Kayaking - North Fork of the White River

 Kayaking - North Fork of the White River

It was an hour and a half drive to today's paddle and Betty rode with us.  We put in at the CC Bridge at the North Fork Recreation area and took out at the Blair access.  There were 8 of us today as Liz left to drive back to Florida, thinking it didn't look like a good day.  (Mustang) Sally who lives in Missouri also met us.  This was a really great river as we passed over mini riffles.  This is a new word we learned from Betty's Missouri River guide.  A riffle is a section of the river that has some waves and a bit of white water.  Soon after we started down the river, we saw a blue spring on the left side.  It is these numerous springs that make these rivers so crystal clear.  There were several rocky gravel bars along the way and about noon, we stopped for lunch.  Also on this river, there's a spring on the right that comes out from what looks like an old, abandoned bridge or possibly mill relic.  At one point, we had to paddle under a low bridge.  This came up quickly after a fast section of the river so we had to scoot down quickly to get low enough.  The fun part of this river is that you often have a choice to go in calmer water or through riffles.  William had warned us of "Skullkrusher Falls" so we paddled with great anticipation to reach it.  It is actually a small drop-off, but we enjoyed telling embellished stories of our accomplishment.  We even saw a bald eagle on this river which made it an even more perfect day.  At the end, we all agreed that this had been our favorite paddle of the week and we could have paddled longer on this river.  We drove the hour and a half back to Eminence and ate at Hogan's Hideout, a bar and eatery.  Scotty had a bacon cheeseburger and I had a mushroom Swiss burger.  Scotty had a Blue Moon and I tried a Hot Pink Barbie mixed drink which was really good.  After dinner we said goodbye to the remaining kayakers (6 of us) and expressed hope that we'd see each other again next year.

Kayaking - Eleven Point River

Kayaking - Eleven Point River                                             7 miles

We got up at 6:00 a.m. to move the camper to our new campground - Eminence Cottages and Cabins.  It's a bit closer to town and even has cell service.  We packed up the trailer in record time - about 20 minutes.

We drove to Hoffstetler Outfitters, loaded up the boats and headed to the Whitten access.  I'm not sure how long the drive was, but it was a long, bumpy dirty ride and our boats were coated with red dust by the time we got to the river.  That's OK - we are about to give them a bath!  It was an absolutely lovely day with temperatures in the high 70's and 82 degrees when we ended.  The water had a good flow, sparkling clear and vibrant blue skies with many white clouds.  It was actually a very uneventful day, unlike the last time we paddled this river.  We stopped at Boze Mill springs and couldn't have asked for a better lunchtime view.  Half a mile down the river from there is a Class II small waterfall.  Christina kept up her tradition by falling into the river.  This time she had all her accessories well tied down, and two fishermen were able to pick her up and carry her part way down the river towards her boat which William had rescued.  It was maybe a mile or a mile and a half to the Riverton Boat Access and when we got out, we were all bemoaning that it was too short of a trip! 

Kayaking - Jacks Fork River

 Kayaking - Jacks Fork River

We drove to Windy's outfitters and loaded up all the kayaks onto a shuttle.  Our first stop was Alley Springs where Scotty and five others were dropped off to paddle 8 miles down to Eminence.  From there we headed uptown Bay Springs Campground where 12 of us unloaded.  We were told the water was just high enough to paddle this route.  There was only one time where we had to portage as it was a bit tricky with a log on the right and a strong current leading into it from the left.  It took maybe 2 1/2 hours to paddle the 4 miles down to Alley Springs.  We saw where the springs came out which again looked beautifully blue and clear when you got up to it.  The water seemed to be running only a bit faster after Alley Springs.  William is a good guide and always told us which side of the river to paddle.  On this route, we encountered a long, thin branch on the right side of the river sticking up diagonally into the air.  The current took you straight into this stick and it became amusing to watch each of us head into this stick as we all hit it.  Midge did tip her boat and when Terry came right behind her, she went directly over it.  Along this route, we saw at least one heron, two deer and a few ducks.  As we got into Eminence, we saw lots of people sitting out along the rocky shore.  William did his standard jump off the rock there and when  we paddled a bit further to the exit, we were surprised to see Scotty's group still there finishing up their loading.  We loaded up our kayaks and headed over to the Dairy Dip for a well earned ice cream treat.