New article about Gulpha Creek's gangster past

[737driver]

http://hotspringsdaily.com/hot-history- ... aughter-2/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Once again my favorite hometown creek makes the papers. About six months ago, I posted a link to an article that described how Jesse James robbed a stage coach near the bridge at the take out of Gulpha Creek. Now the above article describes a shoot out between some bank robbing gangsters and the police back in 1920. This occurred at slaughter bridge which crosses the creek less than a mile upstream of the usual put in. So if your looking, for a unique class 2+ creek with an infamous past, look no further than this little gem nestled in the middle of town. Although, once on the creek, you'll feel like your in the middle of the wilderness. I've had several lengthy chats with the put in land owner and her sons. They have some interesting stories about the creek. One of the sons once found several coins from the 1860s while swimming the pool below the first rapid!

[Twindad]

I don't know the location of the put-in or the take out you're using. Does this run include the ledge section just below the bridge at the south end of the Natl. Park campground?

[737driver]

No, that section is technically illegal. I know several people who have run it, and I'd like to do it myself, but it's hard to catch it at a good level and you have to snipe it. I think the rangers frown on it. The put it for the normal run is at the bridge on Ridgeway blvd about a mile downstream of the park. The takeout is just below the Malvern Ave. bridge. We park our vehicles at the bar there for take out.

[Cowper]

The owner of the bar (the property where we are taking out) has requested that we NOT drive across the field to what appears to be the obvious take out, because it is beginning to rut up the field when we go down there right after it has been raining. Instead, he has requested that everybody keep the vehicles up on the gravel parking lot closer to the bar. There is a place you can take out that is directly between the bar and the creek, so you don't have to drag the boats any further to keep him happy!

[Cowper]

I think instead of starting a stand-alone thread, I'll just hijack this one for a short trip report.

Chicago Bob, Bryan and Aly Signorelli, and I went to Gulpha yesterday for a clean-up float. We had a pretty good haul, with the biggest "prize" from an environmental perspective being recovery of a 55 gallon drum that was about one third full of oil. I had filed a report with ADEQ back in January, and they told me at the time that they had someone under contract who would go retrieve this. Obviously that never happened, but I'm going to try to enlist their help again to go pick up the drum now that it has been located where it can be easily accessed by two-wheel drive vehicle.

The reason oil is a bad deal: "According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1 gallon of used motor oil can contaminate 1 million gallons of fresh water. If used motor oil reaches sewage treatment plants, even small amounts -- 50 to 100 parts per million -- can foul the water treatment process." So I figure we helped "save" about 20 million gallons of water from future contamination.
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/used-motor ... 79336.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

But I digress - we had a very fun day, even though the creek was so low that we had to line through a good number of the shoals and rocky areas where you would normally find rapids. We also got a good appreciation for why Hot Springs has problems with their very old sewer system - there was a concrete conduit that crossed the creekbed multiple times. If that is the sewer (which the man-holes would seem to suggest), I'm sure that given its age there are now multiple breaks from tree roots and other causes...

There was far more trash than we could load into just four canoes, but I do feel we made a dent in it, and was encouraged enough that I'd like to organize a larger crew sometime. I'll choose another low water day, because that allows better access to the stuff you need to get, and nobody will have to "give up" a whitewater run somewhere in order to help.

One item of note: This is not a good creek to swim in, from a boater's perspective. There are just too many sharp metal edges from some of the debris such as old car parts. Getting out some more of those hazards removed would be one goal of the future trip.

[depic]

Some have put in at the part on 7 north where the tanks is and did the fall off that pool. and floated to the park in gulpha campgrounds. There is conduit under the little bridge.,, Also put in the hot springs creek by the transportation depot and do to Hollywood lane but watch out for the pipes after the boys club , going under grand ave. is cool .