Floating Rush to White River at the end August ?

[CartneyAccess]

We would like to float Rush to the white river in Kayaks the last weekend of august.

Today 8/10 the gauge at harriet is at 3.05. My question is ?

We would put in at rush 8-9am saturday and camp sat night and would like to hit the white 4-5 pm sunday.

Is this possible or is this to far to do only camping 1 night.

Hoping the river stays around 3ft I know we would need some more rain,

But how would river level affect me doing it in one night.

I know alot of people take 3 days for this trip but can you do it with out killing yourself paddling.

[Al Agnew]

First of all, my advice is predicated on looking at the flow in cubic feet per second, not the level in feet. Level in feet means nothing unless you're already familiar with what the river is like at various levels on that gauge, but flow in cfs is always a good indicator even if you're not familiar with the river. In other words, 3 feet on one gauge is probably NOTHING like 3 feet on a different gauge, but 300 cfs is 300 cfs no matter what gauge or what river.

Now to answer your question. Normally by that time, the lower Buffalo will be down to 100 cfs, often even lower, like 75 cfs. At those flows, there is a LOT of very slow water, and some of the riffles are so wide and shallow that you'll have to get out and drag the boats. If you're interested in fishing at all, you'll not want to do it in a short two days. At about 300 cfs like it is now, you'll have no trouble floating over the riffles and the pools will move along better, so it's more doable, though you'll still be moving too fast to fish effectively. So If you're just wanting a terrific scenic float in one of the wildest areas of the Ozarks and you don't mind paddling, you can do it at 200 cfs and above without working yourself to death, but I wouldn't want to do it at less than that unless you have a high tolerance for physical exercise. It's certainly possible to do it no matter how low the river is, though...just have good maps and/or gps and know how to use them so you know how far you've paddled and how far you need to go.

[budman]

We did this same float last year around Oct. 1st and the water was at about 2.5 ft and 78 cfs. We did have some long pool that we had to paddle through but only had a couple of spots where we had to get out and drag our kayaks. Look for my post from Sept. 2014 about water on the lower Buffalo. I also wrote a report on the fishing during our trip. We are planning on making the same trip the first week of Oct. this year. Great section to float. We used Buffalo River Float Service to portage our truck and trailer to the white river. We didn't have to paddle to much up stream, just on the back side of the island at the mouth of the Buffalo where it meets the White. It was not the White Buffalo but a smaller place just down stream.

[Ham]

Sounds like Riley's Station. Those are good folks.

I really suggest you plan on taking out at Shipps Ferry. Odds are there will be significant generation occurring in early October.

[hoglaw]

Yeah, and it's going to be a sketchy ride in the canoe all the way down there. I hate floating on the white in high current in anything but a 56" wide flatbottom.

[Ham]

20,000 CFS in my 42 inch Supreme keeps me on my toes. I'm paying more attention to detail. Zero floatation in the boat and cold, cold water and high current puts you in a life threatening situation very quickly if you screw up. Those boats sink quick.