Trip Rpt

Trip Reports

Cool Cave Tour 2022

Details: Category: Trip Reports; Published: Sunday, 21 August 2022 11:33; Written by Gary Strohmeyer; Hits: 624

Eight people made it for the trip this year. The water level in the cave was at least 10 feet lower than it was two years ago. That opened up areas that were inaccessible back then and we were able to see much more of the interior this time. The guides pointed out all the artifacts left behind by the quarrying operations and any points of particular interest. They were hard to understand at times because of the accoustics of the place, lots of echoes. The squeeze corridor where one has to lay back in the boat and push yourself along with your hands on the ceiling seemed longer this time. This passage is one place a long nose is a distinct disadvantage. It was pleasantly cool in the cave, the water downright chilly. I think all participants enjoyed the trip. It is certainly an out of the ordinary experience.

Black River Overnight Fishing Trip 2022

Details: Category: Trip Reports; Published: Thursday, 16 June 2022 08:38; Written by Gary Strohmeyer; Hits: 590

Nine people, Nikki, Dana, Shelly, Phil, Dena, Ryan,Jeff, Christi and Gary, and three dogs braved record setting heat to float the scenic Black River. The river was low which caused some scraping over a few riffles and dragging over a few too low to negotiate. The water was crystal clear as usual and fishing was good, everybody was satisfied with the number of fish caught. Dealing with the heat was the issue of the whole trip. The first day was overcast until after lunch, it even sprinkled rain in the morning, then the sun came out. There was a nice breeze both days which helped a lot and jumping in the river periodically provided relief from the heat. Getting some sleep while camped on a gravel bar proved difficult. The heat was the main problem but the full moon made it very bright in the tents and a non-stop chorus from the whip-poor-wills contributed to a restless night for most. Despite the problems everybody stated that they enjoyed the trip and looked forward to doing it again.

Current River 2020

Details: Category: Trip Reports; Published: Tuesday, 29 September 2020 07:26; Written by Dave Haessig; Hits: 943

we had 15 paddlers in the main group and an additional 5 in a second group. The Ozark National Scenic Riverways gave us all T-shirts for participating in National Public Land Day. The wasn't much trash to pick up, but we did get some. We started at Cedargrove and paddled to Round Springs. We saw many slrings and had a tour and history lesson at Welch Springs.

Buffalo River 2021

Details: Category: Trip Reports; Published: Tuesday, 04 May 2021 07:16; Written by Dave Haessig; Hits: 799

The official trip was canceled due to high water, but several ran the river as a pop up trip. The level was great with exciting wave trains. The level for Saturday for the Steel Creek to Kyle's Kanding was 4.45. The level Sunday for Kyle's Landing to Erbie was 3.92.

Cool Cave Tour 2020

Details: Category: Trip Reports; Published: Sunday, 16 August 2020 10:08; Written by Gary Strohmeyer; Hits: 1055

There were 18 participants on this rather unique adventure. It was the perfect cool, dark place to spend a hot and humid August day. It was nice that we were able to drive our vehicles into the cave to unload our boats at the water's edge. We could immediately see the damage to the place caused by the flooding Mississippi as it poured into the huge underground expanse. Even now, a year later, the water is still at least 6 feet above normal. As a consequence some areas to the back of the cave are not accessible because the water is still up to the ceiling. Even so there were seemingly endless huge passageways flanked by ranks of enormous pillars that stretched into the distance as far as my spotlight would penetrate. Without a guide or a map a person could be lost down there for a long time. There were several small waterfalls pouring into the cave as well as a couple of places that were open to the surface with daylight streaming in. There were some artifacts visible left over from the days of active quarrying as well as some debris that had been washed in by the flood of 2019. There were some bats of course and we even saw a nursery in a crevice in the ceiling where mommy bats were tending to a cluster of baby bats. A bit of anxiety was caused by a section where the ceiling came down low and we had to lay down in our boats and use our hands to push on the ceiling to propel ourselves along. It was certainly an interesting experience and I think everybody had a good time.