Big Water Rescue Trip

[bobber]

well, I got to go with the outfitter's last sunday to paddle out 7 fully loaded rental canoes ....( out of state canoe campers!! ) they got stuck in the storm... and had set up there camp site on a island. then they are awaken by water in there tents!!!! and panic ,with water coming up . and called the Rangers to come RESCUE them! ..... Sunday we put on the mighty buffalo in flood stage, water in the steel creek put- in was in the load, and unload area. the two stone walls are no ware to be seen.... 13 of us load into to 2,... 13 ft. star rafts . the first part of the trip was all fun and games, hitting all the big wave trains, that never seemed to end. at jims bluff we come up on the canoes ... packed with piles of soaking wet camping gear....enough for 17 people. we had to lay it all out ,and pack it all up, to head out back down river! ....no matter how we did it, even loading the 2 rafts down heavy, the canoe sat low in the water. so we set them up so we could paddle them solo,.... yeah! (old town discovery 169's.. not my choice as a solo white water canoe!!!) but anyway we take off down river .... well, the big wave trains that seemed so fun in that (safe ,big) raft didn't seem so fun to anyone now!! as we fly down stream.. you had to sit up on your knees to see over the top of some of the waves we hit head on. and each wave would fill up the canoe, so you had to bail like a mad man to keep up with all the water coming in . you couldn't pull over to the bank, the river was up in the trees, and bushes along the bank. and at times it was very hard to figure out were the river went!!...... this is where it gets fun! just above Grey rock the waves are 6 to 7 feet tall ... i kid you not!!!! the raft was first down. from were i'm looking they had a clean line . i see them go over about 5 good ones ,and then i see the guy in the back of the raft, that rudders the raft... just launch!.. and go flying up in the air! i look over to my right nobody was smiling .. funny ..nobody on the left side was either.i ask if everyone is alright and ready to go . who's next?... with the roaring river of foaming muddy water, you could have heard a pin drop!...( or the chirp cricket sound!).... i said just follow me . as i paddle off to the middle of the river, it looked better to me, i hit the first wave and it really shoots the bow of the canoe way high and it slams down on the next one and i'm getting in rhythm of the waves and then i hit the hole that launched the rafter and the canoe stands up on end. i don't know how high, but the thwart put my cigarette out!! so i'm floating around inside the canoe trying my best to keep it heading down stream, i peek over my shoulder to see the next canoe wave jumping along side me ??? but no paddler! as i go by the rafters, and yell to get the throw rope ready! they are way ahead of me. they had 2 set up and ready to go. by the time i got pulled over, they had pulled him in . the others made it down about the same way i did. we re-group and bail out all the water we can. so now we have to go down the Grey rock section! we come up with a plan . both rafts take off down river, and we space out and follow... the waves in this section start off small( about 4 ft tall) yeah!! small little 4 foot waves! but soon they grow at times it felt like i was paddling up hill ,climbing the faces of some waves. you couldn't see anything but the next wave as to crashed into them... waves so strong they tossed me from side to side and all i'm thinking is ..all i have to do is make it to kyles( i'm sure that's what was going on in everyone s head) the last shoot before kyles landing... gear, guys and canoes go floating by , i rope one in. and the rafters grab the other one. i'm pulling in on the rope with canoe, and swimmer in tow. as we blast by kyles landing like it wasn't even there! then start pushing on the sunken canoe to try to slow it down as my swimmer clings to the tail end of my canoe .at camp ORR the boy scout camp we hit the first eddy i could stop at. the water was up on the second or third step . we dump out the now empty canoe and it was a good thing ,as some of the camping gear goes floating by... we gather up all we can as another one of our canoes comes bobbing by. so we both had to push that one into some rocks to stop it, and then did a boat over boat emptying to rescue it. so there are two of us and 3 canoes!! and we are down stream of kyles our take out!!! . our group is split up.!!! "and we are trained paddlers!!..... about an hour later we hear the trucks and trailers coming down the hill into camp ORR to get us !!! later we talked to the RANGER and he tells me how helpless he felt as he watched us go blasting by kyles, and all he could do was watch.!!! but it looked like we had it well in hand from what he saw! .......said the ranger.

[Ham]

Holy Crap Bobber! You guys have all the fun.

[FishinCricket]

Thats re kinda job you are just happy to be alive when you collect the paycheck! Nice, decsriptive story... Kudos on your bravery, I don't know if I could do that...

[duckydoty]

I guess it is a good thing your name is bobber and not sinker. I'm glad you were able to share your adventure with us!

[FishinCricket]

I guess it is a good thing your name is bobber and not sinker. I'm glad you were able to share your adventure with us!

My guess is thats probably why they call him bobber, eh? LOL

[Gavin]

Yikes! Glad everyone made it out of there.

[ollie]

WOW! What a ride bobber. I don't think I want to float the Buffalo at that river stage. Glad everyone made it out ok. Sounds like a wild time for sure.

[Jim: NE/OK]

OK! OK! Enough with the chit chat. How was the fishing? LOL

Jim

[ColdWaterFshr]

Crazy stuff.

I've been on water like that once or twice in a canoe, probably not that bad, and its just as you described - a lot of fun at first, but then you get humbled real quick.

[Al Agnew]

I've floated a couple of Ozark rivers at flood stage, but none like the upper Buffalo. There is a big difference between floating a good size river like the Meramec or Big River that drops less than 3 feet per mile, and floating one like the upper Buffalo that drops 12 feet or so a mile. The rivers I floated mostly just leveled out, and as long as you stayed away from the banks it was actually pretty easy floating...but you had to plan WAY ahead to make sure you stayed away from obstructions. The problem, of course, is that your margin for error is zero--you don't want to go into the water, because then you are entirely at the mercy of incredibly powerful current.

I've paddled canoes for 50 years, and there's no way I'd float that section of the Buffalo under those conditions in anything but the big raft! I did float a couple of much smaller creeks when they were up several feet, and found just what Bobber talked about, big wave trains that you'd never guess would appear when you saw the creek at normal levels. Little drops that normally look like nothing generate big waves with enough volume.