Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

Can anyone recommend a day float for the Dagmar area or any blackwater float in eastern AR. We will be camping in Village Creek SP next weekend and would like an all day float on Saturday. I'm just not too familiar with the area, Put-ins and Take-outs would be handy.

Thanks,
kru

If you mean the weeked on 3/17&18, you are in major luck!

First off, the level is great - it's been over 17' for several days. That's prime paddling for Bayou DeView.
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Secondly, you can have your pick of difficulty (as in "length" and "finding the way", not as in WW).

Choices include:
1) Hwy 306 to Hwy 38
2) Hwy 38 to Hwy 17
3) Hwy 17 to Hickson lake (GPS needed to find your way to Hickson)
4) Hwy 17 to either Eden Road (in Dagmar) or Apple Lake (Hwy 70)
5) Hickson Lake to either Eden Road or Apple Lake (Hwy 70)

#2 is probably my favorite overall, good mix of paddling through trees, and then along through lakes and back into trees again. I always like to use a GPS, but if you keep following the main flows downstream, even if you choose a bad route it just means pulling over a few shallow spots and logs, and then maybe more than a few cypress knees, but keep going downstream you'll get there, so I'm not going to say lack of a GPS would be a problem. This is generally an "all day" float - no need to rush, but don't dawdle too much either.

I should mention, by downstream, I mean look for clues - which way are floating leaves moving; which side of a down log collects debris, etc. Sometimes the current is barely perceptible.

If you want a short to medium float (~4+ miles), OR, if you don't have a GPS and don't want to take any chances on being turned around in the swamp, then go with option 5), my second favorite of this group. It's shorter, and just two days ago Debo, Stan, and Mikki marked the route with flagging in preparation for making this one of Arkansas' next designated water trails. So at least this week, you'd have to be blind to get lost. (Flagging to Eden Road, aka "the railroad trestle", then follow old birding trail signs if you're going on down to Apple Lake.)

Probably the only reason #5 isn't my favorite is because it passes under the freeway, and the freeway noise is very noticeable for at least 1 mile out of this 4 mile float, drowning out the sounds you might otherwise hear like numerous woodpeckers and bird calls.

If you don't have a GPS, you can find these spots on Google Earth or maps.google.com, or most smart phones by entering the GPS coordinates, although a few Smartphones are "too" smart and if they don't have the smaller roads loaded, they will move the waypoint to some other nearby road. If you use a regular gps, of course, then there will be no such confusion.

Hwy 306 (formerly Hwy 60) N35.06146 W91.20291
Hwy 38 N35.00524 W91.20797
Hwy 17 N34.93573 W91.24083
Hickson Lake N34.89033 W91.29830
Eden Road (in Dagmar, aka, “the railroad trestle”) N34.85903 W91.29050
Apple Lake (Hwy 70) N34.84160 W91.28200 (note, this waypoint is at the end of the short boat lane that connects to Bayou DeView)

Thanks Cowper,

Just what I wanted to see. Great information. Think that I will lead us on float #2 BDV. The challenge sounds great. Don't really want to get next the interstate, should be a lot of migratory warblers (amongst others) in the area. Don't want to drown that sound out.

Truth be told, I'll have a map and a compass, but they'll will work just fine. Your coordinates are extremely helpful.

Thanks again,
kru

I found a track from December, 2011, that shows the route we took that day was about 8.5 miles and took us just a hair over 4 hours. At about the 1/2 point, you'll pass through the remains of an old railroad trestle that will give you a good feel for how you're doing time wise. There's some high ground and a road that comes down to the water here on the left just upstream of the trestle. In addition to being a good landmark, this makes a good place to eat lunch.

If birding is your thing and you get to the takeout early, then after you pass under the Hwy 17 bridge, go to the right, and paddle a short distance into that area, which at lower water is where you would find the Benson Creek Natural area hiking trail. (still more of an idea than a trail, as far as I can tell, although there are a few markers on trees here and there) You can hang out there until sunset if you wish, and then paddle back upstream to your car at the take out.

If you want to paddle both days but don't want to mess with a shuttle or need a shorter day for day two, then go to Hickson Lake and just paddle around that. Or paddle to the East-South East about 0.5 miles past the end of the lake to a small opening on Bayou DeView; about 0.2 beyond in the same general direction is a major rookery where we've seen groupings of herons and egrets. Again, this is the area recently flagged, so when you get to the East end of the lake you should see where the flagging starts. These directions won't work a year from now, but right now I could say it this way: Follow the flagging to the first small lake beyond Hickson. But then when the flagging continues downstream into the woods again, instead of following it bear off to your left (more to the East), within a 100 or 200 yards you should be under some heron nests.

Enjoy!

For those interested, the 20 mile Bayou Deview Water Trail is getting close to completion. I have been working with others this week to flag the last few miles of trail.

Today we flagged the section from hwy 17 with pink and black tape, but beware of following this without a GPS because we stopped flagging today about a mile above Hickson Lake. This is an area where the water spreads out and slows down. At the current water levels there is no distict channel and at lower levels it becomes a wide area of braided channels only a few of which are deep enough and clear of wood enough to get down stream. Flagging in this area will have to wait until water levels drop and the channels become more defined.

Today water levels allowed us to paddle just about anywhere. We paddled to the Heron Rookery which was alive with activity and then out to Hickson Lake.

Thanks to Margaret Bartelt, Mikki White and Toby VonRembow for all your work this week. I know it was hard but somebody had to do it!

I thouroughly enjoyed the water trail work today on Bayou DeView - Thank you!

DeBo wrote:For those interested, the 20 mile Bayou Deview Water Trail is getting close to completion. I have been working with others this week to flag the last few miles of trail.

I'm a little confused, is BDV flagged from Hwy 38 to Hwy 17?

Is there a level that is not "safe" for paddling? I'm referring to the levels being too high. I still plan on going this weekend, and I know Dagmar has a lot of rain heading that way.

Thanks for all the information on the birding area. I'm going to try to visit the rookery.

Thanks,
kru

Bayou Deview is not flagged from Hwy 38 to Hwy 17. There are several routes but at this level, if you just follow the water downstream they will all funnel back together at the Hwy 17 bridge, so you can't miss it.

We would like to have included this section in the trail but there is a small private in holding there and the landowner is very negative about the idea. The USFWS did not feel like provoking him at this time. It is unfortunate because this is a really nice section. I am sure this section will be added to the trail at some point. It is still legal to paddle as long as you stay on the water while crossing the private property area.

I really don't consider any level unsafe for paddling. The water at some levels can move through the trees fairly fast but nothing like a whitewater stream. If you are not paying attention you can get washed into trees or log jams so it is good to stay alert. The main problem at high water is the lack of places to get out if you do have a mishap and turn over. Depths can range from "over your head" to a foot or two. If you turn over you will have to make your way to a place that is shallow enough to empty your boat. Unless the weather is cold this is not really life threatening, just uncomfortable and inconvenient.

On the up side it is easier to paddle straight line at higher levels and in several years of taking others paddling on the Bayou, we have only seen a couple of people capsize.

The rookery is buzzing with activity now. The Herons are building nests and there is a lot of flying about and squaking. It's a lot of fun to see.

Thanks DeBo (& Cowper),

I look forward to my first blackwater trip in Arkansas. Have been meaning to get down to the Big Woods to paddle for some time. We are planning to paddle the Cadron on Friday on our way out, but will watch the gauges. If it is too high, we might just get over to Hickson Lake.

kru

Just finished mapping the Hwy 38 to Hwy 17 float. It is pretty basic, but I need something to scale to help me navigate through the Big Woods. Since y'all work down there a lot I thought that I would share it with you.

Feel free to share it with the next person who may have questions like I did.

Thanks again,
kru