Month: July 2020
Hike to Pedestal Rocks
Well, here we are in the middle of Summer – the dog days. Most of the rivers are really low for floating. Most of the waterfalls are just a trickle, if not dry. And man, is it HOT! If you don’t have a pool, or a boat for enjoying the lake, don’t worry. There are still some fun things to do outdoors. Even in the low rivers, there are still some swimming holes out there. So why not do a hike and swim? During another sweltering summer a few years ago, some friends and I did exactly that with a hike to Pedestal Rocks. You may be thinking “wait a minute…Pedestal Rocks doesn’t have a swimming hole. It doesn’t have any water at all!” You would be correct. It doesn’t. But just 13 minutes down the road is the ever-popular swimming hole at Fallin...
Floating and Fishing on the Upper Ouachita
For the past two summers, I have joined up with my paddling friends in Hot Springs to go floating and fishing on the Upper Ouachita River. I have written about floating the Lower Ouachita before. Even though this is the same river, it’s an entirely different float. What I call the Lower Ouachita runs from out of Lake Catherine down to Malvern and beyond. But what I call the Upper Ouachita is the western portion of that same river, running into Lake Ouachita. The Upper Ouachita is very different from the Lower because it is not fed by a lake. So the water level gets pretty low. I really don’t recommend this river in mid-summer for anyone looking for a fun float with good flow. But I DO recommend it for anyone looking for a place to float and fish. It is great river to catch some...
Woolum to Baker Ford Float on the Buffalo
I’m kind of a creature of habit. I have a lot of my favorite floats that I try to do every year. The down side to that is I’ve missed out on a lot of other great floats. You can only do so many per year! So I’m doing more new (to me)floats this year. And a few weeks ago I did the Woolum to Baker Ford float on the Buffalo in my quest to cover all sections of the river. I have floated sections all around this one, but just never got around to hitting Woolum. So my buddy Eric and I loaded our trucks and planned a self-shuttle float to cross this one off the list. This float can be hit and miss by mid-summer. It may be too low one day, but with a little rain it can be fine. Before going, check the river level at American Whitewater or on the RiverApp. I tend to check both. Bu...
Floating the Little Missouri from the Narrows Dam
We have reached that part of the Summer where floatable rivers can be a little hard to find. Outside of the lower Buffalo and a few others, most of the popular rivers get too low without any rain. That leaves us with the spring-fed rivers of northern AR and southern MO, and several dam-fed rivers flowing from lakes. Examples of these would be the Little Red, lower Caddo and lower Ouachita, which I have written about. And last weekend, I learned all about floating the Little Missouri from the Narrows Dam at Lake Greeson. Floatable rivers may be a little hard to find this time of year, and whitewater is even harder. But when the Narrows Dam starts releasing water into the Little Missouri River, buckle up and hang on! No, I don’t mean crazy rafting whitewater like you might see in Color...
