castaway

We left Little Rock Friday afternoon to meet my dad in Eminence, have dinner and arrange our shuttle. Our take-out was the NPS Powdermill campground/river access about 9 miles east of Eminence just below the highway 106 bridge at RM 58.7. We parked my truck in the floater’s parking area and transferred our boats and gear to dad’s truck. We then headed to our launch at Baptist Camp which took us back through Eminence and north up hwy. 19 through some very pretty country with occasional views of the river. Baptist Camp is at RM 0.0, on most maps, and is generally considered the beginning of floating water on the Current. There is another access up river called Tan Vat, below Montauk State Park, which adds another 2 miles. The close by park allows a quick re-supply of ice, etc. before putting on.

Not sure about the camping situation at Baptist (and not wanting to risk a ticket) we decided to bed down at a private campground near the launch. It was late when we pulled in but a camp-hand directed us to a nearby spot. Saturday morning we were greeted by an anxious campground owner wanting to make sure we weren’t going to skip out without paying our $8.50 per tent for the previous night. We paid the guy, broke down camp, repacked our boats, and drove the short distance to the launch. Dad dropped us off then headed back to Poplar Bluff. We managed to slip in ahead of two groups of overnight canoeists already at the launch and were underway at 10:00am.

Doug was less experienced so we spent some time in the first pool going over basic strokes and river safety especially strainers which would prove valuable on our second day. The upper reach is tight, twisty and swift with a gradient of 12 fpm. Lots of limestone bluffs and gravel bars plus large numbers of both rainbow and brown trout characterize this section. MO maintains a blue-ribbon trout fishery on the upper river and although we weren’t fishing we did see several folks having success.

We reached Cedar Grove, RM8.0, in just over 2-hours where we portaged the low-water bridge and ate lunch. Several livery busses arrived and began putting canoes and people on. Lot’s of horse riders too. Back on the river we caught up with the rental hordes and picked our way through them plus several groups of horses and riders standing mid-point in the river. We made it by without a single horse shoe imprint in either boat. Doug took an unintentional swim in the Medlock Spring branch – flipped in the eddy line into 58 degree water. I couldn’t make out all of words he was muttering but did manage to laugh….just a little bit….while not looking in his direction. After the recovery operation we were once again cruising. I wondered if I should tell him about Welch Spring branch and its powerful inflow just a couple miles ahead.

Welch Spring was great. We surfed the waves with no mishaps. A couple more miles and we made Aker’s Ferry. The NPS currently has the ferry down for repair. We beached and hit the store to top off our ice. Except for a few pinned and abandoned rental boats we had not seen much drunken mayhem for a holiday weekend. It was nearing 5pm so we got back on river deciding to make camp downstream of Pulltite Spring at RM26. Between Akers and Pulltite we passed by Cave Spring, Rock House Cave, lots of small bluffs, gravel bars and canoeists setting up camps. We pulled over on our chosen gravel bar around 7ish and set up. Doug scavenged firewood and did his pyro-thing while I got our PF Chang’s spicy beef entrée going in the aluminum dutch oven. Full and content with a few brews knocked back we retired to our tents under a bright full moon. It had been a good day.

Sunday morning was calm, the sunlight slow to reach the river bottom. We enjoyed a breakfast of pancakes, bacon, sausage and SBX coffee. After the condensation dried our tents were packed and got everything reloaded into our boats. We launched around 9:30. Lots more of the typical bluff/gravel bar scenery met us at every turn. The gradient flattens out to 8-10 fpm on this stretch but it’s easy to make 3 ½ to 4-miles an hour with moderate effort. We stopped at Round Springs, RM34.2, to replenish ice and eat lunch. We figured we’d camp for the night somewhere below the confluence with the Jack’s Fork at RM 51.5 so there was much paddling to go before dark.

At RM45 it happened. Doug missed his line going down a very fast chute with a dog-leg turn to river right at the bottom. He got pushed into a newly fallen cottonwood tree on the left which consumed all but 10 feet of channel. I had gotten through with no problem looking back just in time to see him approaching the tree with an oh **** look on his face and not paddling. I eddied out and yelled at him to paddle hard but it was too late and he went broadside into the strainer. Running up the gravel bar I yelled at him to lean downstream into the tree and he did. Doug worked his way out of his boat and into the tree. The boat popped free and Doug followed squirting out around the end of the tree. He caught up with his boat and staying upstream of it back-paddled to the end of the bar. He had made it unscathed but did lose his paddle to the tree. We had reached the section of river where a few jetboats were operating. One family, seeing what had happened, loaned Doug their collapsible emergency paddle then offered to run 16-miles round trip to Two Rivers and fetch a livery paddle. We kindly took their offer. Lessons learned: have a spare break-down paddle; and for me, remember to first grab my throw bag before trying to assist (which I had not done). The situation was lightened by my relentless teasing him about his “baby paddle” for a few miles until the swap out.

We made it to Two Rivers around 5pm. After a breather we decided to go ahead and paddle out the remainder down to Powder Mill, just over 7-miles which we did in an hour and a half. There were lots of folks enjoying the river at the take-out. My truck was the same as we left it. After loading up, we stopped to return the paddle to Two Rivers Canoe. They wouldn’t accept any payment and were glad they could help out – Kudos! All in all, it was 58.7 miles of truly enjoyable floating. We arrived back in Little Rock around midnight. The Monday holiday was spent breaking down and cleaning gear. I plan on doing the entire river down to the confluence of the Black near Pocahontas before year’s end; however I’ll have to go back and capture those 2 pesky miles between Tan Vat and Baptist to be fully satisfied.

[Deuce]

Great report Paul. Glad y'all had fun and your buddy didn't hurt anything but his pride. We're all between swims!

[Randy Dodson]

that really was a great trip report on one of my favorite rivers.

thank you

[Richard]