Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

Has anyone float the Illinois River with their take-out being the Robinson Road Bridge? Leaving Siloam Springs, headed East on HWY 412, Robinson Road is about 5 miles or so down HWY 412 on the right. A few miles down Robinson Road, the bridge is there. A nice bluff line that looks like it might be some good fishing can be seen up river from the bridge (which was built in 1926 according to the bridge encraving).

Anyway, I was looking for a good put-in point up river. HWY 16 bridge is about the only spot I can find.

Has anyone float this section to give commentary?

The bridge you took the pic from is sometimes referred to as the Midway Bridge because it was about midway between Hiway 16 and old Hiway 68 (now where 412 goes thru between Springdale and Siloam). Hiway 16 near Savoy is a normal put-in. Be careful as it can be muddy and slick at the put in there. Not more than a mile upstream from there is where the Muddy Fork of the Illinois and the actual Illinois River join. Trying to float the Illinois above the confluence would require quite a bit of water. There is a place to put a boat in about 5 river miles (guesstimate) upstream of the Hiway 16 bridge. This putin would be on the Bethel Blacktop also known as Washington County 62. To reach the put in drive from Fayetteville towards Prairie Grove on US 62. The first stop light after you get through Farmington is County 62. Go right and follow the road to where it crosses the Illinois River. I have personally never put in upstream of Hiway 16.
One of my favorite river guides was written by Ken Smith and might be of some help if you can find one. It will be pretty dated but either that or a Washington County map would help you with other possible put ins.
BTW, the Midway Bridge at one time had my all time favorite graffiti. Someone spray painted "Hell's Angles" on the bridge. I figured they probably meant "Hell's Angels" but then again maybe they were part of a bad a** geometry gang. Cheers, Cal

Your post has successfully reawakened my wanderlust within!

While normally I try to pick good class II-III runs for fun, I also love to explore. It's been a few years since I did the Hogeye run (a short but very fun class II+ in your backyard if you live in Fayetteville). After the trip, my inner explorer and curiosity started saying "Hey Tony, why are you stopping at the pullout spot they told you about? The river goes on, and it was a lot of fun so far."

I'm also heavily addicted to Google Earth (literally it can consume hours with "virtual exploration"). I searched for extended pullout spots for the Hogeye run, and found many. And your post got me going, and I found a few more today. Of course these are personally untested so far, but perhaps a few others also infected with the wanderlust virus can join me for an Upper Illinois Exploration Expedition over the next few months.

Heres a list of access points I've found (and you can download my Google Earth placemarks too if so inclined):

Upper Illinois
Muddy Fork Branch (Put-In Only)
Goose Creek Rd. Access
Wash. Co. Rd 62 Access (as Cal described)
Wash. Co. Rd 623 Access near HWY 62
HWY 62 near Prarie Grove (Questionable access, much traffic)
Wash. Co. Rd 20 (My first imagined Hogeye Run extended pullout spot)
CR 67 (Actual finish for the Hogeye Run)
Hogeye Rd. (Put in for Hogeye Run)
I've only done the Hogeye Run, so take all this as "float at your own risk", as I've had Hogeye locals talk about barbed wire stretching across the river that will "take your head off" upriver of Hogeye Rd. The Hogeye Run usually doesn't "run" unless there's 2.5" or more of rain. Maybe the stuff below it might with less.

Hey, hopefully a few of you can kidnap me from the UofA library (grad student here) so we can do an Upper Illinois Exploration Expedition sometime in the next few months. I'm sometimes free Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays, but usually have to work most weekends (but not all). Lets do this.

Keep exploring,


Tony

cyberpapa wrote:Someone spray painted "Hell's Angles" on the bridge. I figured they probably meant "Hell's Angels" but then again maybe they were part of a bad a** geometry gang. Cheers, Cal

Haha, I'm pretty sure Fish was the ring-leader of that gang back in the 90's before he went soft. Although, I'm pretty sure he didn't ACTUALLY do the graffiti work, he's pretty in to poetry and grammar. Must have been one of his minions...

While some folks think they're obtuse, the hell's angles gang is still as sharp as ever.

fishing is ok down to robinson road from 16. It seems to get better the further west it flows.

I'm going to reopen this thread.
Has anyone tired pulling out at this spot recently? I've heard the County put in guard rails to keep people out and the locals have hand painted "keep out" and "private property" signs at the bridge. Also, I know of one person having his tires slashed there.
Can the County keep you from putting in or taking out there?

Update from 2017:: I've been floating 16 to Robinson rd.. tomorrow we are doing 16 to 412... anyone else been recently??

How was the float you went on? I am looking for the mileage and how slow the water was.