Floating The Lower Buffalo...again...

[Spiff]

Spiff- I'm thinking of doing the same thing in September, the 25 mile wilderness section. But, I always have the same question: where does one get out? I understand it's dependent on the level of the White, so I'm kind of concerned, especially if they're running 8 generators, as they have been. Seems awful big and fast for a canoe.

Joe, when I did the float back in May, the Buffalo river levels were around 6 (compared to around 3.5 currently) and the White river seemed huge - it took around 40 minutes to float the 5.5 miles down to Ship's Ferry, which is where our outfitters dropped off my vehicle. However, it wasn't that bad - we slid toward the left side of the river (that is what side Ship's Ferry is on) and just kept an eye out for debris.

[Spiff]

Guys, stop looking at the water level graph on the gage, and look at the flow in cfs. Any flow less than 100 cfs and you'll be doing some getting out and dragging and quite a bit of scraping bottom in a loaded canoe, although I've floated that stretch with flows of about 65 cfs. You need a flow of at least 150 cfs to float the lower end of the river without scraping bottom in some places.

For the most part, when you're trying to figure out whether any Ozark stream is floatable, you can use this rule of thumb--wider streams like the lower Buffalo, you need over 100 cfs to float without some dragging. Narrow streams like the Jacks Fork in MO, you need about 75 cfs. Those are absolute minimums for "pleasant" floating, where you will get through nearly all riffles without having to get out and walk, although you'll still scrape bottom occasionally. If you're willing to work at it and don't mind walking some, not all, riffles, you can float most streams at flows as low as 50 cfs. And if you're a nut like me who likes those little creeks that most people never float, you can get a canoe down them at 20 cfs!

I appreciate the info, Al.

I'll keep that in mind for when I head back down...