Spring River Camping

[Opes]

I made a post on the General Board too but figured this may be a better place.

A friend and I will be coming a couple days early for WW school to do some floating in Arkansas. I would like to do a little gravel bar camping.

I normally float the Upper Buffalo but that is out, unless there is a lot of rain. Is there anywhere to camp on a gravel bar on the Spring? I would like to see this river when it is not full of drunks.

If there is no camping to be had, what river would you recommend? I love the 11-Point but it looks like there may be a little more WW action on the Spring.

Also, who would you recommend for a shuttle on the Spring?

Thanks,

Josh

[Jim Krueger]

Josh,

This is probably indeed a good time to float and camp on the Spring right now, plenty of water to float and the crowds not out in full force yet. See Cowper's post on their trip up there yesterday.
There are some gravel bars along the river and if you choose one well, I'll bet you could float camp however I'm pretty certain all the river property along the way is all private and a good many owners could be pretty ticky about it...
I can sure recommend Riverside Resort CG and Spring River Oaks CG, the cost isn't too much and they both have long expanses of well-maintained shore to camp right beside the river if you'd like. They both also can provide shuttles for a fee.

Best Regards
Jim

[RiverRummer]

it's usually only bad on the weekends. during the week it's a completely different river experience.what stretch are you doing? It is true that mostly private property along run, further in between in the upper stretch but you shouldn't be wanting to find a site shortly after you put in anyway. once you get past Many Islands there are more places where you shouldn't have any trouble. (I'm guessing) as long as you're not in someones backyard.

if you find one, just leave it as clean or cleaner than you found it! that is the biggest reason landowners get mad, and run people off. and then the rest of us have to suffer when we can no longer camp there.
And remember we're talking about the Spring River.....These landowners see and put up with quite a bit more than the "typical" riverfront landowners.

I have seen people camp on many of the little islands, or on gravel bars away from any houses all the way down the spring.
( but keep in mind, I just paddled by... wasn't around later to see if they got ran off either) But also, haven't heard that, it's been a problem either

Not sure when the campgrounds open for the year and may have already?
and that would be another option, also quieter and nicer during the week.
but most are probably too far upstream, you would get to them too quickly.
There is one at the low water bridge, 2 or 3 miles south of many islands.

Have fun hope this helps... i'll be there soon myself
if the gravel bar is littered with cow patties, you might wake up with guests.
:myday"

[Opes]

Thanks for the advice. A friend and I paddled the Spring for a couple days before Canoe School and had a blast. The river was very nice and we found several decent little features to play in and drops to run. In fact there were a couple drops that we ran several times.

Who would have thought we would find better whitewater on the Spring than the Mulberry!

We ran from Dam 3 to Spring River Oaks CG. We did not see ANY other paddlers until the end of the second day, where we had one person pass us in a rec boat.

Spring River Oaks was very well maintained and the owner was very accomodating. We had the entire camp to ourselves. If you are headed to the Spring I would highly recommend this campground.

Thanks for the advise, it was a good trip!

[RiverRummer]

Thanks for the post-trip post , Denny & Dianne (S.R.O.) have ran that campground for a long time and have it down pat! very friendly people and clean campground. They also won't hesitate to kick you out, if you are loud or disruptive to the other campers. It's been my summer home for years now.
Now you need to go on a holiday weekend to see the madness that goes on to get the full Spring River experience! (leave the kids at home)
There are several nice little drops and "playspots" along the way. and if you go down to where the river joins into the South Fork (spring River) there is a fun little near vertical drop, maybe 7 or 8 ft? it's easy too carry back up and run multiple times. I usually park under the bridge in Hardy and paddle upstream on the South Fork to get to this drop, then when finished, paddle back down to car.
You did the "best" section for chances to play. below SRO the playspots are fewer and farther in between. And then you will run the gauntlet of drunks in the river and dodge a few picnic tables as you pass by many islands campground.
Most of the "weekend" crowd doesn't go past many islands, so if you can only go on the weekend and don't want the crowd, you can run the lower section. putting in at MIC.

[Opes]

That drop into the south fork sounds fun.

My family owns a farm on the south fork and i have paddled it more times than i can count since i was a kid. I haven't been all the way up to that drop though.

The owner of the campground did let us know that he would kick out anybody causing a ruckus!