Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

Saw you on TV yesterday re the class you gave on the river.

Your class is great and I'm sure will lead to more respect for the rivers and land.

I have some terrible videos where I have ridiculed you're trying to slide down various obstacles into the water to the sounds of my caustic narration..............I'm so sorry for the irreverent way I have treated you in the past (on the river), NOT I did not know you were a distinguished professor.

Anyway, great presentation on TV!!

This Bob Eubanks?



Or are you talking about Byron Eubanks at OBU?

I think you mean Byron. Our dad's name is Bob, but not the Bob.

Dad was running the boat for the camera man. Byron's got a pretty amusing story about that trip.

Yeah, I heard they re-ran the Exploring Arkansas show on our class. That was the first year we did it, 2008 I think. This year (next semester) we're focusing on the Caddo River and will get our students to take oral histories from area residents with memories of the river before DeGray dam went in. After the semester we'll take students in canoes from as high as the water will let us, all the way to the lake, down the lake on party barge, then through Lower Lake and rest of the river to Arkadelphia.

Not your typical college class, but lots of fun to introduce students to some environmental ethics, ecology, and a good set of outdoor skills.

No one's ever accused me of being a distinguished professor. Being distinguished isn't part of the job description!

I'm curious, though, about these purported videos of me sliding down things. Professors, distinguished or not, surely wouldn't be doing that, right?

BEubanks wrote:Yeah, I heard they re-ran the Exploring Arkansas show on our class. That was the first year we did it, 2008 I think. This year (next semester) we're focusing on the Caddo River and will get our students to take oral histories from area residents with memories of the river before DeGray dam went in. After the semester we'll take students in canoes from as high as the water will let us, all the way to the lake, down the lake on party barge, then through Lower Lake and rest of the river to Arkadelphia.

Not your typical college class, but lots of fun to introduce students to some environmental ethics, ecology, and a good set of outdoor skills.

No one's ever accused me of being a distinguished professor. Being distinguished isn't part of the job description!

I'm curious, though, about these purported videos of me sliding down things. Professors, distinguished or not, surely wouldn't be doing that, right?

Sounds pretty darn distinguished to me! Kudos!

BEubanks wrote:I'm curious, though, about these purported videos of me sliding down things. Professors, distinguished or not, surely wouldn't be doing that, right?

The last one was you dragging your yak up a rock on the Caddo rock while the rest of us (um......me) stood across the river on the shore egging you on and filming it. Winter, Kruegers were there. Unfortunately, my point and shoot didnt' make a good video but I was very irreverent anyway and THAT's on film.

HA!! :myday" I FOUND IT!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbBgG_92Llk

I even was calling you Bob then. Are you sure you don't want to change your name for me? I sure would appreciate it

Ah, I remember that one. I have a weakness for looking for adventure when the water gets a little too calm. Couldn't get your link to work, though. Appears to be set on private viewing requiring a login.

Changed to public viewing.

Thanks. A little too distant to tell much about that slide. As I recall the challenge was avoiding a premature launch. Always tricky to enter a boat and get the skirt set when boat is on an angle.

Think I'll have to avoid adopting Bob. My dad's name. Glad for that name to stick with him. Especially if you're going with Bob the Beaver!

Connie,

I had forgotten about the details of that particular trip until now I think I remember even another trip, on the Dragover section of the Ouachita, when Byron, or someone else climbed a rock below House Rapid and made a slide entry.

Jim Moose

Jim, I think you went on one of my class trips to Dragover as a safety boater once. I routinely show students that rock where they can do a seal entrance. It's river right after the first bend below house rapid. There's a small tree that marks a spot to pull off into a slot between rocks. It's not all that high but sure seems high to new paddlers.

I wonder if that access has been gated during the shutdown. Plan on taking my first class group out this semester on Nov 2. Remmel to Rockport if nothing else is running. Dragover if it's available. Surely our gov will be back in business by then!

Yep, that's the rock I was thinking about. As far as the shutdown, I'll bet the campground is closed right now. They had removed the gate for many years, then put it back up in the last couple of years so they could close it when they deemed the water was too high. I'm pretty sure there is no gate on the road on down to the take-out though.

Byron, I don't know if you've floated Dragover in the last year or so, I only went a couple of times earlier in the summer this year. They had a pretty high water event up there earlier in the year and one result we sure noticed was at House Rock. the traditional main chute passing by on the right of the rock is still in place but the deep eddy behind the rock was gone after all these years, filled in now with a gravel bar...

Best Regards
Jim

Went once this spring with wife and daughter, but don't remember a gravel bar below that rock. Hope I can take a class and check it out in a few weeks. Need some rain!

I wanna do that whole Upper Caddo - Lake DeGray - Lower Caddo thing! Would anyone . . . be willing to organize such a trip for us older folk sometime?

You realize you'd need several days/trips? If water allowed starting as high as Norman, from there to Glenwood would be one long day. Glenwood to Amity one day. Amity to Lake one day. From lake to Arkadelphia one day, assuming a fairly quick ride through the lake on a barge. Paddling length of lake could be a real challenge. It's about 20 miles from Runion bridge down to the dam. With a little wind and an improvised sail might not be so bad . . . Much easier to do the river in a series of day trips.

Sean Ruggles paddled the whole thing, including paddling the lake, earlier this year. I forget exactly how many hours of paddling he took but did it all in a couple of days. He's still young . . .