Upper Mt Fork

December 4, 2009

Upper Mt Fork Trip Report between Hwy 246 in Arkansas and Watson, Ok

Put in:

A dirt road about ¼ to ½ mile upstream of hwy 246 outside of Hatfield, Ar.

I put in along a dirt road that was just a little ways upstream of the Hwy 246 crossing of the Mt Fork. The outside temp was about 36 and I got away at 11:15. My destination is the River’s Edge cabins about 12-14 miles down stream where my wife and I are staying for the weekend. The skies were clear with a light to moderate north wind. I am paddling this by myself and have elected to carry my wetsuit but do not have it on. I am wearing a wicking under armor wear with nylon pants on bottom and neoprene socks and my NRS boots. I decided not to wear anything but my under armor on top. Once I got on the water and paddling I knew I made the correct choice. I could feel my body starting to generate the heat. The river was at about 800cfs by my estimate and a chalky green. The first thing I noted was that the sun was right in my face and reflecting on the water such that it made it hard for me to read the small rapids. I made the hwy 246 bridge in 10 minutes and there were several small rapids. There are many small bluffs 30-50ft tall in the first few miles and some small rapids. I figured to be making 4 to 5 knots. There were several stretches of slow water over the first 2 hours. I made the low water bridge at Beachton Rd in 1 hour and 50 minutes. This low water bridge is about 8 miles down from hwy 246. Caution you are advised to portage to river right. The left bank offers no portage away from the bridge and is a great opportunity to get sucked into the bridge. The portage was all of 25ft and took 60s or less to drag the yak over. There is a nice cabin up on the bluff to river left just below the bridge. Once around the bridge I knew I had only 4 miles to go and had to be careful not to pass my take out. This stretch of river offered the most rapids of the trip. There were a couple 18-24 inch drop offs the first of which was well hidden but loud. I did not realize it was a drop off until I was right up on it although I could hear it from a good distance. There were several points of river constriction by bluffs and some faster water but nothing of consequence. This was also the most scenic part of the trip which I witnessed a group of 4-6 deer crossing the river. There were several pretty nice class I-II rapids along the way with many big rocks lurking beneath the surface, some of which I found but for the most part avoided. As I was approaching the cabins I noticed a Bald Eagle flying above the bluffs over the cabins on river left. My take out was just down river of these cabins on river left. The temperature dropped during the day into the low 30s and it was 14 degrees the next morning. This trip took me 2 hours and 45 minutes, I was not paddling hard but at a steady pace and stopped 20-25 times for pictures.

Trip Start

Hwy 246

Fast Water

Slow Water

Small Rapids and rock fall

Slow water

Bluffs

Some Bluffs