Any good "pull off 'n camp" sites on the Caddo??

[Ryan Viser]

Hey all,

Hopefully we will get some good water soon and I can get in a long overdue wild trip full of craziness with you folks. In the meantime, I'm wanting to take some people from down here in LA on a good overnight camping trip. The Buffalo is definitely a possibility and I know it pretty well, but the Caddo would be much more convenient with its closer proximity to Shreveport. I've paddled sections of the Caddo a lot in the past but don't really remember too many good camping spots. Seemed to be mostly mud and dense underbrush if I remember correctly, then again I wasn't really looking for that sort of thing. Anyone know of any good floats on the Caddo that might have a good remote spot to pull off and camp? Thanks!!

Ryan "Not so dangerous due to lack of water lately" Viser

[BEubanks]

Hey Ryan,

I took both my daughters on overnighters when they finished the first or second grade (so that's been enough years to make my memory pretty fuzzy). We put in at Glenwood and took out at first bridge at Amity. Several good gravel bars along the way for good camping. There are a few more houses on that stretch in recent years, but mostly up toward Glenwood. It's an easy distance for an overnight trip. And there's some great fishing, too. I've never camped on the stretch above Glenwood. It's seen much more streamside housing development in recent years, and it's a few miles shorter than the stretch below Glenwood.

If you want a little more distance, you can always push on to the second bridge at Amity, though the takeout is not nearly as convenient as that at the upper bridge.

Who knows, if you camp on the Glenwood to Amity stretch, you might get luck and find one of those rods you and your dad lost a few years ago. Dangerboy had a whole different meaning back then . . .

Byron

[Jim Krueger]

Ryan,

I agree with Byron on recommending the Glenwood to Amity section, it's one of my favorites! The Caddo really has some nice clean gravel bars throughout it's length. If I were going to divide the river into overnight sections of 5-8 miles per day, I would offer Norman to Glenwood, Glenwood to Amity, or Amity to Lake Degray. A great level for trips below Glenwood is about 5.70-6.3 feet and a good level for trips from Norman to Glenwood 6.3-7.00 feet.

There is a very small portion of the upper parts of the Caddo that borders the Ouachita National forest but for the sections from Norman to Lake Degray, all the land along the river is private. Still, I've never heard of any conflicts when campers stayed on the gravel bars right along the river and were courteous. Of all the nice gravel bars to stay on, some would suit me more than others, the trick is knowing where on the river you are and where to look to camp. Over the years I've taken lots of pictures of rapids and other features on the Caddo but when questions like yours arise I can't be a precise as I'd like to about advising folks just where to pull off. At some time in the future, I think I'm going to take my wife's GPS unit along and try and more thoroughly catalogue my camping site recommendations. At any rate, I can offer approximate location suggestions when you decide on which section you'd like to float.


Best Regards
Jim

[Ryan Viser]

Excellent. Thanks for the tips and info. Would I go by the Caddo gauge/recommended levels that is on the Ozark Whitewater page if I were to do the Glenwood to Amity float?

Yeah, I can definitely appreciate that joke Byron, hehehe. Those were the days huh? For those of you that don't know, Byron and my father are professors in the same department. They used to do a faculty float trip every year on the Caddo. I think everyone would place bets on how soon me and my dad would go in, it was inevitable and usually happened multiple times. Who ever thought I would have aspired to love paddling after those experiences

[Jim Krueger]

Ryan,

Yes, the levels on the OWP page are fine for the float downstream of Glenwood. Above Glenwood, and certainly above Caddo Gap on up to Norman, I would suggest a little higher Low and Medium level than is noted.

Jim