Trip Report

Arkansas Buffalo Overnighter – Carver to Woolum – April 24 – 27, 2025

 

Thursday evening, April 24, seven brave souls met at the Ozark Café in Jasper, AR, in preparation for a 3-day, 2-night paddle on the Arkansas Buffalo River.  After a good meal and lots of storytelling of past floats, we went back to our campsite at the Ozark campground to organize gear and prepare for our launch the next morning. Well, four of us camped, the other three stayed in a hotel in Harrison, AR.

 

The next morning, Friday, April 25, we all met at the put-in at the Ozark campground.  We had to carry/drag our boats a good distance.  But, it wasn’t too bad as it was down hill and sand most of the way.  We began the arduous shuttle at 9:00.  What should have been a 2 hour and 15-minute shuttle turned into a 3 hour shuttle due to slow trucks and very bumpy gravel roads. 

But all turned out well and we launched at noon.  We had two tandem canoes, one solo canoe, and two kayaks. The water level was near perfect.  We averaged about 3 ½ miles an hour.  Even with a lunch break, we paddled 10 miles and stopped to camp at about 3:30.  It was a fairly easy paddle with lots of nice standing waves in places.  There was a lot of evidence of flood damage.  Lots of trees down that you had to avoid, but nothing too technical.  To everyone’s delight, Teresa made guacamole dip and cooked chicken fajitas for everyone.  Needless to say, none of us went to bed hungry.  We had a nice campfire with lots of camaraderie and storytelling.

 

Day 2:

 

Keith Watson broke out the skillet and cooked bacon spam and eggs.  Mighty tasty!  There was also the usual breakfast fare of instant oatmeal and instant grits.  And coffee, of course.  We were all packed up and ready to go by 9:00.  At one place there was a tree across the river.  Fortunately, the tree trunk was a couple of feet above the water and the current was not too strong.  We were able to get out of our boats and push them under the log.  With the strong current, we paddled 18 miles and were in camp again by 3:30.  We stopped for breaks and lunch, so it was a fairly easy paddle.  We had planned on camping on a big gravel bar across from The Nars (the Narrows), but the gravel bar is no more. The recent floods left nothing but a high steep bank.  So we went another quarter of a mile or so and camped across from Skull Rock.  Skull Rock is a formation on the bluff that looks like a human skull.  The water was midway up the “skull’s” eyes, so you really couldn’t see much of the “skull.”

 

Oh, I almost forgot!  We ran a set of standing waves that were the highest standing waves I have ever run. Maybe three feet?  Of course, as we sat around the campfire, that got taller and taller.  This paddler almost fell out of the canoe.  As we topped a big wave and started down, a wave came from the side and smacked us.  Fortunately for Teresa, I managed to stay in the boat.  It sure was fun.  We all wanted to run them again.

 

We ate like kings again.  Keith cooked sausages and we had lots of leftover fajitas.  Again, no one went to bed hungry.  And I must mention Teresa’s cookies, oatmeal and chocolate chips.  There was no shortage of cookies.

 

We had a nice campfire again, with lots of storytelling.  BCCC members sure have a lot of great stories to tell.  It started to rain around 9:00, so we headed to our tents. We had a slow rain off and, on all night, which made for good sleeping.

 

Day 3:

 

We woke up to light rain.  Fortunately, it did not last long, and we had great weather for the rest of the paddle.  We paddled a little under two miles to the take-out at Woolum.  Four of us wanted to hike to the top of The Nars.  We ferried across the river to where we picked up the Ozark Highland Trail and hiked it to where we could scramble to the top.  For those unfamiliar with The Nars, it is a narrow, elevated ridge formed by the Buffalo River and Richland Creek eroding a limestone bluff over time. The top is four to five feet wide.  You have a good view of the Buffalo River on one side and the Richland Creek Valley on the other.  It is well worth the effort to get to the top.

 

In summary, it was a really good trip with really good people.  Thanks to everyone who joined us.

 

Trip Data:

Put-in:             Ozark

Take-out:         Woolum

River miles:     29

 

River Gauges on April 25

  Pruitt: 5.12 ft

  Carver: 9.06 ft

 

River Gauges on April 27

  Pruitt: 4.76 ft

  Carver: 8.25 ft