Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

Any beta on West Fork?? It's at 5'!

I got a visual on my way to work at about 730AM...it was definitely up and muddy..already dropped below my minimum..but where did it come from?

Seriously-did it rain in Winslow early this morning? There was nothing there when I drove over it late yesterday evening! And then this very sudden spike. It wasn't a gauge malfunction, I know. Maybe a big 'ol beaver dam broke loose?

Just getting my hopes up.. Coing

I was informed by a coworker, West Fork got about 3 inches of rain on the 10th. I heard from the weather man that 3 and a half inches occurred around Winslow yesterday.

I have ran westfork several times. My minimum is usually about 5.5'. Don't expect more than a class II wave train run and you will have fun.

I have ran it from winslow baseball fields at 20' and rising on the gauge and it was a great run! Class III+ wave trains. It takes A LOT of water to run from winslow down. At these levels the West fork park is totally under water and 71 has a section with about 6" water crossing it.

At 5.5+ I just start at the west fork park and start driving south scouting the river until it looks shallow and then put in somewhere down stream of that. The river runs S to N so the farther N you go the more water there is.

I've had a good run at 9-10' on the gauge. That drop after the ball park is taller before it washes out at higher levels. Great fun! Did you have to portage the bridges at 20'?

hfunkhouser wrote:I've had a good run at 9-10' on the gauge. That drop after the ball park is taller before it washes out at higher levels. Great fun! Did you have to portage the bridges at 20'?

We only ran from the baseball fields to the rest stop because it was getting dark. However no bridges were portaged during this run except for one that had a log jam.

The level at the west fork park was certainly 20', (swing sets were barely visable) but no telling what it was where we were at.

The drop at the basebal fields was a pretty good size drop. certainly a lot bigger than anything you would expect on WF. What is fun at higher levels is it can get some giant waves and holes.