Thursday, May 1, 2015
Weather Conditions
High: 80
Low: 58
Skies: A mix of clouds and sun.
Wind: WSW 5 to 10 mph
Today’s mileage: 0 (rain day)
Total miles: 39 miles
Where we stayed: Tyler Bend
The Fish Crow and Caroline Wren battled to wake us at 6:00 a.m. The conflict lasted several minutes. Unfortunately, the crow won.
John placed a stick at the water’s edge at 6:00. By 8:00 the level had gone down. Even with the slight decrease, based on the gauges online, the river has risen ten feet since Sunday.
Unfortunately, someone has reserved our campsite for tomorrow night. So, we needed to move to another site or leave.
Since we are staying at Tyler Bend again tonight, we needed to be productive, so Gary called Buffalo Canoe and Campground, an outfitter in Gilbert, to pick the guys up and drive them to Pruitt to pick up Gary’s car. Then the guys drove to Buffalo Ridge to get our car. It wasn’t cheap ($190), but having the vehicles here will give us more options and accessibility to cheeseburgers at Gilbert Store. Small things! (Also, our wine supply is low, and Linda had another box in her car. Priorities.)
The shuttle arrived at about 9:00.
Linda and I drank coffee and relaxed before we went to the visitors’ center about 11:45. We watched a film documenting the struggle against the damming of the Buffalo River during the 60s and 70s. So glad money didn’t win. What a shame to lose the magnificence of this river and the opportunity to live with nature.
After our trip to the visitor’s center, a silver car pulled up as Linda and I were getting ready to check on the canoes. A lady with long hair climbed out. We thought she was there to ask us questions and were discussing what information we may be able to relay to her. (We had been there two days, we must be experts by now.) But, she was the one with the expertise. As an off-duty river ranger and Buffalo enthusiast, she couldn’t resist returning to her beloved river. Noticing our canoes, she checked on our safety. According to her, Clabber Creek (a tricky area downstream) might be problematic between 6’ and 8’, but it’s manageable. Just be sure to paddle by the left bank. Even with this information, our plan is still to line the boats through for extra safety.
At 1:30, the guys returned before we could make our way to the river. They brought each of us a piece of peanut butter pie from Daisy Dream, a restaurant in Dog Patch, near the put in at Pruitt. Yummmm!!!!!!
With the cars here to aid the transfer, at 2:30, we moved to a non-reserved campsite. Just in case the predicted rain falls tonight, and we have to stay tomorrow night, we didn’t want to move wet gear tomorrow morning.
The new site is closer to the restroom and showers, but we don’t have our own water. We have to share one picnic table, and no firewood sits next to the normal sized fire ring. The last site spoiled us. Gary and Linda placed their tent on the stone pad. The grass was a better choice for us since our sleep pads failed.
After dinner, John and I made a fire using the wood we gathered from vacant fire rings. The crickets and night bugs provided background music as the night sky grew darker, and the stars popped out one by one. A shooting star gave me a wish.
Tranquility ended when someone drove their new Airstream over the campground’s lone water tap. A torrent of water from the ground inundated a neighboring campsite. The man drove to Dave’s campsite, the campground host, who then used his golf cart to check the situation and contacted maintenance. Half an hour later, three men in a truck, using headlamps, reached the scene. Another thirty minutes later, the fountain had ceased.
The water level is down, but rain is in the forecast for tomorrow. Maybe breakfast in town? Hope to be back on the river Saturday.