Buffalo River Trip Wrap-up

We completed our canoe camping trip on the Buffalo River this afternoon. We actually took off the river one day ahead of schedule. Unlike last year, when we took off two days ahead of schedule and 33 miles before our intended take-out due to dangerously high and rising river levels, this year we completed our 126 mile trip. Good flow and ideal water levels allowed us to complete our trip from Ponca to Buffalo City in 9 days rather than the 10 days we had originally allowed. We typically paddled 15+ miles a day breaking camp about 10:00 and stopping about 3:00 on a beautiful gravel bar across from a towering bluff. The trip was largely uneventful; just a great float trip! The first third of the trip showed falling water levels and cooler than normal weather. During the middle part of the trip we got some rain and the river rose a bit. Near the end of the trip it turned warmer and the river levels dropped back to more normal levels.

We saw a wide assortment of wildlife. We saw the usual river-side birds as well as bald eagles and ospreys. We saw snakes and otters. The fishing was a little slow, but we managed to take a few smallmouth bass each day. In the small-world department, we ran into a fellow on the river from Mississippi near where my mother lived and we had many common acquaintances. He knew my mother's husband and his family very well.

After taking off at Riley's Landing in Buffalo City on the White River, Wayne, Lynda and Harry departed for NC. Dorcas and I retrieved the motor home, which was parked at Wild Bill's house, and moved a few miles down the hill to the federal campground at Buffalo Point. There we dried out all our gear and packed away the camping gear we would not use on the remainder of our trip. Tomorrow we will move south about 140 miles to Hot Springs National Park.

Buffalo National River

We left The Dell in Sevierville early this morning and drove 720 miles to Clinton Arkansas, where we are spending the night in the Wal-Mart parking lot. In the morning we will drive north another 45 miles to Wild Bill's Outfitters on the Buffalo National River and meet our friends from NC. From there, Wild Bill will take us to Ponca, where we will put in for a 10-day, 135 mile float down the Buffalo River. We talked to Wild Bill's today about the river levels. The center part of the river is near flood stage and rising. Tomorrow this section of the river may be closed to boating. Luckily the level at Ponca is just right and dropping slightly, so we should be well behind the flow surge. Hopefully the river won't get much more rain in the next 10 days.

We'll be offline during our canoe trip so check back after the 23rd.

Easter in the Smokys

There is one nice thing about going to motor home shows. There are tons of resort representatives giving away coupons for free camping, usually to try to entice you to buy one of their overpriced deeded RV lots. What else would bring us to the Gatlinburg area on a holiday weekend? While at the shows in Florida, we met folks from Hidden Mountain Resort in Sevierville TN. They had just opened a new deeded RV community, The Dell, and offered us two free nights camping if we came by. It was basically on our way to the Buffalo River in Arkansas, so we thought we would check it out. It turns out to be pretty nice, although very pricey: the 18 lots run from $165K-$195K. Maybe next year.

We arrived on Saturday and did practically nothing all day, except that we did drive over to the Coleman Factory Outlet and the Great Smoky Mountain Knife Works, the "Worlds Largest Knife Store". On Easter Sunday morning we drove into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We drove through Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg (although we could have taken the by-pass around Gatlinburg) and traffic was amazingly light. I guess all the tourists were attending Easter church services. This area is very fascinating in a bizarre way. It is so gaudy and tacky that it is kinda neat. A nice place to pass through, but I wouldn't want to stop here. As soon as you enter the national park, it is like suddenly passing through a portal into a wholly different world: green, quiet and serene. It is ironic that this chaotic tourist mecca was created for people who come to visit the GSMNP, a totally opposite experience.

Shortly after entering the park on the Newfound Gap Road, traffic came to a halt and cars were parked in the road and on the shoulders. There we saw two black bears, a mother and cub off in the woods. After clearing the "bear jam" we drove up to Newfound Gap and to Clingman's Dome. On Clingman's Dome there were remnants of the snow that fell earlier in the week, and Matilda had her first experience playing in the snow. The views from Clingman's dome were clearer than I can recall ever seeing them before. Visibility was probably close to 100 miles. After leaving Clingman's Dome we retraced our path back down the mountain and turned towards Cade's Cove. But the day was getting late and rather than going out to Cade's Cove, we left the park at Townsend and returned to Pigeon Forge via US 321. It was a pretty nice windshield tour of America's most visited national park.

On The Road Again

We left home this morning for another excellent adventure. We are spending tonight at Mom's house and then will be working our way west across Tennessee and Arkansas. On Tuesday we will put in on the Buffalo National River in the Arkansas Ozarks for a ten-day float trip. After that we will work our way south towards Gulf Shores Alabama for a Country Coach rally, with stops at Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas and Vicksburg National Military Park in Mississippi. Finally we will meet friends at Gryaton Beach State Park near Destin FL for a week of paddling. We will return home in about a month, just in time for a 10-day bike trip on the C&O Canal in Maryland. Life is good.