Little Buffalo River

[TarponRex]

Last year I floated from Parthenon to Jasper on the Little Buffalo River. It was an exciting and beautiful float trip. Why is no one floating on this river? Why is it not mentioned in the McKinnon book or on the Ozark Creek Summary website?

[cpresoz]

It is. It's referred to by its acronym EFLB (East Fork of the Little Buffalo): http://www.ozarkpages.com/cgi-bin/crfind.pl?EFLB

[TarponRex]

That description is well above Parthenon. It's just surprising that the wonderful paddling trip we experienced between Parthenon and Jasper gets no mention anywhere. It's not class 3 rapids but it's full of plenty of class 2 rapids. I would compare it to the Boxley run on the Buffalo or the Ribbitt run on the Frog.

[Roger]

Was going to say that the OWP description has the take-out at Parthenon and TRex was using it as a put-in. Different creek for sure!

[TarponRex]

On that section we saw some very odd columns protruding out from a bluff line. If i know how to post a picture on here I would do so.
There is also a great waterfall coming into the river just before Jasper.

[Roger]

TRex, just below where the three buttons (save draft, preview, submit) is where you can post a pic. Click on Attachments, click on add files, find the pic you want and submit. Should come up.

[Roger]

post deleted.

[nathan richard]

How long of a float is it from Parthenon to Jasper? I've wondered about floating it before but wasn't sure where to put in.
Seems like it would be a nice option when the Buffalo is packed.

[TarponRex]

It is a 7 mile float. Put in at low water bridge in Parthenon. Take out at bridge in Jasper. The low water bridge in Parthenon starts you off with a 3 ft drop. Don't go over the high water point of the bridge. There are drainage culverts at that spot. They are located on the left side of the bridge.

[TarponRex]

My guess is that if Boxley is floatable this section would be too.

[Cowper]

Tom Kennon might eventually run across this and give us a more specific insight into why some rivers were included, while others were not.

I think it simply boils down to so many rivers, so few days... he put together a great resource, but it just wasn't possible to cover every river in the state, so he tried to pick good ones representing each of our geographic areas where there is whitewater to be found. There were probably minor influences - maybe on a map it didn't look like enough gradient to be a whitewater run; or maybe he just never found a good public access point. Most likely he just ran out of time - the book was always a labor of love, not his day job.

Another gem not in the book is the South Fork of the Little Red. I'm sure there are others too. Bottom line, there are still a number of gems out there that don't get the attention they deserve - there is still some exploring to be done, or if already done, to be documented.

[dogpatch]

When the Buffalo is packed, perhaps an even better option is to put in at Kyles and float to Pruitt. Not many outfitter trips put in there and most privates avoid it cause they want to do the upper when there's water. Long day float but first part has scenery comparable to the upper. Mostly you'll see a few campers going to Pruitt, and a few others that put in at Erbie.