Car ferrying?

[Jeff_L]

Floating Buck Hollow to Alley next weekend (Friday to Sunday, 2 nights camping on river).  Staying in Mountain View on Thursday night and would prefer to just run up to Buck Hollow and put on.  Can anyone recommend an outfitter that would ferry 2 cars Friday morning to Alley?  I assume they are relatively safe sitting at Alley for 2 days, we will have spare keys, so can be locked in the car.

I haven't floated Upper Jack's in several years, have been doing Buffalo, Eleven Point, North Fork a ton, so any tips are also appreciated.  We will do the bulk of the 24 miles Friday and Saturday and get off pretty early Sunday.  Some fishing.

[Gavin]

Harvey's Alley Spring Canoe Rental..Leave your vehicles in their lot and have them drop you off at Buck Hollow.

[Jeff_L]

Gavin, thanks.  We are hoping not to have to drive to Alley Spring at all Friday morning and deal with getting hauled, we will have a bunch of gear (although we can stop at Buck Hollow and empty gear I suppose and leave 1 person with it).  Do you know if we can pay extra just to have cars picked up and taken there?  Otherwise, this is a workable option also.

[Jeff_L]

Actually, that would work fine.  We will just leave all our gear at Buck Hollow and one of us can work on getting our crap together while the other 2 drive over to Harvey's and hitch a ride back.  Thanks!

Any other advice on river camps?  I recall there area bunch of great sandbars.  I assume 3' on the gauge is pretty solid water?  Guessing that's where it will be by next weekend.

[Gavin]

That's a pretty stretch. Jam Up Cave is the most significant feature on that stretch, you will want to spend some time there.. 300 cfs on the Mountain View gauge is a great level..Its running at twice that volume now. Hope it dries out a bit before your trip.

[Jeff_L]

Excellent advice, thanks.  I remember Jam Up from last time, depending on when we get on the river, we might just camp there Friday night.

I've never been up to Prongs, but with the water being up, is it worth going up there?

Looks like rain tomorrow but mostly dry all of next week, so hopefully back down to closer to 300 by the time we get there.  Did 3 days on the Buffalo right after it re-opened from flooding last year.  No spray skirt.  While the adrenaline was nice, I'd prefer not to replay that adventure.  Several swampings that required paddling out 1/2 mile in semi-submerged kayak with my camping gear.

[Gavin]

Submerged rocks are the real hazard on the JF. Particularly on the Prongs to Buck stretch. Prongs is worth the trip. Rather sporty. One big culvert pipe to run not far below the access. That river floods  quickly. The ground is soggy and rain in the forecast, would go elsewhere.

[Al Agnew]

I agree with Gavin, and would add that you should make sure to call Harvey's well ahead of time to make arrangements no matter how you work it.  They might or might not be busy Friday morning, might or might not be putting anybody else in up at Buck Hollow (almost certainly WON'T be putting anybody in a the Prongs), and may or may not have a spare driver to take you back up to either put-in.  They are usually quite nice and accommodating people to work with, but you can't expect them to drop everything to take you the 40 minute drive up to Buck Hollow or longer drive to the Prongs, unless they can plan ahead for it.  I have, in the past, just made arrangements with them to come and pick up my vehicle at Buck Hollow, and left the keys in the gas cap and the money in the vehicle.  I've also stopped at their place the evening before my trip and dropped off a key so that they could come up and get the car at their convenience after I put in the next morning.  But that was during mid-week at not the most busy times of the year.

There are a LOT of good gravel bars for camping on the Jacks Fork, so no problem there, just keep in mind, as Gavin said, that the river comes up FAST after a heavy rain, especially when the ground is already saturated, so make sure to camp on a high bar that has easy access to even higher ground.  I've been on the Jacks Fork when it rose two feet overnight when the only rain was up at the headwaters that evening.

 

[Jeff_L]

Thanks for all this.  I always call outfitters days in advance and discuss plans.  Often, they explain that I'm very stupid and my plan won't work....

Harvey's said they will ferry cars from Buck Hollow to Alley on Friday, so easy peasy.

Saturday looking a bit dicey, we might just book it and get out at Alley and find a cabin for the thunderstorms.

[Jeff_L]

Any thoughts on whether a spray skirt is necessary with a flow rate around 400 cfs?  The half submerged kayak in 60 degree water is not ideal.