Lower Buffalo River

[river rat]

Does anyone know the minimal river levels to float the lower Buffalo from Rush to the White River. The charts don't seem to address this run. The level at Harriet is at 3.2. We will have loaded boats for multi day excursion.

[painterbob]

pack light and add extra time. the river is at the lowest levels . below woolum the river is going under ground! call wild bill's and get real time information about it..

[Louiscov]

Hi Bob:

Can lightly loaded canoes (snacks and water, no camping gear) get down from Woolum right now? Thanks

louis covington

[canoe]

Not likely-as Bob said, the river will have gone underground just downstream of Woolum. dale

[Louiscov]

Thanks Canoe and Bob. Y'all are right!!

I just checked with a concessionaire and they said NO PUTTING IN AT WOOLUM. They hope to use Baker this weekend and are checking, but Woolum is out.

[Cowper]

Those who haven't seen this before really should consider dropping by during the summer just to see it. You can drive to the spot at the downstream end of the Woolum camping area, and walk to where the river goes underground. I think it stays underground for something like 2 miles (someone please correct if you know the real number). We're talking bone dry, no pools - not just dry where the rapids should be. Don't plan to float this stretch unless you have good intel on current river levels!

[dthrasher]

I have been told that the river resurfaces just upstream of Margaret White Bluff, which is a little over four miles downstream of Woolum. You can also drive to Margaret White Bluff, so this might be a good excuse for a road trip.

[arfish]

Does anyone know if the river has always sunk below Woolum, or if this only occurred after clear cutting, mining, and general development of the river happened turn of the century(20th). Probably very few people could answer that question, but I thought I'd throw it out there anyway.

[Richard]

I met an elderly man at Woolum several years ago who said the river had gone dry every year going back as far as his grandfather who lived during the civil war. He said only once did it look like it might not happen but even then for two weeks it was dry. I need to get over there to see if my spring flows at this stage.

From where it goes underground at Woolum it resurfaces 1.736 miles away at a heading of 96ºE.

The big problem with the Rush-White River section when it is low is that you encounter what seems to be an endless and very unforgiving rock garden near Grayface. Otherwise enjoy the solitude.

[okieboater]

Back in the mid '70s when I moved out here, several buds and myself spent a lot of weekends finding and checking out various spots in the great state of AR.

We found the Richland Campground one spring time and thought it was really neat. Plenty of water and rapids as we hiked up stream.

Came back early summer and camped at the camp ground. Water was low, but with a bit of dragging we thought we could run lower Richland in our kayaks. We launched and sent our ladies down to the river crossing to pick us up later that day.

It was neat for a while. Low but neat. After a while started to be pools with gravel bars in between. Then after a while, it was all gravel bar. So we hiked for some time.

Finally after a long hot hike, found our ladies and the truck. They had about as much adventure as we had.

Never been back there in summer time but for sure, lower Richland went underground that year.

[arfish]

The big problem with the Rush-White River section when it is low is that you encounter what seems to be an endless and very unforgiving rock garden near Grayface. Otherwise enjoy the solitude.

Yea, I don't like to float the lower Buff when its low unless I'm in my solo. That rock garden down there was floatable for me last summer when it was lower than it is now, but just barely. I've done it in low water in a tandem, and it was not fun especially with a big T-Strom brewing behind us, encroaching fast. I guess one good thing about it is that it keeps those pesky jon boats off most of the lower section during low water. All though I have seen one guy dragging one up, little by little. I was going down, so I don't know how far he made it up, but it certainly looked like a lot of work. I'd rather be in a canoe.

[GreenTimber]

Does anyone know the minimal river levels to float the lower Buffalo from Rush to the White River. The charts don't seem to address this run. The level at Harriet is at 3.2. We will have loaded boats for multi day excursion.

We floated From Highway 14 Bridge to Rush this weekend and it wasn't too bad. Only had to drag a few times. From Rush to white would probably be a 3 day excursion with the current water levels unless you like to paddle a lot. I think it is a round a 20+ mile trip depending on takeout if I remember right.

Good Luck!