Trip report Buffalo Nat'l River-trip fro m HeII

“So it`s Big Feet is it?LOL

Oh alright there, Stick`em:),..... yup,.. I shoulda warned you, but I was under a gag order from Lizs not to:( And besides as you said, you wouldn`t have listened anyway.

My terms for a mess are a mite different than most folks have for it,.. from the messes I`ve been into and survived, it`s those that I got the most out of and learned from. In some form, or another everything we start out on is in a mess, or becomes one before we work it out, (kind of a work in progress, as it were), but things do tend to work them-selves out.

To me a mess is a good thing, it means the person is in there tryin` and hasn`t given up. As for myself,..well, I`m almost a perfect mess and proud of it:)

Lizs is a tough egg to crack,... sometimes a bit rotten, tends to spin outta control if pushed suddenly, can be rotten at times, she doesn`t always get things WHITE, or get the YOLK and there`s times it`s tought to get through that shell she has around her, but over all a good egg and always fresh with new ideas and somehow like an egg she tends to lend herself to things and somehow just makes `em better and kinda binds stuff together. Did I forget to mention she`s ROTTEN?LOL

What I`m tryin` to say is,...The GIRL`S a MESS:)”

“W/e trip. Cecil Creek or Hemmed in Hollow?
Never hiked either one. Planning to overnight. Just read trail description saying you can't camp past about 2 mi mark on Hollow?
If hemmed in, then compton or center point? Decisions Decisions!”

“Fitton Cave is awesome. Too much to see in one day. They will require at least 4 people & no more than 8. Last time I was there thay had a combination lock on the gate. Has anyone been to Corkscrew or Copperhead lately? I heard Corkscrew was gated but Copperhead wasn't. I want to make sure before I make the trip.”

“I don't remember Cecil being that great, but it's been a few years since I was on it. Hemmed in hollow is good when there is water, but I really doubt if there is any right now. You would have to be lucky and catch it after a good rain.”

“You were talking about the cecil cove loop, right?”

“OK, BigFEET, now you better define ROTTEN!! grrrrrrrrr....

WHO ARE YOU, JAPHY?? Welcome to TT!

And japhy, thinks for the insightful post on the stikmon psyche. LOL!! To get back to BigFEET's analogy, I think stikmon's a GOOD EGG, too... but sometimes ROTTEN. ;-) (in a good way, of course)”

“Strat,

I'm headed to section 2 of the Ouachita Trail in Oklahoma. Come on down and hike with us. It is an open trip to all.

Moz”

“Geils, thx for advice. We've been getting some rain so Hollow may be the ticket.
Lizs-thx for the welcome. metaphysical q but I'm 40 yo married ugly male, living in sw mo. RU from Ia? I used to live in Indianola.”

“Stikmon,

I just viewed your photos. They are very nice! I "almost" wish I had been along! LOL

I suspect those Holiday Inn campers were boy scouts from the look of the green Eureka tents. Tough as nails they are!”

“Ahhhhhhhh Indianola. Never been. Have been to Des Moines, but barely. Much closer to hit the Twin Cities from where I live, Decorah. Very handy to see stikmon... hardy har!!

You'd think, well, cool, Iowa and Missouri are adjoining states. Course, when you're as far as you can be northeast in Iowa and southeast in Missouri, well, sheeyat!!! (and I work in MN parttime even)

Oh well, stikmon is good at hauling his ass around. :-)”

“Lizs, ever heard of Algona or Whittemore? Folks and all their big Catholic fams are from there. Big pig farmers dont ya know. So do you and Stik have a bet on ISU-Mizzou game this w/e in Ames? Take ISU and give the points and make Stik buy you a full length Thermarest.”

“LOL!! how about we make him buy an LE Thermarest?? AND CARRY IT, TOO??

Alas, japhy, I'm an Iowa grad. It pains me to pick Iowa State in anything. :-)”

“stick by your guns lizs....I feel the same way about Bama, Georgia, Florida and LSU.......LOL”

“flunked out of each of those schools...or rather he was "asked" to not come back...hahahahaha I'm so funny”

“It may have had something to do with posing as a talent scout for Hooters......”

“This will teach you not to be so challenging of the GIRL upstairs. You have done many studid things in your life but this ranks in the top 5.

Thanks for the funny posting!

Your dog had more sense then you did he went and found food and shelter while you humped the Bunny.

Better luck next time”

“Big Bill finally gets his $.02 worth in...welcome to the asylum. your lucky or rather I'm lucky you weren't there.”

“That was one good trip report!”

“no way hemmed-in has water right now. i've seen it 10 or 12 times and all but one of those, it's never had more than a cow pisses comin off of it. maybe , since it's been rainin a litle, maybe if it came a gully warsher then it would flow for a day or two.

i talked to my friend about gettin the permit for fitton cave & his mom wants to go and she's a lil overbearing so he doesn't wat her to go. then he told me about a secret "wet" entrance to the cave, that you can go into when it's not been raining too much. i'm like....uhhhm.....i'd hate to get caught in there. he was tellin me that you have to pee in a bag and carry it out(and i thought sh1tpackers were bad). then he started describing it to me and it sounds pretty sweet. he told me about fossilized starfish on the ceiling. WOW! no way i'm gonna sneak in there though. i know they can fine you $10,000 dollars for EACH bat you disturb, if you go into caves that are closed during bat season.


i have been in copperhead cave many times, but not in 20 years, so i have no idea if it's still open to the public.

we're just gonna camp @ erbie, and dayhike the cececil loop, check out mud cave and some killer scenery and drink beer. no such thing as a bad day on the buffalo.......right stiky?”

“Yeah Strat, that's one ticket I wouldn't want to get. I think Bat Cave is connected to Fitton. Is that the other way he is wanting to get in? I would imagine it would be gated also. I agree on the falls, no way there is any water there yet.”

“no arky, it's not that one. this is where a spring comes out during wet weather and is little known and hard to find. he was saying yuo don't wanna go through it on a rainy day cuz if the water rises, your TRAPPED LIKE A RAT! can you say BUSSSSSSTED? but his mom was one of the people that helped make the most recent map of fitton, and he used to go in there with her and that's how he knows where it is.”

“Stratdewd...you are sooooo right.

But there can be challenges and potential pitfalls...

So says Stikmon..."keeper of the tragic tales".”

“I think of all my trips, this one has to be my favorite. Trip reports like this one should never die.

For those that have never read the tale or are not even familiar with the telling......and be forwarned...do not drink while reading this report, that is unless you like liquid spewing out your nose.

here ya go...enjoy!!!”

“yes, stikmon, you are indeed a legend among the insane”

“This was a classic stiky.”

“GREAT!! Ready for your next trip report.”

“It reads even better the second time...crak me UP!!!”

“Never read that one, Stik! Pretty wild TR. Makes for great reading though!”

“I was just talking to stik and the subject of this trip came up. I decided to bump the thread 'cause his 10-28-02 report is a classic! Whenever I'm up on the Buffalo I always think of it.

Set the date range to "all" and view the first post.
last edited: 2/17/08 9:32:36 AM”

“He has two trip reports on the Buffalo.

One in raging flood conditions....one where he drug the canoe across rocks because there was no water.

Both are classics.”

“Yes, I remember the flood trip report. Both those events happened before I first met stikmon. None of the trips I've shared with him have been nearly so dramatic.”

“That was a great TR...I had never read it before...thanks for bringing it up again...some things should be allowed to rest in peace...”

“Has Stickdood landed at his new place yet?

I was just thinking about the float me and him did on the lower Buffalo. We had a great trip on that one.”

“stratdood...give me a call when you have a chance. I'm in Hardy now. 870-856-2892, that is my business number at the Ozark Classic Crafts Mall...or better yet, bring the bucky dog and wife and come on down.

Thanks Brad for finding this and bringing it back to life. too funny. We won't be doing any trips like that one again. I'm more smarter now.”

“stik:

The Mulberry will be flowing all week. Now's the chance to bust your cherry on some whitewater where I live.
last edited: 2/18/08 2:54:01 PM”

“Owl, Where do you live? I grew up north of Oark.”

“HbH:

I live near Ft. Smith.”

“I am in Lavaca. 5.2 the Mulberry is rockin. I ordered bags for my solo a few minutes ago. Ready to go!”

“stikbro, I'll holler atcha. You should try to join us in March. It's on the trips page. OHT baybe!

Unfortunately, Buckshot the mighty dalmation is in doggie heaven now. We have 2 new pups and are hoping to make trail dogs out of them soon.”