Saline River 1/5/2013

[Lupe]

Okay, after looking at gauges, we've settled that the Saline will have the most water, relative to our other choices (Caddo or Cadron).

We're going to go from the Riverside Market on 5/Saline River Canoes down to the i-30 take out, which is about 6 miles.

We are meeting at 11am at the take out.

To get to the take out: from I-30 westbound in Benton, take the Sevier St. Exit (Exit 116) and go over the overpass. Take the loop that curves right to the service road and take a left. From the service road, take a left on Fairfield Rd. by the fairgrounds. Make the sharp curve into Henry St. Sunset Lake dock will be on the right. Continue on Henry St. one-half mile to the river access.

We'll consolidate boats and leave a car at the take out and head on up to the put in. If anyone is coming across 5 and will be passing the put in first, feel free to just meet us there and I'm sure we'll have room for you in our shuttle (but let us know if we should be looking for you).

Others are welcome to join us...Mitch, Bob, Liz and myself. Cheers

[Cowper]

Good level today! I'm headed to BDV with Debo, but sent you a text with some info about the Saline. Have fun, its one of those days where I wish I could clone myself!

[Marlo Krueger]

How about a trip report?

[Lupe]

We appreciated seeing Jim at the put-in to see us off! The four of us had a nice float. Not sure where we came up with our mileage estimate, but we're quite certain that wasn't 6 miles...felt more like 4 or so. We flushed lots of herons and a few ducks, but overall it was just a quiet float (well, until we got to i-30 where we had to dodge ATV's running across the creek bed!). I'm having fun doing these runs in my (new to me) ww canoe and doing all the classic river 101 maneuvers to learn the boat and master new skills.

Based on Jim's suggestion we got out to check out the low head dam, but at yesterday's level the drop wasn't much more than a gentle wave (in fact, so gentle we couldn't get it to hold any of our boats for a surf!). (This also lead to the witty observation that if a hydraulic doesn't suck, then it's not a hydraulic after all!)

Two of us (Liz and myself) had never paddled any part of the Saline before, so it was nice to add a new river.

Wish some others had been able to join us for what was a nice short float!

PS - compared to my last trip on the Caddo when my feet nearly froze, this time I wore new NRS ATB boots and my feet were plenty warm (they are like 5mm neoprene I believe, so lots more insulation than my mesh sneakers). Although my boat outfitting had seemed perfect over the summer, I'm still futzing with it to get that same good fit and comfort when wearing so many more layers, but I'm getting closer to having it dialed in.

[Marlo Krueger]

Thanks for the great trip report! Glad you are back in the saddle again and could add our local river to your list of paddled streams. Its not usually the "whitewater" that is the challenge on the Saline, but tree dodging. Its main benifits are scenery and wildlife. For a longer float put in at Peeler Bend and take out at Lyle Park, or go on down to I-30. The first section is just a long section of flat water before diving off into the woods. I was up before Jim left, but was getting dressed. Didn't realize where he'd gone til he got back, or I would have come with him to say hello.
Glad you had a good trip!