Jeff_L

Glory, I sent you a direct message, curious to hear any ideas you have. Thanks.

Well, that sounds...not good. I would rather go to a prettier part of the stream, but where can I car camp? Is Mule Shoe a better alternative? Thanks!

I haven't yet been to Fiery Fork (I've looked at Google earth and the map, and read reviews), but I prefer to be right on the river when I camp, as opposed to gravel pad. It appears there is one site very close to the river, though, which might work. Normally, I'm floating and would choose a gravel bar away from any roads, but this is going to be a drive in camping trip with several small kids. Meaning, more gear than I normally have and not much help moving it, so I would prefer to be able to pull my truck up next to wherever I will camp. It is supposed to be hot, so the closer to water the better. Also, how busy is the access gravel bar at Fiery Ford? With the kids, I'd prefer to be camping alone. Thanks for everyone's responses, very helpful.

Can you camp riverside on the Little Niangua at Fiery Fork Conservation area (or on any conservation area riverside)? I know that most conservation areas have "designated" camp sites; I also know that you can generally camp within the high water mark on any navigable Missouri stream. It seems like you should be able to camp within the high water mark at a conservation area. I've already called conservation headquarters and they weren't helpful ("I think you have to follow the regulations at each area.." "But what if the regulations conflict with Missouri law on use of public streams?" silence...."You should call the general manager of the conservation area.").

Thanks. We did the Upper Buffalo a few weeks ago and we had some men / boy separation going on.... how far is Indian Creek back to Twin Bridges?

Thanks. Do you have any sense for how skinny it is before Indian Creek? We will be pretty loaded. We've floated the upper 11 Point, Upper Jack's, Upper Kings etc. and those are pretty skinny as well, but had no problems. Looks like plenty of sandbars on Google earth.

I would like to do a 2 day float from Topaz to Twin Bridges, but I'm struggling to find any decent info on it. Have done 2 day float/camps on most of the regular streams, Upper Buffalo, Upper Jacks, Upper Kings, 11 Pt., etc. I am usually leading a group of 10 - 16. It looks like Twin Bridges campground will outfit that stretch, anyone else I should be looking at? They look like they have cabins, which I like. I'm guessing from experience on other rivers that this upper stretch is only floatable generally until early June? The only USGS gauge I see is all the way down at Tecumseh, is there any way to judge float on the upper section? If not, is there a general flow level at Tecumseh that is usable for floating Topaz to Twin? I assume this stretch is relatively quiet, are there plenty of unoccupied sandbars for camp? Are there any trout up that high, or is it all smallies? One other sort of unrelated question...I would love to do a 2 day camp/float on Bryant's, any ideas for that? Thanks for any help.

Hello! I have a group of 16 headed down for a 2 day from Marshall to Trigger on Friday/Saturday with Ernie as our outfitter. Looking like we lucked out on water levels and weather. A couple questions if anyone knows the answers. I know the Berryville gauge is not so hot for judging this stretch of river, but it seems like it should be a rough guide. What is a good level? Looking like it will be somewhere around 4 unless more rain falls. We will be loaded pretty good so hoping to keep dragging to a minimum. Second, we are planning on camping somewhere just past McClain's Cemetery, if you know where that is. We probably won't get on the river until 10 or 11 and don't want to bite off too much the first day. I figure we can cruise the second day just fine, although several of us will be fishing it as hard as we can. Does that plan make sense? We have a long history of trying to go too far on day 1, so trying to keep it shorter. My experience is that 12 - 15 miles the second day is pretty easy. Any tips on areas to hit? We are mostly going to spinning tubes, I'm guessing. Thanks for any and all tips! Very excited.

We probably saw you. We hit Turner around 11 or noon, I believe and had to hustle from there. We were strung out down the river pretty good by Whitten. It was all good. I would like a few more shots at fisherman's hook. I've got a pretty good bruise on my shoulder, figured if I leaned away at all we were going under. I said jokingly to the gallery "That's how you do it, right?" and they shrugged and said "pretty much, yeah."

My canoemate and I survived the sycamore by kneeling and I put my shoulder into and pushed us by, but it was close. We saw it from a couple hundred yards and talked about different strategies. We tried coming in on river left hard and trying to cut across the current at the last second, but I don't think there is a way to get through without hitting the tree unless you walk. Maybe river right if you hug the bend, but you might as well get out and walk it at that point. Our canoe had an angle iron patch on the left side, we now know what that was from. Several others in our group made it by caroming off the tree. The best was one that hit it head on and bounced back, they managed to get by without swamping. Makes for a pretty good show for the peanut gallery for sure. We were glad for the entertainment.

This past Friday and Saturday a group of 18 floated in 9 canoes from Cane's Bluff to Riverton, staying at Hufstedlers cabins. We had a grand time, Mike and Wendy took very nice care of us. We really struggled pre-trip with whether to put in at Cane or at Greer. We wanted two solid days of floating, and several of us wanted to fish the upper part of the river for smallmouth. That part of the river is difficult to get information on, and we were afraid it would be very low with lots of dragging. Turns out our fears were not justified, at least on the dragging. If you picked the right line, you only dragged 2 or 3 times for very short distances. However, there were some really, reeeaaaaallllyl long slow pools that were getting pretty froggy. With even a slight headwind, you were headed back upstream. We had quite a bit of luck on the smallies at the end of runouts, mostly using either pumpkin seed tubes of Rebel crawdads. One of our group actually caught a 15" rainbow about 4 miles above Greer. The downside is that 6 miles took a very long time to get through due to low flow. More like a series of farm ponds with small creeks between them. We had a car stashed at Greer access and stopped to pick up supplies to camp on the river. It was getting pretty late, so a couple of us headed downstream to claim a sandbar and get set up for the slower guys. Wanted to stay across from Little Hurricane, but that was taken by a large group who looked like they might have claimed it sometime in the 1980s. We were getting a bit concerned at this point, because it was about 7:30 and most of the slowpokes were still way back, and they were going to be loaded with gear for the boulders and whatnot after Greer. We ended up on the next sandbar river left after Little Hurricane, which was fine, if a bit small. Luckily there no chance for rain, because we had 6 tents about 4" above water level, which ended up being fantastic. Nothing like sleeping to the sound a burbling Ozark stream. By the time the slowpokes showed up (two soaking wet after a good dumping with gear and two more after helping collect), we had big pots of jambalaya bubbling and camp mostly set up. One even hauled in a nice 15" or so rainbow (which we obviously did not keep). Got up the next morning to a great river breakfast of canadian bacon, french toast, pancakes and coffee and back on the flow. A few of the spincasters got into some rainbows below Turner, but it was pretty slow fishing for most of us. The primary reason being that we were headed all the way to Riverton so had little time to get out above and below the chutes. In any event, it was a beautiful day for cruising. I don't know the name of the spot, but there was a hard right with the flow jammed up on a large tree that took out 4 of our 9 canoes. We made it through with just a bruised shoulder and ego. Thanks to the locals who were assisting in debris collection for some of our guys, one ended up down on a root ball and had a bit of a scare, said when he got back to the surface a local was getting ready to dive in and save him. The last of us rolled into Riverton landing around 7:30 (after taking a break to repair a split in a canoe with some duct tape, looked like a miniature Gree Spring coming up from the bottom). The jet boats weren't terrible, although many zipped close to us, and 3 came upon one of our canoes around a blind corner scaring the crap out of everyone involved. Most were generally courteous (although more so towards those without rental canoes we thought). It is what it is and people generally seemed to try to share the river. We all agreed it was a fantastic river, although the low flow made it more paddling than we preferred and prevented us from stopping more often to hit the good spots. On the other hand....with this year's conditions, we weren't going to be on the Upper Buffalo or Upper Jack's, so this was just about as good as it could be for this season.

I was looking at County Road 416, google shows it as providing access, but could be private or no river access.

Brian, thanks. I assume the most recent rain didn't do much to help Cane Bluff - Greer. We will have 2 guys per canoe and a cooler, but will pick up our camping gear at Greer. Any sense for whether it is worth doing Cane Bluff to Greer this weekend? We would really like to do it, and dragging a few shoals is probably OK, but we don't want to spend the entire morning pulling a canoe. Thank you very much for your assistance, and everyone else here. Is there any another access between Cane and Greer that would be better?

I'm afraid it is so dry it will require several inches before it makes much of a difference. Hoping someone with eyes on can give a report on the area above Greer.

Wow, the NOAA precip page shows between 1/2 and 1" for basically the entire 11 point drainage basin in the past 24 hours. I know that isn't nearly enough to catch up, but I thought it might help. STL area didn't get much out of it, though. http://water.weather.gov/precip/

Is there any way to know the river level above Greer, other than first hand reports? I'm sure this has been discussed around here before, but would be nice to have a USGS gauge at Thomasville, like the Upper Jack's has. Or is that the sort of thing locals don't want because it would encourage too much traffic? In the alternative....any first hand reports? I assume the river is very low for this time of year. How much of a bump is the current rain giving it? Would it be miserable for loaded canoes? Thanks for any info.

I didn't say anything about expecting solitude and nobody else to be there on a weekend, did I? I had no intention of starting a jet boat debate, I have no dog in that fight. I only wanted to know if there was an area and/or time period that would help us avoid jet boats, as it is probably in everyone's best interest. We will have 18 people in 9 canoes, I'm guessing both jet boaters and other floaters want to avoid us as much or more as we want to avoid them. What I was hoping to get was the general area that is most popular with the jet boaters, as opposed to lectures on when I should be on the river. Is it Riverton to Greer? Further down? We could plan our camping location and departure times to help avoid as much traffic as possible. We are planning on camping somewhere a mile or two below Greer on Friday night, assuming we can get on at Cane Bluff. Hoping today's rain helped our cause there.

Great advice. River is seriously low and dry, hopefully they get some rain. Good swimming hole just as advertised at far upstream end of Steel Creek. Great swimming hole and a little fishing at the Ozark access. Caught a few small smallies at Ozark both upstream and downstream of the swimmers, coming off the (very small) riffles at the top of the pools. Saw lots of good sized cruisers, but hot, clear and stagnant didn't seem to be inciting much action. Still, great trip. Thank you for the advice, my 7 and 5 year olds had a blast.

I've corresponded Glorydaze the last couple of years, have been making the rounds of ozarks streams with groups anywhere from 10 - 20 guys. I grew up floating Big Sugar and Elk in SWMO. He's been a huge help for me trying to get my sh** together to organize for a big group. His flickr account is fantastic, I just sent around your August 2011 trip to all the guys to get people fired up. If we can do Cane - Riverton with loaded canoes, that is ideal for us. About the right amount of time on the river. If we have to put in at Greer, we might want to do more than just Riverton, although we could also just be pokey for 2 days. Probably just play it by ear based on rainfall and what it looks like when we get down. Thanks for your help.

Awesome, thanks. I shot you a message on flickr also. You've been a huge help on upper Jacks and upper Buffalo the last couple years. We are going to be pretty loaded in 7 or 8 canoes, so unless there is rain, we will probably put in at Greer and take out at Riverton. Where is the next take out after Riverton, and is it worth floating? We are renting cabins at Hufstedlers, so Riverton takeout is nice from a logistics standpoint.

Floating the 11 Point with a group in a couple weeks, hopefully putting in at Cane if the area gets some rain by then. All the talk of jet boat traffic is making me pretty nervous. Is there any way to avoid? Early or late floating? Hoping if we put in at Cane on a Friday we will be good until float camping somewhere below Greer. Saturday sounds like a mess down to Riverton, though. Is it similar to Jack's Fork or more crowded?

thanks, Steel Creek would be ideal if there are swimming holes. Anything at Kyle's or Hasty?

I outfit a group of 20 every year for a couple days. We put a personal cheap cooler in each boat for lunches with things like oranges/clementines, granola, summer sausage, string cheese, peanut butter, crackers, no fridge yogurt drinks, jerky, Craisins, etc. Replenish the personal coolers each day from a main cooler. Jambalaya is an easy and satifsying sand bar meal. Use canned chicken, bacon chunks from a bag (Costco/sams) or just cured slab bacon, minute rice with premixed seasonings and haul along some onions and peppers for the boys to dice for you, and chicken boullion cubs. Brown bacon, throw in veggies to saute, put in some river water and boullion, boil for a few minutes, toss in rice and chicken. Catch some crawfish and toss them in for a really authentic meal. You can make a giant pot in less than an hour over any campfire. There are plenty of access points on the 11 Point. Go early and stash cars at each access with coolers with food/drink replenishment, you could stash 2 - 4 cars your first couple hours down there with a little planning. We do that on every river (mostly for replenishing the beer coolers). With Google Earth and GPS, it is fairly easy. It is also going to give you plenty of options for emergency removals if (when) a kid gets sick, either physically or of the I want to go home-variety.

Thanks, gives me some hope we can swim at Pruitt or Hasty, at least. Yeah, saw your report. Brutal. That is everyone's nightmare. We do a 2 day trip every year and have had a couple people struggling with stomach ailments.

I am headed down over Memorial Day with young kids and older grandparents. Not planning to float, but would like to get them out on the river to swim/play. We are staying near Ponca, how far down do we need to go to find any water to even swim (and ideally, where my dad and I can sneak away to fish a bit)? Is there any water at Pruitt, Carver or Hasty? I don't really want to drag everyone any farther than that. I know the outfitters aren't even putting in at Pruitt any longer, they referred me all the way to Gilbert. Yikes. Thanks for any info.