Recently, my family and I visited Jasper Arkansas and the Buffalo river for our 5th time. The Buffalo National river is a popular spot for kayaking and canoeing and though we had hiked the area many times we had never done a float trip. This year that was going to change.
Though somewhat confident, I was a little unsure about what the trip would be like. Up until that point I had only been in a plastic kayak one other time and that was on a calm lake. My other kayaking experience involved paddling in inflatable kayaks on, once again, a very calm lake.
We rented kayaks through a river outfitter. They supply the kayaks and then they shuttle your car down to the spot where your float trip ends. We were floating from Ponca to Kyle’s landing which we only later learned is one of the more treacherous stretches of the Buffalo River.
When we arrived at Ponca landing, immediately a man met us there.
“Did you bring a change of clothes?” he asked. He explained that by the end of this trip we were going to be very wet. He was not exaggerating. He went on to mention that two out of three kayaks had flipped on this stretch of river. Thinking back, this should have been our first sign that we were in for much more than we expected.
The launch point at Ponca was straight into a rocky rapid. When we carried the kayaks into the water it was hard to hang on to them. My parents were both in one kayak and I was in another on my own. I watched as they jumped in the boat and were shot down the river. Quickly I jumped into my boat as well. Once you are in the boat you can paddle, but in fast moving water you are somewhat at the mercy of the waves.
I was at the mercy of the waves, and the waves took me straight for a line of trees that was sticking out of the churning water. Smack. My kayak hit the trees. Quickly, I was able to maneuver my kayak out of the brush and I ended up paddling somewhat backwards till I reached the end of the rapids. Yikes, I thought, but this launch was only a preview of what was to come.
Once we were past the launch point we were in much calmer water. There were a few canoes and kayaks ahead of us and in the distance I could see another person in a kayak. He had a helmet on. I think this was the point where we began questioning our decision to take this trip, but once you are on the river there is nowhere to go but forward.
The launch point rapid was not the only rapid on our journey. It wasn’t even the hardest (or scariest). Along the river we experienced countless other rapids. These were the kind of rapids where your entire boat would fill with water. Up and down the bow of the kayaks went. As we would go through a rapid, the bow of the boat would smack down into the river and water would pour into the kayak. Many times we had to pull off to the banks of the river and empty out our boats. We were soaking wet most of the trip.
Despite the unpleasantness of being very wet, we were able to enjoy the beauty of the river. The Buffalo river is absolutely gorgeous. During the calm stretches we gazed at the teal blue water and the massive cliffs that line the river. Doing a float trip definitely gave us an opportunity to see an angle of the river that we had never seen before. We encountered a lot of wildlife. Who knew that there are so many turtles living in the Buffalo river? Along the banks and and on top of logs we saw countless turtles sunning themselves. We also saw various species of ducks and even a bird called a great egret. The beauty somewhat distracted us from the terror of the rapids, however the river did not allow us to relax for long. Eventually, at the end of a calm stretch we would hear the roar of approaching rapids. Here we go again, I would think.
Some rapids were fun to go through. It was sort of like being on a kind of ride. Other rapids (most of them) were extremely terrifying. You never knew if you would make it through or if your boat would hit a rock or capsize. When I say I was paddling for my life, I’m not exaggerating.
There is definitely some technique to paddling. You have to paddle enough, so you get around the rocks, while also working with the power of the water to get to where you want to go. Many of the rapids were on river bends. At the edge of the river was a sheer rocky cliff and the water would try to push you toward the rocks. It required a lot of strength to fight the water and avoid the cliffs. It was hard, especially for an inexperienced kayaker such as myself. I was running on adrenaline.
For many of the rapids my parents went on ahead of me. They would go through a rapid and then turn around to tell me if that was the best way to go or not. This worked well for me. I was able to slightly adjust my route or stick to the same route as them in order to navigate through the rapid without getting stuck or hitting something.
In terms of navigating rocks and rapids I did pretty well for the most part. Up until the end at least. Some of the worst rapids were near our pull out site of Kyle’s landing. One fateful rapid caused me to become one of the kayakers mentioned above (of two out of three that flip). The river narrowed around a bend and the water was moving fast. A large log from a fallen tree was stretched out over the water. My parents made it through this section just fine. I did not. As my kayak barreled around the bend I found myself pressed up against the large log. I grabbed onto it. I stopped. My kayak did not. The boat twisted out from below me and I tipped over the edge and fell into the Buffalo River.
Now, at this point I was not sure what to do. My first thought was to try and get back in my boat right away. With the rushing water all around me, that was not happening. I grabbed onto my boat and paddle and I tried to stay standing still. It felt like I was standing on a treadmill. The rocks on the river bed were slippery and the water was powerful. At last I had to stop fighting the current and let go. Luckily – thank goodness – I had a life jacket on. I drifted down the river, paddle and boat in hand, till I reached the shallower spot downstream where my parents were waiting for me. When I got there I took some time to rest. After a while I dumped out my boat, flipped it over, and got back in.
Fueled by exhaustion, and simply wanting to get off the river, I paddled onward toward the take out point. On the next set of big rapids we decided to portage our boats. In hindsight we maybe should have done this more often, but we had no idea how difficult the rapids were going to be.
After a few more bends in the river we reached the takeout point. We were finally done. We pulled our kayaks up to the river banks where we met many other (equally exhausted) kayakers and canoers. I don’t think anyone had anticipated the trip being this difficult.
The trip had many enjoyable moments and many terrifying ones. I got to see a perspective of the Buffalo River that I had never seen before. It gave us a strange lesson in learning to enjoy the beauty despite the difficult and treacherous patches of the river. I was sore for a week after the trip, and while it was certainly spectacular, I’m not sure if it is something that I will ever do again.
