Alley Springs to River's Edge Resort 6.3 miles 1360.6 miles total
3.0 avg speed, 6.7 max speed, 2:05 moving time
Today we drove up to Alley Springs with the shuttle service. We walked around the Mill which was absolutely gorgeous. It’s a two-story red building set above the springs which is an aquamarine blue and all surrounded by lovely, green trees. If somebody was an artist, it would make a great painting. (Interestingly enough - on the way home we stopped in Poplar Bluff at a cafe called 'Bread & Butter' where they had a large canvas of this mill.) We then put in at Jack’s Fork River and had to paddle over a stretch of shallow water covered with a short stretch of gravel. Once he spring water joined the river, the river widened and the paddling became very easy. We had several Eagle sightings, although we think it may have been the same two Eagles. At one point we stopped in some slow moving water just to watch an eagle soaring above us. Once again we stopped at a beautiful spot for lunch. This river is different from the Current River because it’s much more narrow and it has a lot of twists and turns. There were several challenging spots and unfortunately at one of the sections, I had a problem - yep, I tipped. The current took me into a tree and I found myself slowly leaning to the left and finally tipped over. I was trying to save my kayak and realized that was useless so I let it go, but did hold onto my paddle. Scotty checked to see if I was okay and then he paddled ahead to get my kayak while I floated down the river never really able to get my balance and stand up. I finally floated over toward shore and was able to stand up and get out.We did pass a few people on this river, both in kayaks and canoes. It was a Saturday so maybe that accounted for more traffic. There were many spots where the water was really really deep and it looked aquamarine blue. In fact it was so deep we couldn’t even see the bottom at some points. I'm not sure why I never tried this before, but I put our underwater camera under the water and was able to take some photos of me looking down into the water. Hehe, fun! We reached a big gravel bar and saw a row of 14 brand new cabins which are the cabins that belong to Rivers Edge Resort. Apparently, there was a flood last year that ruined their previous cabins. Once again, we saw an otter. This time, he climbed up a small bank to the top and was about to come down into the river, until he saw us and then scampered away. This is where we pulled out and Scotty brought the truck around. Had we gone down to the other takeout, we would’ve had to walk across a large expansive gravel bar and up some stairs. So the choice for us for simple.
3.0 avg speed, 6.7 max speed, 2:05 moving time
Today we drove up to Alley Springs with the shuttle service. We walked around the Mill which was absolutely gorgeous. It’s a two-story red building set above the springs which is an aquamarine blue and all surrounded by lovely, green trees. If somebody was an artist, it would make a great painting. (Interestingly enough - on the way home we stopped in Poplar Bluff at a cafe called 'Bread & Butter' where they had a large canvas of this mill.) We then put in at Jack’s Fork River and had to paddle over a stretch of shallow water covered with a short stretch of gravel. Once he spring water joined the river, the river widened and the paddling became very easy. We had several Eagle sightings, although we think it may have been the same two Eagles. At one point we stopped in some slow moving water just to watch an eagle soaring above us. Once again we stopped at a beautiful spot for lunch. This river is different from the Current River because it’s much more narrow and it has a lot of twists and turns. There were several challenging spots and unfortunately at one of the sections, I had a problem - yep, I tipped. The current took me into a tree and I found myself slowly leaning to the left and finally tipped over. I was trying to save my kayak and realized that was useless so I let it go, but did hold onto my paddle. Scotty checked to see if I was okay and then he paddled ahead to get my kayak while I floated down the river never really able to get my balance and stand up. I finally floated over toward shore and was able to stand up and get out.We did pass a few people on this river, both in kayaks and canoes. It was a Saturday so maybe that accounted for more traffic. There were many spots where the water was really really deep and it looked aquamarine blue. In fact it was so deep we couldn’t even see the bottom at some points. I'm not sure why I never tried this before, but I put our underwater camera under the water and was able to take some photos of me looking down into the water. Hehe, fun! We reached a big gravel bar and saw a row of 14 brand new cabins which are the cabins that belong to Rivers Edge Resort. Apparently, there was a flood last year that ruined their previous cabins. Once again, we saw an otter. This time, he climbed up a small bank to the top and was about to come down into the river, until he saw us and then scampered away. This is where we pulled out and Scotty brought the truck around. Had we gone down to the other takeout, we would’ve had to walk across a large expansive gravel bar and up some stairs. So the choice for us for simple.
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| Overload on the Springs photos, but I'm sure you can see why. It was picture perfect! |
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| Launching Area at Alley Springs |
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| Look how clear the water is! |
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| That's an eagle way up there! |
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| I don't know why I never tried this before! I have the camera underwater aimed up at me! Oh, I know why, we don't often paddle in such crystal clear water! |
After up our paddle we went to see two springs. The first was Blue Springs where you have to hike about a half mile back to see it. This spring flows into the Current River. There is a wooden over look above the spring and a huge bluff behind it. This spring puts out 87,000 gallons of water a day and is about 310 feet deep. If the Statue of Liberty was at the bottom, you would not be able to see her crown. The second spring was Rocky Falls. And it was definitely a Rocky Fall. The water flows down over just one section so there are plenty of rocks surrounding it where you can climb up to the top. This spring also flows into the Current River, but has less water flowing than the springs we had seen.
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| Blue Springs, 75 mile hike, 21 minutes moving time |
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| Rocky Falls, .35 mile hike, 10 minutes moving time |
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| Again, look at that clear water!! |
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| View from the top. |
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