Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

Whats the lowest you can run Baker and it not suck or be too dangerous?
Anyways if its running in the morning thats where I'll be. If not, Tot it is.

5.0' according to the Fish page. May have changed a bit over the years.

It's not an exact correlation to the Tot gauge, but the general rule is that if the Tot is "big" you can run Baker. It's no doubt been run at everything from 3.0 on the Tot gauge and up tho, just more likely when Tot is over 5 ft. Google Earth watershed overlays provide a pretty good way to predict it too. We used to look downstream of the low water bridge over Baker and if there was a small wave that you could surf, it was likely high enough. When that wave was too small, the run would be more rocks than water (still possible if you're determined, but better to run laps on the Falls). I haven't been to Baker in more than 10 years tho, so you'll want to get beta from someone who runs it more often and/or has a better memory.

- Fish

Awesome! Thanks for the info.

We ran it Thursday 4/4...the tot was a bit over five and rising and I thought baker was pretty bony, I'm not sure I would go back if the tot was under five, like fish said.