Wanting to Camp and Paddle on the Buffalo for Labor Day

[fortner]

I am wanting to camp and paddle on the buffalo for Labor Day Weekend... I realize there is no water in the upper buffalo, so that leaves me with the lower portion, if it is even floatable... I am not familiar with this part of the buffalo at all. I was hoping you guys and gals could offer up some advise on where to float and camp this time of the year.... Any help would be appreciated.

James

[Sunray and Eve]

I've searched, but it's been difficult to find internet information on the lower Buffalo. As a general rule, you can usually float below Gilbert during the summer time, regardless of rain. You will drag in places, but you won't be stranded. The folks at the Gilbert General Store are very helpful and can give you an idea of the river levels there.

My bare minimum for camp floating above Gilbert is 3.75 ft on the Pruitt gauge (you will drag at this level in a tandem canoe with gear). The level is 4" below that as I write this, so I would qualify that as being impassible. This gauge, and the one at St. Joe, are new and do not correlate with what is recommended in the "A Canoeing and Kayaking Guide to the Ozarks" bible that a lot of us use.

If anyone has a recommended level guide (that is updated to the new gauges) for St. Joe, I'd love to bookmark it. :)

[T Yamashita]

try this one...
http://www.harrisonarkansas.org/riverlevels.htm

ty

[Clif]

Pruitt has changed since that one. It has been posted on the net, and this board... dunno where. Look back around May and June. I have a little piece of paper the rangers gave me.

Pruitt levels
too low below 3.8
up to 4.7 is low but.....
up to 6.6 is ample
up to 8 is experienced
over 8 is flood

keep in mind the rangers will close if it is above 7 and rising with water upstream... not a concern this weekend I think??

[turboturtle]

Floating from Hwy. 65 down used to be quite doable down to Two foot without dragging! It's been a couple a three years since I've done it though. Level at St. Joe is still Three plus.

[Richard]

Anything below 3.60 at Hwy 65 is considered too low to float. It is 3.65 right now
Anything below 2.0 at Hwy 14 is considered too low to float. It is 2.65 right now
On August 22-23 we floated from North Maumee to Hwy 14 bridge. It was 3.3 and we scraped a few times but never had to get out. At 2.65 it is 6" lower. You will be dragging between pools and most likely you will have to pull boats through a few shallow shoals.

A word of caution. Raccoons are plentiful and fearless right now. They will not hurt you but they will steal your food and tear through anything that they think might contain food. This guy dragged a duffle bag, much larger than it, 20 feet and was almost to the river before I woke up and realized what was happening. Make sure you have all food in tamper proof containers.

[bryanpin]

we did Baker Ford to Grinders Ferry this past weekend at about 3.7. Low but still doable.

[prophet]

river levels might be getting a bump too

[fortner]

Thanks everyone for the input!

[Half Ton]

Thanks for the reminder of the ever present raiders of the night there Richard.

Coon proof camping is an essential on that river if you want your food for your group for a couple of days instead of the coons.

[GutIt]

I'll give this a shot! Its a Word doc and the NPS swears to me it is accurate including the new Pruitt readings. I went over each and every gauge with them on the phone.

If you can get it downloaded you can save it for future reference.

Buffalo Float Levels.doc

(110.5 KiB) Downloaded 127 times

[Sunray and Eve]

Thanks for the chart, GutIt. That was exactly what I've been looking for.

[GutIt]

You are most welcome S&E!

Can't wait to see those Psychedelic boats you guys have!