North Fork of the Ouachita 1 by CaptainAleve, alias Mike Coogan, on Flickr
Calvin and Chester glide down the North Fork Ouachita by CaptainAleve, alias Mike Coogan, on Flickr
Rapid on North Fork Ouachita by CaptainAleve, alias Mike Coogan, on Flickr
The pictures say it all. Beauty. Had it to ourselves. We went to the bottom end of the North Fork of the Ouachita, the river that all the small creeks we were looking at drain into. We paddled from the confluence of Big Branch on Mt. Tabor Road to Highway 298. There was enough water to scrape through the wide, shallow areas, and plenty enough for the rest of the rapids. Very pretty scenery, lots of small surfing waves, lots of eddies, some rocks to dodge, and truly beautiful on that day with the blue skies and all the different hues of green. The main channel branches into many smaller ones in places, making your descent a real exploration at times. It's a short run (slightly less than two miles) so take time to SAVOR the river. I forgot my wetsuit and stopped in at the Dollar Store by the West Gate to Hot Springs Village to look for shorts or pants to wear since I only had my underwear. Wadda ya know? $1.20 bought a wonderful pair of polyester warmup suit pants! Worked great.
I'll work up a video and a description will appear on class2arkansas.com later.
Mike Coogan, alias Captain Aleve
