One thing making me nervous right now is watching gas just creep through the $3 mark.... We may all need to learn to love and appreciate the things closer to home...lalyle wrote:Coop, I've never even seen the dam and don't know how to get there.
That might make a good presentation for a meeting even; images or maps of the lake, all of its tributaries, access points, etc. Urban paddling is on the rise....
To get to the dam, take the Mayflower exit, go East on Ark 89, and then after about 0.3 miles turn right (South) on .... Dam Road (almost could have guessed that one, right?). Follow that as it winds around, you'll get to the dam. Not much to look at, just a local fisherman's access point and lots of parking.
A nice little float, about 2 miles long, is from there down to the Bell Slough Wildlife viewing area, which you access by heading South from Mayflower on Hwy 365, until you can turn left (East) onto Grassy Lake Road (a dirt road). Remember, you're going just to get out for a part of a day and maybe spot a few birds and spend some time paddling along through the trees; if you go expecting a Class II run or pristine water, you're going to be disappointed. The times I've been there, the current was slow enough to just put in at the bottom, paddle upstream, turn around, and go back. You can also float from the Bell Slough viewing area access down to the boat ramp near where Palarm Creek joins the Arkansas, but I don’t like that section as much since it runs through cut-over farm land.
If you continue on Grassy Lake road past the Bell Slough Wildlife viewing area parking lot, bearing left at most turns, you’ll eventually end up at a boat lane that takes you through narrow boat lanes out into Grassy Lake, which is really just a large area of flooded timber but a great place to spot wildlife, especially birds. Don't be freaked out by the low quality of the water that sometimes backs up into the boat lane - it gets a lot better once you get out into Grassy Lake. One option is to just explore Grassy lake, or, you can connect through to Palarm Creek if you want to. Right before you get to Palarm Creek, you’ll have to portage over the levee that holds back Grassy Lake. When the flood control gate is open, you even get a brief run down a Class II channel, but be careful to take out before you get sucked through the gate at the levee. On the other hand, when the gate is closed, you might have more trouble even finding this channel because there will be no flow to give you hints as to which way to go. Either way, once you hit Palarm Creek, you’re about 0.25 miles downstream of the dam.
Summarizing the opportunities:
A - Grassy Lake Boat Lane ---- N34.9383 W92.3966
B - Lake Conway Dam --------- N34.9594 W92.4049
C - Bell Slough Access --------- N34.9389 W92.4185
A to C – about 4 miles, runnable when WMA is flooded, may have a Class II chute requiring some care, don’t get sucked into the gate at the levee. Only a 2 mile shuttle which you can walk if you have a cable lock for your boat. This is a great little introduction to flooded timber paddling.
B to C – about 2 miles, runnable all year, but may require minor wading when no water is being released from Lake Conway. If even one gate is open at Lake Conway Dam, then no portages will be required. If all gates are closed, then expect to portage one or two logs, and maybe wade the boat one or two shallow places, all in the first 0.5 mile. Once you get further downstream there is less likely to be a need for getting out of the boat, so don’t get discouraged at the start of the trip. If you just really hate portaging, then paddle upstream from the bottom.
A and C are both good starting points for brief "in and out" explorations (no shuttle).
