Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

conwayfloater68 wrote:... I wanted to report that there is a flat bottom boat pinned against a very large boulder about 1/3 of the way into the trip. It makes it almost impossible to safely get past in a canoe, we took on water but did not flip. The boat only has 4 inches above the water line but extends 3 or 4 feet to the right of the boulder thus making it very difficult for a canoe. Does anyone know if AGFC or someone would go take care of this if I report it to them?

Might be a good practice project for a whitewater rescue team. With some scrap aluminum to buy afterpractice beer! Didn't get beta on the location?

Michael

I do not have the coordinates. I am pretty sure it is the rock of gibraltar that I have read about on that stretch of the creek. Water flows around both sides of it but mainly on the right side.

Paging Cowper Chadbourne...do you copy?

You're KILLING me! I'd be on that tomorrow if I didn't have to be in NOLA by ~ 11 pm tomorrow night! First last weekend, three days of killer WW in JUNE the one weekend I had commitments, now THIS??? I can't take much more!

Conwayfloater, in the past AG&F and state agencies in general have been pretty uninterested in this sort of thing unless you have some reason to believe the boat might be stolen. Sheriffs and Faulkner county rescue teams did show up to retrieve a stolen jet ski out of Cadron last year. In another case we retrieved a usable Jon boat out of Cadron and the state revenue folks refused to give me contact info for the owner. I finally got a supervisor to give me name and city but I still had to get a phone book and start calling everyone with that last name that lived in Greenbrier. Bottom line, some private citizen will have to go take care of it when the water drops.

The boat is wrapped on Gibralter Rock and certainly poses a hindrance to navigation because it's partially submerged -- you think you've made the cut and cleared the rock when out of no where it grabs you like a paddle snake. The boat has resisted all prior attempts at its removal but once the creek drops a little more it should be easy to remove -- otherwise best be equipped with pully or come-along. Fortunately it flushes to river right and its not likely to result in any entrapments -- typically the end of submerged boat catches the passing boat, resulting in an aburpt sweep to right in which the occupants lean to upstream side and then the boat takes on water.

FYI: Daddy's Knee is a little longer this year and forms a more pronounced eddy up[stream of the root wad. Like Gibralter Rock it continues to capture a lot of unwary paddlers. Be careful.

Hey cb, do you have any good contacts with landowners near R of G that might be willing to allow access to someone who's intention was to return the boat to the rightful owner?

Sorry Cowper no help there -- have coordinates and I see where it looks like one can drive within a few dozen yards of the feature -- so you are on the right track.

BTW: Did you get my e-mails on Pinnacle Springs?

No, been away from email. Will look tonight...

Paddled yesterday from Pinnacle down to bridge. First ledge below Lunch Break (aka Cathedral, Surfing, etc.) there's a tree down on the right as you approach the turn back to the left. Easy enough to avoid by staying inside.

Next, the log strainer that was in the right hand chute rapid just below where the geocache is (was?) is loading up with more debris becoming a bit more of a hazard. Best to go left and not mess with squeezing the inside corner.

Also, as you enter into the "jungle" at Turkey Island, there is a tree down that stretches about 4/5's across the river from left to right. Only route at lower levels is far right. When this big boy comes loose, it's going to end up somewhere jammed in the river not too far from where it is now.

Pinned Jon Boat Update: The boat's owner is apparently aware of the location, and has reportedly secured it with a cable lock. He plans to recover it in the next few days when the water drops some more.