Float Plan

[Oak Walker]

I have heard folks talk about making a float plan and was wondering if you all had any ideas. I am planning a float on the lower (wilderness) part of the Buffalo this fall. I have already got some great info on this forum. Was wondering what a float plan should look like for a 3 day solo trip on this stretch of river. Thanks.

[Al Agnew]

My plan consists of about when I'll be putting in and which day I'm taking out. I seldom have any preconceived notions of exactly where I'll camp or how far I'll float each day. However, I absolutely DO have good topo maps if it's an unfamiliar river, and I know how to read them. Others rely on GPS, but I feel a lot more comfortable with maps. I like to know exactly where I am on the river at any given time and how many miles I have to go. That way I can slow down or speed up if necessary without worrying about whether I'm going to have to paddle like crazy to get to the take-out before dark the last day, or whether I'll have to spend the last night's camping within a mile of the take-out.

If you really like to plan things out, you can go to Google Earth and go down the river looking for suitable gravel bars to camp on each night, but it won't help you much unless you know how far each one is from where you are at any given time during the day.

[riverhyker]

There used to be an app that worked with google earth and gps to plan river floats. It included distances between points and even between points that you marked on the river. You could then send it to other members of your float party and/or friends and family to show where you are going on the river of your choice. You could even mark where you spent the night or currently sit on the river (in case you don't make it to your take out) so that people would know either where to start looking for you or friends can find the access below you to wait to join you on the remainder of the trip.

I don't know where it is now (I didn't have a smart phone until the Galaxy S4), but it is in my favorites on a desktop that I gave a friend. I will see if I can find it this weekend if it is still available I will post it. I had just stumbled across it by accident trying like you to search for the best way to make a multi day river trip plan. There is an app called Float Plan 2.0, but unless the app that I was speaking about morphed into this, this is not the app I am speaking about.

riverhyker

[Terrierman]

3 days from Rush to the next take out will not include a lot of goofing off time. Keep that in mind.

[GloryDaze]

Mine consists of a few things:

Put in and take out points

Put in and take out dates

Color and make of my vessel

Color of my tent and lifejacket

Phone number to nearest ranger or sheriff's office

A detailed mile by mile map

This is all on one document... I make 2 copies. Keep one for me and leave one with my wife. I give her a specific date and time for her to call a local ranger if she doesn't hear from me. That date and time is usually 24 hours later than my original take out plan.

I only do this on solo trips... you can guess why I add the make and color of vessel and color of lifejacket and tent. But it does make sense if I were to get separated from them.