Ever Elusive Morels

We have been out several times this year chasing the ever elusive morel mushroom....  I imagine that we have spent around 8-10 hours hiking hard for these bad boys to no avail.  Well, our quest has not been entirely fruitless.  We have found around 10 this year but they have all been quite small compared to previous years.

I'm sure the weather has played a role in this as it has been pretty dry so far this year.  We found a few Devil's Urns and what appeared to be a big chicken of the woods from the previous fall.  It was, of course, completely dried up so we marked the cords down and plan to revisit later this year.

Thus far we have only ran into one snake (as shown below).  It was just a harmless black rat snake.  Watching it effortlessly slither up the side of an old, dead tree was both creepy and fascinating at the same time.  It made your jaw drop and your skin crawl all at the same time.  I have seen snakes in small trees but hey, no big deal because they had lots of branches to get up there.  This guy was just moving straight up the trunk, with nothing to really grip.

I will update (hopefully very soon) after some subsequent outings.  Best luck to everyone in the woods, I truly hope you find what you seek, regardless of what that is!!

Devil's Urn -- Small Spring on our property -- Black Rat Snake going straight up an old tree

Redbuds and Dogwoods behind the cabins -- Box Turtle -- Lilac blooms

Old School House west of Little Sac Woods CA

James River it is!

So after I thought all was said we wound up changing yet again and deciding to stay closer.  We floated from Shelvin Rock access down to Hootentown on the James River just South of Springfield, MO.  After the flooding that we experienced in late 2015 I was worried that we may encounter some big strainers and/or log jams.  Fortunately this area was very clear and provided a beautiful float for us.  The total distance according to the Missouri Paddler's Guide (an indispensable tool for Missouri floats.  Check it out here) was 6.2 miles and despite the wind fighting us for most of the float, stopping for a long lunch, and fishing we finished the float in about 3.5 hours.  Granted, the wind made it impossible to fish several long stretches and we just powered through them.

The sun was out for a good part of the day but when it wasn't, it made sure you knew it!  It was chilly with cloud cover but just right when the sun popped out for a bit.  The wind was really blowing today though and it made paddling quite a chore on several stretches.  The wind would catch your paddle if you didn't hold them just right and bring you to a dead stop.  It was powerful enough to completely counter-act the current.  Fortunately, there were several decent sized bluffs along this stretch that provided some respite from the gale force winds.

We fished hard but didn't catch a thing.  We were struggling to even get hit.  However, there was someone on the bank fishing with his daughter that caught two as we passed.  Isn't that how it always goes?  There were some great looking holes along this stretch and I am sure that we will be back before long.

All in all it was a great inaugural float.  As I have said, hopefully, the first of many more to come this year.  .....come on rain!!

Clearly it has been far too long since I have posted here.  Between school and work I only managed to get out a couple of times last year.  It was difficult, beyond difficult!  But I got through it anyway.

We are planning on heading to Finley Creek tomorrow to float from 125 to Riverside Bridge.  Typically there is no access there but we have someone in our party with access to private property in the vicinity.  The Finley is not exactly a remote river by any stretch.  It is, unfortunately, dotted with houses throughout much of this float.  There is still plenty of beauty to see both in and around the water though.  It also provides for some decent fishing opportunities.

The water looks like it should be decent.  The water looks low from the USGS site.  But a bit of hiking never hurt anyone.  Below Riverdale it shows as just over a foot....and discharges of only about 60-70 Cfs.....hmmmm might be time to look at alternatives!

So the choice has now been made to hit up the 11 Point River.  I think we are going to float from Greer down to Turner Mill.  It is only about a 5 mile float but some in the party are not terribly experienced and it's better to ease into floats.  No 22 mile one day floats your first few times out!!  The water looks much better on the 11 Point as I would expect seeing that it is fed by countless springs (not just 11 as some have suggested).

To be honest, I couldn't be more excited about the change of venue.  I was pushing for the 11 Point, Current or Jacks Fork before but some in the party wanted to stay closer to town.  Mother Nature is on my side though and due to low water we are going to travel a bit!  I have floated the 11 Point a handful of times before and absolutely love it.

Hopefully I am able to get out much more this year than in recent years but no promises.  I will be sure to post a few images from our float tomorrow.

Upper James River

We are heading to the Upper James River tomorrow to give it a go.  This is a section that I have not floated previously and it normally is not floatable this time of year.  I have been told that the water is perfect and the fishing fantastic so it sounds like a great plan to me.  We are going to be putting in well above Hwy 125.  (Please note that access is restricted at the 125 bridge now.  Respect property owners!)  

So far this year has been pretty slow.  Early in the year we hardly got any water at all.  (I will post some pictures from a Whitewater Competition to prove it).  Now it is early summer and the rain has kept coming.  While so far my work schedule never seems to coincide with the river's schedule I must power through and get on the water ASAP.   We should have a good full day float n fish ahead of us.  Of course, there will be much more to come afterwards.  

Winter Float

After an excessively long hiatus I was finally able to return to the river during our winter break!  We decided to keep it close to home and relatively short, as we were honestly ill equipped clothing-wise.

We had received quite a bit of snow and a fair amount of rain the days leading up to our float.  As this was the case we envisioned higher water levels than we were greeted with.  The water was still moving at a good clip over the dam and this of course had me fired up to go over it.  It seems risky during the day with all of the people fishing but sometime, we vowed to each other, we would return and go over it.  It is a short dam at only about 15 - 20' but neither of us have gone over anything larger at this point.

As is the norm for this area the water where we began our journey was muddy and debris-filled.  This never let up and I attribute it mostly to the precipitation.  The amount of litter that was seen was also disturbing though.  This stretch is right off of Springfield Lake but it was disheartening to see all of the trash in branches and on the banks.

This stretch had some beautiful scenery along the way.  We saw two caves.  One of them could be paddled into.  A lighter person with a smaller kayak may be able to paddle further back than the 15-20 yards that I was able to manage but it was fun nonetheless.  There was a decent sized cave on land a little further downstream as well.  There were tags all over it.  It is very aggravating to see this type of destruction occurring.  It reminds me of our hikes in Lost Valley, AR.  The trees and paths are beautiful minus the hundreds and hundreds of carvings all over the old sycamores.  Despite this wild graffiti the cave offered a few surprises.

It is not uncommon to see bald eagles around this area during the winter but I still get very excited every time I do spot one.  We had an immature bald eagle soaring just below the tree tops along the river above us for several minutes.  I was able to capture it on video but due to the distortion caused by the camera lens it looks farther away than it was.  We were able to float slowly and quietly to within about 30 yards of the giant.  It was quite exciting!

All in all the float was  a lot of fun and a huge success.  It definitely has both of us fired up for what will hopefully turn out to be another fantastic year for kayaking! 

“We must begin thinking like a river if we are to leave a legacy of beauty and life for future generations.” 
― David Brower

The Waiting Game

At this point we have received no significant rainfall for weeks.  I miss the river unbelievably.  Don't get me wrong, there are still several rivers that are floatable right now but nothing that has really sounded terribly interesting lately.  The James River, Finley River, Gasconade, the list goes on but most of these rivers are quite slow and honestly, a little boring for me.  I still greatly enjoy fishing while I float but right now I am hoping to get my white water fix more than anything.

So many different seasons culminate around this time of year and I find it increasingly difficult to manage my time accordingly. This time of year always presents a challenge, albeit one that I will gladly face any time; so much to do, so little time.  Dove, deer, turkey, ducks, hiking, fishing, floating(hopefully) all add to the chaos that work, school and family life already push me towards.

I am hoping to get some fall and winter floats in this year as I have never been on the water during this time of year.  My good friend, Sam and I have already signed up to do a river cleanup on 10/5/13 on the Finley River in Ozark.  Hopefully there will be a fair amount of color on the trees at that point.  I have never participated in a river cleanup before and it has been years and years since I was in my canoe last.  Hopefully I don't send everyone into the water.  While I have not been on a formally organized clean up before I always take a couple mesh bags and plastic bags on floats just to pick up some of the trash that others have left behind.

I hate seeing all the trash that litters so many of our waterways.  At the same time I don't get mad about it like a lot of people do.  I try to give people the benefit of the doubt.  Maybe the canoe tipped and they grabbed all they could.  Maybe their kids dumped some stuff, there are a lot of possibilities.  As this is the case I try not to assume people load their canoes and kayaks with trash just to dump it on the river.  Although sometimes you have to wonder.

I have also contacted the City of Springfield in regards to their Adopt-a-Stream program.  There is currently only one stretch of open stream that is available and it is NASTY.  It is right on the edge of downtown next to a very busy expressway.  Evidently they have had a very difficult time keeping people in this location.  I have not checked it out yet but plan to very soon and I will post pictures as well.  Hopefully it is something that can be done, but I would prefer to adopt a floatable waterway.  I am also concerned with how much additional interest there will be.  Obviously it will be too much for just me to handle but I'm hoping some kind-hearted friends can get behind the idea as well

Late Summer

This year has been unbelievably good to us for paddling.  It has stayed cool and wet pretty much all year.  This is in stark contrast to last year when even the larger rivers could barely be floated without hiking most of the way.  Unfortunately all good things must come to an end.  I fear that we will not be able to go floating on any big water for some time now.  We are hoping to get some Fall and Winter floats in this year as we have not done this before.  Typically hunting seasons and other obligations get in the way late in the year but I think we can get it done this time around.

I hit my goal this Summer of paddling 100 miles.  I am currently right around 120 and hope to hit 150 by the end of the year.  I have paddled the entire Finley River as considered navigable by the Paddler's Guide to Missouri.  I hope to complete the Jacks Fork as well.  We have about 15-20 miles to complete it.  Fortunately it is spring-fed so the sections we need to hit should remain floatable through the end of the year.  I would really like to hit the North Fork of the White River as I have heard it has some nice whitewater stretches.  I also want to work out a multi-day float as I have not been on one of these in many years.  There are a few things I still need to get before I am able to commit to it but it will be done in the near future!

Beaver Creek, MO

Today (Monday 8/12/13) we decided to head down to Beaver Creek.  The last time that I checked the weather we were looking at about a 30-40% chance of rain and scattered thunderstorms.  The gauge was showing a little above 4' prior to heading out.  We used Beaver Creek Canoe Rental to shuttle us to our put in at AJ highway and take my Sierra back to Brownbranch.  I wound up leaving my river shoes at home and wound up floating the higher than normal water in flip flops; not something that I was terribly comfortable with.  But I had my paddle so I wasn't too upset.

The river was moving very moderately initially.  It was pretty nice fishing for the first hour or two.  I caught around a dozen smallmouth and my friend caught 3 or 4.  The smallmouth here were beautiful.  They were a vivid bronze hue with deep dark stripes.  Most of the fish were in the 11-12" range but we caught a couple that were 14"+.  This felt pretty good as the guide seemed to think the smallmouth fishing was fairly poor.

A few hours into the float the skies began to darken all around us.  It started behind us and rapidly crept up our left side as it started to completely blot out the sun.  We grabbed our rain gear and spray skirts and started donning our lightweight armor.  No sooner than I put my rain jacket on it started to rain, and it was absolutely pouring!  We got lucky though and holed up under the only bridge on the entire float about 1/4 mile down river.  We paddled against the current for about 45 minutes to an hour before the lightning finally let up.  We started back off in the rain but luckily, no lightning.

The river really began to pick up speed up at this point.  We were a little disappointed that the water never got terribly exciting, just faster.  It wasn't long before the crystal clear waters turned muddy brown.  The debris from all the log jams was starting to keep pace with me.  Things got a little sketchy towards the end as we you could not see anything in the water, even logs and large rocks just below the surface.  It became a test of reading the water only and it was fun.

Upon returning home we found that the water level had rose 2' while we were floating.  It will be a good fish float around the 4' mark but was moving too fast to fish much at 6'.  Unfortunately it was not a terribly exciting float, which is what we had been hoping for.  Next time it rains like this we will probably head to Bull Creek or the Swan again.

Where to?

Well here we are again at the most difficult part of these trips, planning.  It's always hard to decide where to head to.  The Buffalo River in Arkansas is finally floatable again with 12" of airspace.  Swan, Bull, and Beaver all look like they have some excellent flows right now too though.  I guess we will just have to wait and monitor the water levels to see where Mother Nature takes us.  

Personally, I am leaning toward Bull Creek as it is a beautiful river with extremely clear water.  It is rare to be able to float Bull and Swan during the summer much less in August!  I have wade fished Bull Creek for years and am familiar with several sections that produce phenomenal fishing.  I have not floated this creek at all though so I look forward to seeing more of it.  

We took a trip to Ozark Mountain Trading Company the other day to check out what they had to offer.  I have been disappointed in the past with the selection of kayaks in town.  There are a lot of fishing and recreational models available but I have found zero whitewater or playboats.  OMTC has a fantastic array of kayaks.  Jackson, Wilderness, and Dagger are just a few of the brands that they carry.  They have an entire garage filled with boats to check out.  This is a nice change from the dozen or so that are carried everywhere else.  They also offer a wide range of accessories.  I am interested in getting a neoprene skirt for my Dagger Axis 10.5 as well as a helmet to start really running the good stuff.  Unfortunately these things have not yet made it to the top of my priority list so they must wait.  The Jackson Rogues and Mamba also had me salivating a little bit. 

I shall return shortly with information on where the next trip will be to and some information on the preparation process.  Happy floating!

Swan Creek

While far from the first outing this year, my recent float on Swan Creek will be my first posting here.   I have developed an intense passion for the outdoors over the years.  I have hunted several different species, hiked and floated in many locations in Missouri and Arkansas, and I fish as much as possible.  My goal with this blog is to be able to share some of these experiences with people and hopefully inspire some to get out and experience the wonders of nature for themselves, firsthand.
Typically even the lower Swan can only be floated early in the year.  It was quite a treat to have the opportunity to float it in August!  While there was not a gauge on Swan that I could use to determine water levels I was able to get an idea by using the nearby Bull Creek gauge.  The water was just under the 5' mark and produced some of the most exciting water that we had been on all year.  There were a few nice waves of around 2' or so.  It would have been a fantastic float to fish on but we had anticipated a little more action.  I think around 6' or so the float would have really been a rush!
Right off the bat I was impressed with the clarity of the water.  We had received several inches of rain in the area during the two or three days leading up to our float.  With this in mind I expected the muddy stained rivers like the James and Finley that are more reminiscent of something out of Willy Wonka than a floatable body of water.  Swan Creek was nothing like this.  Even with the heavy rains you felt like you could reach out and touch the bottom of holes despite their 10' depth.  I always enjoy floating water like this.  My reasons behind this were enforced only minutes into our float when a beaver that we had been tailing for a couple of minutes suddenly slapped its tailed and submerged.  As we looked all over the river upstream for a sign of it, he was silently slipping directly under our boats.  Seeing a beaver just a foot away under your kayak is unexpectedly exciting.  I have always enjoyed being submersed in the outdoors though, so I guess getting excited over this type of thing should come as no surprise.  As always the float included many turtles, blue herons, green herons, and fish sightings.  I have been attempting to get a good picture of a green heron for a while but they turn out to be quite the elusive quarry.
The fast water started almost immediately and kept up pretty nicely until the last mile or two where we paddling against the backcurrent from Bull Shoals.  The Hull's Ford bridge didn't quite have water over it but it only would have taken another 4" of water to send the levels over.  This water level produced some very nice rapids that made me very happy to have a spray skirt.  On a couple of the runs we had waves crashing over our heads.
We are already looking for our next big adventure and hope for even better water.  Discussions abound about whether we need whitewater or playboats.  I am pretty sure that we have been bitten by the whitewater bug and I fear for our wellness!

Bryan