A Shopping Trip in 1995

[shelbyjohnson]

Another blast from the past in May of 1995... Shop Creek. Incited by Randy Jackson. We had driven to the Beech Creek takeout and if memory serves correct it was running up around 7 feet at the takeout. REALLY HIGH. Randy said, “Let's run Shop. Its higher up, and you can sue me if it’s not as good as Beech Creek.” The rest of us were convinced and off we went.

Shop is in a deep gorge that drains Alum Cove and other points around the junction of Hwy 16 & 7 just east of Deer. It’s a classic north facing drainage with multi-sized boulder drops and excellent gradient. It takes a toad strangler to get it up for a good run. I think the first descent was pioneered by Randy Jackson, Rob Sanner and maybe Wade Colewell? I don't remember for sure but maybe Randy can fill in that memory. I really appreciated the classy names they gave for the significant drops on the creek. They are in order - Hypermart IV, Blue Light Special IV, Checkout Line IV+, No Refund III, and Thanks for Shopping IV. The takeout is in downtown Parthenon, Arkansas.



This is Steve Daniel running Hypermart. From this perspective the drop looks fairly innocuous until you realize the photo is taken directly atop a massive boulder that is severely undercut. There are two or three boulder drops just upstream of this drop from where you can sort of boat scout. The green slab or what's left of it from the slot feeds you directly into the undercut. There is a rolling curler that when hit correctly will typewriter you to the left away from harm. My memory is the key was to punch the hole then relax and draw left and let the curler work.

This is Randy Jackson running the same drop. Note that he's paddling the vogue boat of the time, one of them fancy new Dagger Crossfire's. When the design came out most of the old guard said it was dangerous to have a asymmetrical design with a low volume stern.



The rest of us were paddling classic long boats. At that time I had an Infinity Quantum. I think everyone else was paddling a Dancer, except Steve Daniel. I believe he had just gotten one a new Perception Corsica S which was also a new boat design that was a shorter higher volume version of the Dancer. This is Wade Colewell running Blue Light Special. This is one of the hallmark drops on Shop Creek. It’s a blind entry around a boulder into a pretty tall drop.



I remember this day pretty well. It was warm weather and laughed and carried on a good long while at the takeout.



From left standing; Wade Colewell, Randy Jackson, Mike Waggoner, Shelby Johnson, Steve ?, Randy Barnes. Sitting in front Steve Daniel
You are correctly observing that Steve Daniel has no legs. He's the author of Texas Whitewater. I was pretty worried that if we were able to get him into Shop we would never get him out if we ran into trouble. He drug his own boat to the bottom. It’s a steep and rugged trailed about 3/4 of a mile down in total. He's a PhD of Philosophy at Texas A&M and once he was in the boat he was a master paddler.

Hope you enjoy this little trip down memory lane. I also hope Randy Jackson can fill in some of the important details I've forgotten.

[shelbyjohnson]

Just remembered the Fish kept another Blue Light Special photo online. This is me at the bottom of Blue Light Special that same day.

[JBradley]

Thank you shelby,

The exploration you guys did was definitely one of a kind at the time. That willingness to drop off into the unknown has rubbed off onto some of us as we continue to probe new goods. I haven't paddled with you in a few years but i always silently thank you for the beta on the runs you have shared with us.

Josh

[RandyJ]

Short on time at the moment, but will post more tonight. First D was by me and Robert Handford in April 1988, about a month after we did Thomas Creek (anyone ever run that one since?) On the Shop trip, Handford got pinned - not bad, and I cracked my Dancer, but what a fun creek. I ran across photos from the trip Shelby describes here. I'll get those scanned and post them, too.

Dang, Shelby, this looks fun. When do we go back??? ;-)

[Randy Dodson]

Was Randy Barnes paddling a C1 ?

[jackatspa]

Great story shelby. I definetly hope to paddle that some day in the future. sounds like another great arkansas creek run.

[shelbyjohnson]

Was Randy Barnes paddling a C1 ?

Mohawk X11 and he was good.

[shelbyjohnson]

Thank you shelby,

The exploration you guys did was definitely one of a kind at the time. That willingness to drop off into the unknown has rubbed off onto some of us as we continue to probe new goods. I haven't paddled with you in a few years but i always silently thank you for the beta on the runs you have shared with us.

Josh

Thanks a bunch man it's been a long time since I had looked at those pics and something reminded me of that run this weekend. Its great knowing there are still some runs we haven't done yet right here in our own back yards. Maybe we'll notch off a new one next big rain.

[FarPastGone]

Great looking creek, and for some reason it has always intrigued me...maybe the really cool rapid names. Tried to rally some people to check it out a couple weeks ago, but no luck (probably best with no idea of the wood situation). Definitely a creek high on the pecking list.

-Matt

[shelbyjohnson]

...about a month after we did Thomas Creek (anyone ever run that one since?)

Not to my knowledge but mine isn't comprehensive. I've heard a few folks hiked it and I've heard there's a pretty falls on it somewhere but I haven't seen photo docs or anything to make me think anyone has paddled since 1988.

[RandyJ]

Shelby, you have a good memory. I'd forgotten about skipping Beech to go to Shop that day. So we make our way to Parthenon, set shuttle, and start the hike in.

Here we are gearing up before the walk down the hill. Not sure what to make of all the facial expressions.


I was in the lead walking down the hill. This having been the first time I'd met Steve Daniels, I turned around to check on him. Sure enough, he was holding his own with the rest of the crew and then some - no problem keeping up. Seeing everyone walking down looked sorta photogenic, so I set my boat down and set up for a photo. Guess my Crossfire was hot to get on his first good creek run, 'cuz he took off down the hill without me. I was thinking it would hit some brush or whatever and stop a few yards away, but it went out of sight, and I heard it bouncing and banging way down the hill. The other guys headed on down, and I spent the next 10 minutes trying to find a black boat and the dim light of a full canopy. Finally found it WELL down the hill. Met the guys a few minutes later at the creek and we shoved off a few minutes after that.

Here's one of the good rapids near the top of what we called the Miracle Mile (200' drop - stout at the time).


Here's Shelby dropping into Hypermart.


Randy Barnes running Hypermart. Gives you a little better view of the reflex wave coming off the boulder. As Shelby says, relax and let that wave turn your snout away from the boulder. Then you can make a good sweep on the left and whip into the eddy behind the boulder - a very cool boom-bada-bing move.


I should pause here and say that we got out to scout Hypermart on river left. It was a steep, rocky, boulder-littered bank. Once again, I'm a little concerned about Steve as we're scrambling, up, over, and around this rough terrain, so I turn around and there's Steve, standing right behind me, waiting on me, a mere mortal biped, to keep moving. By this point, having seen Steve's graceful boating skills, I was starting to see what a privilege and honor it was to boat with him. Total and absolute respect for him, both as a boater and person.

I remember running Blue Light 3-4 times that day and switching cameras around. I think this is me, buried to the gills. Had a blast boofing off that FLW (funny little wave) above me on the repeat laps. Couldn't stop smiling after that!


Here's Barnes somewhere near the gorge exit. Easy but cool drop and beautiful spot!


The Crew: Steve and me on the bottom, Shelby, [don't remember], Randy Barnes, Mike Waggoner, and Wade Colwell.


I don't recall anyone having much of any trouble at all that day. It all ended in warm sunshine, cold beverages, and lots of smiles. Magical moments that are all too rare!

[RandyJ]

And a few words about the first descent...

A month before we ran Shop, Handford, Waggoner, one or both Colwells (?), me, and maybe a couple of others had run Thomas Creek. As I recall, it drops a pretty steady 120'/mile for the first 2-3 miles or so. Good, but not great. There's a little waterfall at the top we portaged because there was NO landing pool. There was a junk-yard section of a couple of hundred yards we carried around - wood and sieves. Then there was a drop that got dubbed "Action Jackson." Cool spot - a twisting stair-step deal. "Somebody" flipped in there and lost his paddle in the deep undercut of the recovery pool. Same Somebody was glad to be carrying a break-down that day, and he went back the next weekend and retrieved the lost paddle.

Anywho, Handford was so buzzed by that first D on Thomas that he started studying Newton County topo maps. He found Shop on the map, drove over, and scouted from the bottom - all but the top section - the Miracle Mile. So he calls me a couple of days after scouting and says he's found another creek that might be good. I said I want to go look, too. Yeah, there was a chance of rain for the weekend, but we didn't see any way we'd be boating it that very weekend. So I drove to Fedvul and camped at Robert's place, where the heavens opened during the night. We head east early the next morning, but the farther we drive, the drier it gets. By the time we hit Ponca, there are several inches of airspace at the Ponca bridge. We agree to drive over the mountain and get a look at the Little Buffalo anyway, and we're ecstatic to find it freight-training into Jasper. We race to Parthenon, set the shuttle, and make the run. I think we named all those drops that day. And yeah, the names are a little cheesy, but go run 'em before you make fun of 'em!

So two first Ds inside of a month - what a blast. Both trip reports were written up in the ACC newsletter several weeks later. I'd pay $ to get a copy of that. Don't I remember seeing mention of somebody scanning all the old paper newsletters and posting them on the ACC site?

There's still plenty of adventure out there in the hills. Get out and make it happen!