HILL CREEK TRIP REPORT FOR THURSDAY 03/22/12

[CAPTAIN ALEVE]

Thursday's outing was one of the best of my 28 years of paddling. The water level was the highest I have paddled the creek, but not high enough to take it out of the Class II+ category. There were plenty of rocks showing that required hectic maneuvering in rapids that were close together. So close that I needed some breaks to regain my strength. This was only my third outing after a two year layoff (two back operations, one broken bone), so no doubt I am way out of shape, but Chester said he felt like he had been run over this morning, too. The rapids were challenging, with all of them requiring wiggling through rocks. I paddled a Godzilla set up for C-1 that was a lot less stable than some other boats better suited to creeks. The 'Zilla is fast, something that is highly desirable at the end of the run when you have to paddle a mile and a half of Greers Ferry Lake to get to the take out. I was so used up before we got there that I was dreading the paddle out.

Hill Creek offers some beautiful scenery; it's up there near the top of the list even when you include the Buffalo. The water was running clear after an overnight rain of 5 inches. At one point an owl (I saw ears so maybe a great horned) flew out of a recess in a bluff we were drifting past; of course my helmet cam was off. Full details for Hill Creek can be found at http://class2arkansas.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The darndest thing happened as we were getting close to the lake. I saw a man in an orange vest working up ahead. We had seen some seismic testing wire earlier in the run so I figured this guy was on a crew laying out the sensors. It turned out to be a fisherman in a bass boat! The lake has risen so high that the last half mile of rapids were submerged. This man was working the upper end of the draw for bass. We breezed it for a minute with him and I jokingly asked him if he was going to go past Hill Creek Marina any time soon. He said he was in just a little bit and would pick us up on the way! Dudes, a quarter mile later we were in a bass boat flying out of the cove! In talking with Mr. Russell Langston, we found out he is the retired band director of the Conway High School, that he knew my wife and especially knew my brother-in-law who was a very talented musician in the band in 1970. Somebody was living right, but after reviewing our past, Chester and I decided that wasn't the case; somebody up there made a mistake. We got dropped off in two feet of water at the boat ramp (the area is flooded by the way, up over the parking lot by the marina). This day was one for the record books.




Can't resist putting in a frame of Chester's wipeout at "Little Esses"



Video to come later.

Captain Aleve, alias Mike Coogan