Looking for a good beginner whitewater run in the NWA area

[euphplayer]

I'm looking for a good beginner whitewater run in the Northwest Arkansas area. I kayaked a few miles on the upper White River here back in December when it was really low (~2.8 feet I think), a little bit on the Lower Mountain Fork River near Broken Bow, Oklahoma (but below all of the whitewater), and a little bit on some lakes. Other than that, my paddling experience is just playing kayak polo and practice sessions/roll clinics here at the U of A.

I was told that Frog Bayou is a good beginner run. I was thinking about running it this Sunday if it comes up. Any suggestions on what section of it to paddle? Also, I have no idea how long it would take to paddle - does anyone have any good rough estimates?

Are there any other good beginner runs in the area that would be suitable for someone of my experience level? Someone once told me that Lee Creek was ok for beginners, but it sounds like it might be a little much for me right now.

Thanks for taking the time to read all of this. I look forward to hopefully meeting some of yall in the future.

Austin

[Half Ton]

mulberry is good too, and depending on the sections the middle fork of the white river, west fork of white river, and east fork of white river they are all good for a beginner.

[A Savage spanke]

check out ozark whitewater pages, do anything class 3 or below at optimal you should be fine, you'll learn to swim, but its no biggie.

[Half Ton]

do anything class 3 or below at optimal you should be fine, you'll learn to swim, but its no biggie.

While you SHOULD be fine according to the most savage spanke.....

I would recommend that if you run some class III that you do it at LOW rather than OPTIMUM.

I would aslo NOT recommend falling water, sugar, little mo, jack creek, hurricane or spirits creek in addition to a lot of other Class III runs. That is
unless you have a good support crew to help you catch up with your boat, or paddle if you should lose one of the two in the process of swimming....which you will likely swim if encountering class III WW with only flatwater paddling in your experience bag.

While some have attempted class III runs such as hailstone and swam 12 + times and come out alive and uninjured. I would think that is not the norm and would not have happened unless they had good support.


So, stick with those class I and Class II rivers that are listed on the OWP for your best learning experiences. And if you have never attended canoe school, then you should sign up and attend for best results.

Good Luck, and try not to take any of Spankes advice unless you have not a worry about self preservation or loss of gear, and posess big cahoonas made of steel.

[euphplayer]

Thanks for all of the advice! I did about 3 miles on the White today (Patrick to Crosses) - had a great time. It looks like I'm going to go to Frog Bayou on Sunday.

I'd love to do Canoe School this year, but unfortunately it is the weekend before my finals, so it probably wouldn't be in my best intrest. Sadly, I'll most likely be studying that whole weekend.

I have a question - today, it seemed like the boat wanted to spin sometimes. Is this just the currents in the river? I thought it might could have been because of a weight inbalance in the boat - in the stern, one one side I had a flotation bag, the other side a dry bag with some dry clothes and my survival gear (you never know) - but I doubt the weight difference was more than a few pounds. Is the boat wanting to spin normal?

Austin

[Tim Eubanks]

Austin: What kind of boat? Any whitewater boat will want to spin unless you put a paddle in the water to prevent it, that's why it's called paddling.

My advice: work your way up on water that is challenging to your skill level but stil allows you to learn. You can't learn to paddle if you are swimming all the time. Swimming with lots of support, warm weather-water, is not a bad thing. Swimming in less than optimal conditions can make for a very bad memory and not much learning.

You have to be in control of your learning curve.

[jermdog]

Lee has big pools after each rapid so you can easily retrieve your gear and gumption. Great learning stretch because it's only a mile long and you can walk out at any time on the trail on the side, and you can make it harder if you want.

[A Savage spanke]

si

[euphplayer]

Tim - It is a Jackson Hero that I rented from the OCC. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

When I did the White yesterday, it seemed like no big deal to me, at least in terms of challenging. The hardest part was this big tree that was down in the river. The few rapids it had were fun, but didn't seem hard to me.

The water level for the Frog sounds like it might be a little too much for me right now (5.56 feet at Rudy). If it comes down by tomorrow, I'd still like to hit it, but I don't know if it will, since it sounds like we are going to get some more rain/snow/whatever it is they are predicting now. If it is still high tomorrow, I might head over to Lee Creek.

jermdog - Thanks for letting me know that Lee Creek has pools after all of the rapids - that makes me feel a lot better about running it.

Once again, thanks for the advice everyone!

Austin

[glow]

euphplayer, you may be approaching Finals from the wrong direction. Back in my much younger days at UofA, if I didn't have it by the time Finals got there, studying at the last "minute" didn't do me much good.

Maybe you should take a "break" the first weekend in May and let your mind "relax" and unwind.

Back in the late '60's I spent as much time as I could just before Finals at Lake Wedington. Of course, that may have been why I wasn't in the top quartile of my class...

gary low

[euphplayer]

I ended up going to Lee Creek on Sunday instead of the Frog. The water on the Frog looked like it was on the high side, and Lee Creek seemed to be more in the midde (I think it was 6.67 ft). I had a blast! Only swam once. Me and my friend only had time to do it twice, unfortunately. And on the second run, we went down with a guy in a canoe named Winslow. Winslow, if you happen to read this, once again, thanks for letting us tag along and for helping out when I had to swim. I can't wait to get on some of the other Class II stuff around here now.

And glow, I would love to follow your advice, but sadly I need to keep the grades up there to keep scholarships, honors college status, etc. Although I do agree that cramming is pretty much useless.

[RomanLA]

I have a question - today, it seemed like the boat wanted to spin sometimes. Is this just the currents in the river?

This drove me insane my first day in my boat. I kept asking people if there was something wrong with my boat. I got home and did some research...it's called spin momentum! It's actually a good thing, once you learn to use it to your advantage. For instance, if you want to turn to the right, take a forward sweep on the left and then put in a draw on the right. Oh yeah...and this one will keep you from swimming like I did...if your boat spins out lean into the turn!

[fendrstr22]

today, it seemed like the boat wanted to spin sometimes

I noticed this with my creekboat, which is a round displacement hull with no hard edges or chines on the side. It does not track very well (in fact, in my opinion, it tracks worse than my playboat that has edges), but is forgiving in strong eddy lines. Short boats and boats without edges (soft round displacement hulls) will tend to spin easier. Like Tim said, you compensate by adjusting your paddling technique accordingly.

Have fun experimenting on the river...

[bennettm]

the war eagle on 23 south is alot of fun guessing class I and II. putin at the little road side park across from the witter church and take out at the bridge on cr 5635(its easy to miss) or at the low water bridge on cr5128.
if water is going over this low water bridge its high enough to go on. seems like if the water level is over 4ft at the hindsville war eagle gauge its high enough. http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?07049000" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; might be questionable if it 4.5ft or lower and falling. If the water is up high there is a real good wave at the putin and several other waves futher down good for surfing on. Its about 45 min from fayetteville and takes a little over an hour to run

[shelbyjohnson]

Kings River anywhere below Kingston is another good Class II option that has several putin/takeout options plus good scenery and is only an hour east of Fayetteville. Just a little farther than War Eagle but not by much and in that same direction.

Once you graduate up to more skill you can head further upstream to run the upper Kings which includes one of the easiest and most classic waterfalls in Arkansas.