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Current River Adventure
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A few pictures taken by Rick Watkins on the Current River Trip

Barbara and I spent Friday afternoon exploring the area between Montauk State Park and Akers  Ferry looking at the condition of the various launch areas, visiting canoe outfitters and talking with other local paddlers.  We were able to confirm that we could float from Baptist Camp to Cedar Grove. This was our primary interest since none of the six of us had paddled the section before.


The section is very beautiful with a few moderately technical areas.  The gauge at Montauk was at 1.85 feet. We bumped the bottom a bit here and there but did not need to walk any portions.  We were told later that 2 feet on the gauge is common this time of year. The extra inch or two would have been welcome. 


The section was uncrowded. We did not see any boats from the local outfitters.  There were a few trout fisherman wading the river and one couple with two young children attempting to paddle the section in a jon boat.   


Unfortunately, the shuttle between the put-in and take-out was 35 minutes each way plus an additional 20 minutes from our meet-up at Akers Ferry.  We learned later that there’s an alternative take-out at Parker’s Ford that’s only 12 minutes from the Baptist Camp Access. The paddle from Baptist Camp to Parker’s Ford reduces the paddle by about a mile.  The road to Parker’s Ford got pretty gnarly for the last 100 yards but, Barbara and I made it down and back in our Explorer 4x4.  


We also explored some campgrounds in the area.  


  • Montauk State Park did not appear to have any electric sites vacancies that were reservable on-llne.  However, when Barbara and I drove through the campground midday on Friday, there were plenty of  walk up electric sites vacant. Rick and Allen drove through Saturday evening and the campground was full.  Our conclusion is that if you can arrive before the weekend, you can probably find a walk up electrical site.  It’s a nice park, but perhaps not ideal for a large club group unless we plan well in advance.  

  • Whispering Pines is an affordable, equestrian oriented campground close to the Cedar Grove Access.   Tent sites with electricity are $10 per night. RV sites are $25 with both water and electricity.  There are no sewer hook-ups nor a dump station. There are showers, restrooms and a small on-site beer and wine bar. We saw only one camper, an RV.  It seems like an ideal site for a combination Baptist Camp to Cedar Grove one day and a Cedar Grove to Akers Ferry the next. The owner was very eager and volunteered that he would even permit double hook-ups to the available sites.  

  • Pinecrest Campground and Cabins is close to the Baptist Camp Access.  The prices are slightly higher, e.g. $15 for tents, $28 for water and electricity and $32 for full hook-ups.  There’s a dump station. The owner is an active paddler who tipped us off to the Parker Ford access. It would be a great choice if we wanted to do the Baptist Camp to Parker Ford access two days in a row. 

On Sunday, we paddled Cedar Grove to Akers Ferry.  We all paddled that together last year and it’s as nice as we remembered.  We met up early and were on the water by about 8 am in order to avoid any crowd.  We saw some people camped on the bank, but had the water to ourselves.  

The gauge at Akers Ferry was at 1.2 feet which was adequate.  




Mike Dale
(901) 485-1050
We will meet on the front porch of Aker's Ferry Canoe Rental at 8 am Saturday, August 10,2019 and decide on a section to paddle.    The early meet-up should get us out on the water ahead of the  crowd.  We will do the same again Sunday morning.

The target area of our adventure is from Baptist Camp to Pulltite Spring, broken into two day trips with a longer trip on Saturday. Charles will try to scout the Welch Landing Access as a possible take-out point on his way to Montauk State Park Friday afternoon.  A mile by mile description of the river can be found here

Barbara and I are going to mosey up to Crowley's Ridge State Park  Thursday afternoon and spend the night.  I plan to check out a few  other campgrounds on our way to Happy Pappy's Montauk RV Park and Store where we will be camping Friday and Saturday nights.

Mike Dale
(901) 485-1050
Rick Watkins and Popeye are joining us and they will be camping at the Round Spring campground.   There appear to be campsites available at Round Spring but if I am interpreting the Recreation.gov website correctly, the sites with electricity have already been reserved.  

Mike Dale
(901) 485-1050
I'm looking at my calander. I might join you there.
Multi-Day Adventures is a forum within the Leaderless Adventures.  Hence it will not appear on the club calendar.

At this point, the main issue for the target area, Aker's Ferry, is the difficulty reserving campsites with electrical connections for air conditioned RVs like mine AND bathrooms/shower rooms for those that need them.  There are probably private campgrounds that would work, but at this point, neither Charles nor I have found one we like.  Charles and his mother are staying at the lodge at Montauk State Park and I'm staying at Happy Pappy's campground nearby that has hook-ups but no bathrooms nor shower rooms.

Furthermore, I'm not qualified to lead a trip on this river.  That said, I'm comfortable with my personal ability to paddle the target area.  I expect it to be all or mostly class I.  Information about the target area of the Current River can be found here.
Is it on the Club's calendar or is it being planned as a "leaderless adventure" event?
A couple of people have expressed interested in the Current River Adventure.  We may have 6-7 people participating.  

We've narrowed the adventure to two days of paddling, Saturday, August 10th and Sunday, August 11th.  

We will most likely use Aker's Ferry as the put-in on one day and take-out on the other.  We will be checking water levels closer to the adventure dates to determine the length of the paddles.

I've added a link to a description of the Current River on the "Places to Paddle" sub-menu of the "Paddling" tab.  I've also added a link to the USGS gage for the river above Aker's Ferry under the "Gages" sub-menu.

Mike Dale
(901) 485-1050

Charles Neikirk and his mother Eva, Barbara and I are meeting up August 9-11 for a leaderless adventure. 
 
Charles and Eva are staying at the lodge at Montauk State Park.  Barbara and I are trailer camping at Happy Pappy's Montauk RV Park which has full hook-ups but no bathroom/showers.  Montauk State Park still has campsites available if you don't need electricity.  An alternative, Round Spring, did not have electric sites available when I checked. I did not check for other campgrounds with electricity and restrooms/showers. 

Our goal is 2 separate day trips and a possible 3rd day trip, schedules permitting.  River sections will be agreed upon at location. Barbara and I paddled the current last year, but do not have the familiarity to lead a trip.

Please contact me if you want to be included in our communications. 

Mike Dale
(901) 485-1050
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