Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

There is a medium chance the water will hold until Saturday. If it stays at 3.9 or higher I would like to paddle the ten miles from Highway 84 near Langely down to timber company road 12000. The scenery is fair on this Class II stretch of the river; the play is unending. This is probably my favorite place to paddle with several named rapids, several small ledges, lots of small surfing waves, and one 4' fall. Below 4 feet on the gage means a lot of rock dodging - a technical run as they say. The forecast is for partly cloudy skies and a high of 85. Bring plenty to drink. There are a few long pools. I plan to stop and rest often throughout the trip, no getting in a hurry allowed. All waves must be surfed in the order they are encountered. I will probably be leaving Little Rock about 8:00 a.m. to make the two hour drive to the put-in.


ROCKSLIDE by CaptainAleve, alias Mike Coogan, on Flickr


MEEKS FALLS by CaptainAleve, alias Mike Coogan, on Flickr


I'll need some company for this trip to take place. Post here if you are interested. I'll check the gage again tomorrow.

Mike Coogan, alias Captain Aleve

interested...keep me posted

Is theAWA river info wrong? It shows the Lil Mo to be below reccomended.

Dave and I would be up for this! Will check back tomorrow evening.

Beth

YES!!! The AW page and every other reference you can find for this section of the Little Missouri are wrong. Practically all of the published water level recommendations for Arkansas waterways were made by experienced (and jaded) paddlers who were looking for high levels of excitement - for them. If you can be entertained by the scenery, by surfing very modest waves, by finding a path through a collection of boulders, by dropping over falls that don't have strong backwash, by not getting in a hurry to get to the next big surfing spot, and by short swims, then you can paddle at levels lower than those published as the minimum.

Everyone has their own preferences and each of us is at our own level of skill development, so water levels I enjoy may not be what you will enjoy. Strong water requires more strength than I may have in my old age (62); swimming takes a LOT of energy. I avoid conditions that might not tax my skills, but would tax my strength whether I am upright or not. I like surfing and catching eddies; I especially like fast paced rock dodging on small creeks. For me, the published water level recommendations are almost always higher than I would have made them. For instance, I paddled the Boxley Valley section of the Buffalo at 3.5 a few weeks ago. That is below the lowest recommended level on the Ozark Whitewater Pages of 3.7. I had a great time and felt the water was challenging enough for me to enjoy. Check out the video from the trip and decide for yourself if you would have liked that section of the river on that day.

https://vimeo.com/65459998" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have paddled that part of the Buffalo at higher levels and even at a lower level a time or two. I enjoyed the scenery on every trip, I surfed on every trip; trips on which I had to struggle to get out of some surfing holes were less fun overall. It just so happens that the people who have rated the rivers don't share my preferences. You'll have to decide if the published ratings agree with your style of enjoying a particular river.

The Little Missouri gage reported 4.03 at 3:00 p.m. today so there is a fair chance the level will be at or above 3.9 tomorrow morning. I'll check the gage again late tonight. I'm going to go ahead and load up now since things are looking positive at this point.

Mike Coogan, alias Captain Aleve

There will be enough water for Saturday's paddle. I plan to be at the Highway 84 bridge (4 miles west of Langley) at 10:00 a.m. We will unload, shuttle, and have fun.

Post if you are coming. I don't have a second shuttle vehicle at this time. If I don't get that second vehicle the trip will not happen. I'll check back here about 7:00 a.m.

Mike Coogan, alias Captain Aleve

Great! We are planning to be there at 10 to run shuttle. Will check back in am for any last minute changes.

Beth

Two of us will be there.

Everything is a GO. See you there.

Mike Coogan, alias Captain Aleve

Awesome time on this stretch yesterday!! Thanks Mike for showing us down this beautiful river. We both had a lot of fun. Enjoyed paddling with friends . . . old & new!

Beth & Dave

Nice day for me to get back on a river and test my shoulder and new (old) smaller boat out good. Lots of good times, and good food afterwards.
I've posted a short video of the trip HERE. Even as a paying member, seems I have a 90 sec limit on Flicker. May have to move just the 65 videos to Vimeo.