#kayaking
Floating Byrd’s to Turner Bend on the Mulberry River
There is a general rule of thumb for floating the Mulberry. The deeper we get into summer, the further downriver we have to start our float. Occasionally we will get enough rain to change that rule. But for the most part it pretty much stands true. By mid-June, floating Byrd’s to Turner Bend on the Mulberry River is a popular choice for many paddlers. When the water level is above 3 feet, floating Byrd’s to Turner Bend on the Mulberry River is a really great float. At 2-3 feet, you’ll drag in a few spots and have to paddle more, but still have a run float. At 2 feet, you’ll probably have to start at Redding Campground. So for me, 3-4 feet is the sweet spot for this part of the river. I have been able to do this float a few times when most other rivers were dried up....
Floating High Bank to Byrd’s on the Mulberry River
We are over halfway through May, and the window to consistently float the upper end of most rivers will be closing soon. Last week, I wrote about floating Ponca to Kyle’s Landing on the Buffalo while you can. Floating High Bank to Byrd’s on the Mulberry River is very similar. The water gets too low to float once summer gets really hot and we get less rain. Unless you have the flexibility to go immediately after a rain, you probably have until around mid-June to float this stretch of the Mulberry. Floating High Bank to Byrd’s on the Mulberry River is one of my top 5 favorite floats in the state. I love it because it is such a beautiful area. And the further up the Mulberry River you go, the prettier it gets, in my opinion. It’s also a really fast, fun river to float....
Floating Ponca to Kyle’s Landing on the Buffalo River
Float season is fully underway in the Natural State. If you’re a paddler and haven’t been on at least one float yet, you have really missed out. The Caddo and Mulberry have been awesome. I’ve done those while the Buffalo has been closed. But great news – the Buffalo opens back up this weekend!!! So it’s time to start planning those float trips on the Buffalo. And this time of year, floating Ponca to Kyle’s Landing on the Buffalo River should be at the top of your list. Some will say that float season is year-round. I’ve always chosen to hike in the winter and float in the Spring and Summer. But I’m getting more interested in Fall/Winter floating. The water is often better. And frankly, I start to miss my kayak. Regardless of when you prefer t...
Floating the Lower Ouachita River
As the mid-Summer sun beats the Arkansas paddling rivers down to an unfloatable trickle, finding a place to paddle becomes a challenge. This is when it becomes necessary to turn to spring-fed options like the Eleven Point River, or dam-fed options like the Little Red or Little Missouri Rivers. For many in Central and South Arkansas, floating the Lower Ouachita River from Lake Catherine to Malvern is the go-to option. I had never floated this river until 2014. But I was pleasantly surprised by it and have made many return trips since then. I really like this float for so many reasons. Aside from being a short drive, the put-in and take-outs are also really easy to access. It’s a float that you can do fairly quick, or you can make it last all day. And best of all, the river almost alwa...
Floating the Caddo River – Caddo Gap to Glenwood
Have you ever experienced something and then afterward wondered why it took you so long to do that? Like, it’s been there under your nose for so long and you just never did it. But once you finally did, you wished you had been doing it all along? Well for me, that experience was floating the Caddo River from Caddo Gap to Glenwood. I had never floated this river until around 2013. What??!!! Crazy, I know. But wow, this a great float! No, you’re not going to see the towering bluffs and mountains you see at the Buffalo. You won’t see the emerald green waters of the Mulberry here. But this is still a great floating river in a beautiful part of the state. What you will see is a clean river with some cool rock formations, fun rapids, and pretty good smallmouth fishing. You̵...
High-water float on the Buffalo River – Pruitt to Hasty
All of this rain recently has me thinking back to the summer of 2015 when a group of friends and I got to experience a rare high-water float on the Buffalo River. I say “rare” because it was in the middle of summer. It was the 4th of July to be exact. Anyone that has ever floated the Buffalo at that time of year knows the water is usually too low to float without a lot of dragging and paddling. But this time the water was so high we almost didn’t get to float at all. We had just had a heavy rain the day before we set up camp at Tyler Bend Campground. We planned to float from Baker Ford to Tyler Bend the next day. That evening our outfitter informed us that the river was over 12 feet. If it did not go down overnight, we would not be allowed to get on the water the next day...
