July 1-4, 2017
Overview:
For the long Fourth of July weekend, we decided to drive down to Arkansas and canoe the Buffalo River with our friend Jillian and some of her friends (now our friends too). Being from the upper midwest, we never gave Arkansas a second thought regarding scenery or natural beauty, but the state sure proved us wrong! The water, sand, cliffs, hills, plant life, and animals were stunning. We can’t wait until next time we have the chance to head to Arkansas for a longer paddle trip!
Day 1:
Since we own our canoe, transport to/from the start/end of a paddle trip is never straight-forward. This time, we decided to park our car at the finish and bike back to the beginning to start the trip. We left our bikes in Jillian’s car, which she had a company move to the finish on the last day. The ride gave us a the chance to combine two trips into one! Gravel biking across rural Arkansas was pleasant–the roads were well maintained and the traffic was sparse.
Our bike route:
Around midday we started paddling. Since our trip was in July and the Buffalo River is perfect for tubing, there were hundreds of tubers swarming around the put-in. But, nearly all of the tubers were day trippers. After only a few miles we passed the final road-crossing of the river before entering the wilderness area, and almost everybody disappeared. Finally, we had the wilderness we had been hoping for!
Day 2:
Day 2 was hot but fun. We spotted a few green herons bathing in shallow water. We took several breaks, including to go cliff-jumping. We set up camp on the beach and tried our best not to let too much sand in.
Day 3:
This was our last full day on the river. Julian showed off his drone, and shortly thereafter we heard a loud buzzing followed by a full-sized helicopter that zoomed past extremely close to our camp. The drone was neat, but the helicopter was a little bit more impressive! When we got back on the water, Jillian’s dog let us know he wasn’t a huge fan of paddling… We ended the day with a campfire on the beach during which we tried to finish off most of our remaining food and beer.
Day 4:
On the fourth day we paddled out of the wilderness. We spotted a mother eagle teaching her child how to fly. They were going back and forth between trees above the river. When we got to the landing, we were sad for the trip to end, but it was also good timing–after lots of sun and heat, this day was cold and rainy.
Our paddle route:
Julian made an awesome video of our trip, including some shots he took with his drone!:
Sam also made an awesome video of our trip!:
Down the Buffalo River from Sam Fathallah on Vimeo.
