Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

I need suggestions for a family oriented camping and float on the spring. Heading to Mammoth Springs and do not know much about the area. Any suggestions would be great!

Thank you

I do not have a lot of info, but I was up that way last week and floated a short section from Dam 3 to Riverside Camp. There was only one waterfall on that section and it could be easily maneuvered around by the faint hearted.

I took out at Riverside (riversideresort.org) and it appeared to be a very nice place. It required less traveling on the horrible roads in to the access points and they were twice as reasonable on take out fees as another outfitter I inquired at.

I hope this helps. I am sure there are others who have much more detailed information, but this is what I know.

let me know how it goes Me and the wife are wanting to go and float the spring not much for a party river

We camped at Riverside for 5 nites this past June. Nice place . . . definately best to pitch your tent by the river to take advantage of the cool air coming off the river. If possible, avoid camping Friday or Sat. nites & avoid being on the river Sat. The place was full during the week-end but pretty much everyone packed & left Sunday am.

Dam 3 to Riverside is nice float. Riverside to Spring River Oaks another nice section. We had 2 vehicles to run shuttle so also put in at Riverbend low water bridge & took out at Hardy.

Enjoy your time! If you have any specific ?'s will be glad to try & answer.

Beth

Six of us went to the Spring and floated Sunday. We put in at Riverside Resort and took out at Spring River Oaks. Not many on the river that day, so we had a really nice trip. Only a couple of drunks, no nudity. Didn't even see any snakes this time.
Great food in Hardy at Country Kitchen (I think that's the name--it's an old service station on #63) and at State Line cafe in Mammoth Spring/Thayer. The gift shop at Mammoth Spring state park has a lot of T-shirts on sale.
Enjoy your trip. I hope you like trains.
Jan

Let me say it strongly: For a family-oriented float, you must not float on Saturday, any time from about 3 weeks before Memorial day, until maybe a month after Labor day. If you do, you're rolling the dice on what your kids may see and hear.

P., (if that's your real name :) )

The other folks who have posted have all paddled the Spring River many times and offer good suggestions. I must also vote for Riverside Resort Campground as a good place to headquarter. I can't tell from your post if you mean camping, as in tents or not. If you mean tents, and are planning to visit the Spring while it is pretty warm as it is currently, I would certainly suggest you visit with the folks at Riverside to reserve one of their R.V. sites, it will only cost about 12 dollars a night more but you will have an electrical outlet so you can bring box fans to cool yourselves as much as possible, and sleep well. The R.V. sites are not on the river but are farther back in the campgrounds along a very scenic creek. All of the campgrounds are very well maintained but the R.V. sites even more convenient to the store & restrooms/showers. Do check out Riverside's website. Riverside also has some cabins, both very basic, and more refined, all with air-conditioning.
For your float trips, (if on a Saturday) I would suggest making an early start, 8:30 or so, and you'll have the river to yourself mostly coming down from Dam #3. Much of this revolves around whether you have your own boats&equipment, or are renting. Either way, Riverside has plenty of boats but I would suggest starting very early for the Dam#3 put-in, taking a long lunch back at Riverside and finishing the lower section to Spring River Oaks either soon after lunch ,or later in the day. The best suggestion I can offer to have the most solitude is to paddle these two floats on separate days, starting each fairly early. If you want to fish some along the way, plan B will be even better :)
I know you'll have a good time, I hope everyone's advice helps.


Best Regards
Jim Moose

I would stay away from Many Islands campground. This seems to be where the majority of the riff-raff camps. Riverside Resort is very nice and seems to draw the desired crowd for an enjoyable time. Riverside Resort comes highly recommended after many floats on the Spring.

Enjoy!

Go to the Eleven Point for family camping.

I second Richard's suggestion. That's what I did last week.... at his suggestion..... and do not regret it one iota. Greer Crossing is a very nice shaded campground. Nice camp hosts. Nice vault toilets....well as nice as toilets can be.

I can't say about the outfitters and I set my own shuttle with a scooter, but if Richard says, it's probably correct. He sure didn't steer me wrong about going up there to camp!

Welcome pclapper, nice to hear from you again.
Karl

Thank you all for your suggestions and feedback. What a great place to learn more about the unknown.

I do have to give a shout out to Mr. Karl for his suggesting this web site, his confidence in the great information the people of this website provided.

Thank you Mr. B!

pclapper
Hope your plans work out.
I took my family on a spring river trip last year from the Dam - Many Islands. I will never take a young one down on a weekend esp Saturdays during the summer months ever ever ever again.


just my $.02

Brett

Spring is a great float. Wish I lived closer to it. From my experience I would float on the weekdays if you can. Like everyone has said many islands is not the place to be. Most of the party people stop there however. From there to Hardy I never saw any partyinfg but it has been a four years or so since i last floated it. There are bigger drops if you float padded it to Hardy, especially the one that flows into the main channel which you can see from the bridge entering Hardy from the 62 I think. If you dont have your gear with you and your family are strong swimmers i suggest going off that drop. Its not very dangerous because it is a big pool you drop into. More than likely you will have to stop to empty water if you are in a canoe. The drop is all of five or six feet.