Hmmm. It's hard to argue....The Dulberry ranks pretty high on the "overrated" deal. In fact I basically will paddle it one weekend a year during Canoe School. The shuttle on Lower Richland sucks but that's about all that sucks about it. The shuttle on upper Richland sucks too. The ww is better on upper Richland but the pucker factor is a little more too. Depends on your need for speed. In my opinion L. Rich got a bad rap a decade or so ago when some publication, perhaps "Ozark WW" said that the last 2 or 3 miles above the takeout were flatwater. That's just bullfeathers. Class I perhaps but not flatwater at all compared to many other streams.
As for the Cadron...... In my not so humble opinion I think it's one of the most underrated streams in Arkansas but the level makes all the difference. At 4.5ish feet the playspots are all over the place. It's no upper Richland but considering it's very close to central Ark, the shuttle is a no brainer and the length, it's high on my list. But again only at levels around 4 to 4.5ish feet. I almost won't go there below 3 feet cause it gets boring in my opinion. Now if you are just a downriver boater who does not play the holes and waves, you might not rank the Cadron very high for numerous reasons.
I second the mention about the Tot between Ed Banks and the falls. I'd rather paddle the Cadron one hour from my house than drive all that way to paddle just that short section. Of course I'm one to talk. I once drove all the way to the Ocoee, paddled the middle section one time, peed my pants and drove all the way home!! Needless to say gas was a tad cheaper then!
As for Hurricane creek, I still say it's waaaay overrated! Now if you are not interested in Richland or Falling Waters and the Piney is too washed out then yes it's a viable option. I've paddled it about 6 times now and even got to sort of officially name a rapid there ("Oh Oh" rapid) once. Unless someone paved the road into the put in
the shuttle just sucks big time. Not only is it long, it is sort of awkward. Both the put and the take out are well off of the main hwy in that part of the ozarks. As for the ww on Hurricane.....Hmmm. The "warmup" is just another way to say crappy lame a** whitewater!! The good stuff is in fact good. In fact I damn near saw God once there after a particular trashing but there is a lot of class II stuff and not so much class III stuff and no class IV stuff. Skill level obviously plays a big role in rating the experience of a river. I once considered the Snow Creek run on the I.B. a prime WW run. I now consider it hardly worth the effort to drive there. The holes are few, the run is too short and their are like no midstream boulders that make so many other ozark streams interesting. It does have a world class shuttle. Ok.....Rant over!!! Where's Tomcat when we need him??
