Kayaking - Jack’s Fork River

 Kayaking - Jack's Fork River                                                                13.6 miles

3.9 avg moving speed, 8 mph max speed, 3:30 moving time, 5:35 elapsed time, Bay Creek to Eminence

Once again rain was predicted and the sky was pretty overcast, but it never rained on us. In fact later in the day the sun came out and they were beautiful blue skies.  The day started when we met the group at 8:30 at Windy’s Outfitters. It became very apparent that this outfitter was well prepared. The back of the bus had no seats and they quickly put many kayaks into the bus. The remainder of the kayaks went onto a kayak shuttle being pulled by a van. The cost of this outfitter was $15 a person, and  it was SO much better. Today’s route was Bay Creek to Eminence. We were in the water by 10:30. The water in this river can be shallow at times and you can see the rocks and pebbles below. It’s a beautiful river and is lined by bluffs on both sides. There are many twists and turns in this river and it ended up taking out many of us today. This is actually the second time I have flipped on the Jacks Fork River. It was actually my fault because I saw a narrow spot coming up with a tree along the side. I quickly paddled in front of Eric (I shouldn't have) on his paddle board and I went straight into the tree and ended up tipping. My big concern was that I had my phone in my bathing suit top outside of its waterproof case. Just call me stupid. Amazingly enough, my phone continued to work! We stopped at several gravel bars on the way down Jack’s Fork. One gravel bar was particularly pretty because they were bluffs directly across from it and there was a good strong current flowing here. It was a great place to float down the river and then walk back up so Ethan and I did this a couple of times along with some other people. It was at this gravel bar that someone yelled out so who flipped today and at least seven people raise their hands. You don’t mess around on the Jack's Fork river. When we got to Eminence Missouri, there was a huge rock for jumping off. The majority of us parked our boats and watched the brave souls that climbed up to jump. We got to the end and all we could say was it was another wonderful day.