BUFFALO RIVAH BAYBEE!

“WE GOT A CABIN NEAR PONCA! it's a killah, really big and nice with a huge front window and a killer view.

my brother, my sister and her family, my uncle and dad are all comin.

fixin to load the boats for a float on saturday.

got all the food ready, thanks to the lovely buffalobabe.

got ma 6 string packed for jamin with my brother.

got plenty of beer and other libations....


OH! and bottle rockets!


TATER GUN! YES!

man, ya'll suckahs think about me out there havin all that fun.....

no pagers, no cell phones, no air conditioners or walk-in freezers or fryers breakin down on me....


I'M OUT!”

“Have fun! Leave the AM radio alone!”

“sounds like fun strat!”

“Tater guns? I can just see you showing up back at work all bruised beyond all recognition. I also bottle rocket wars in your future.”

“Sounds like a good ole fashion red neck get together....shoot some firecrackers on me....oy vey...”

“redneck?!?!???!


REDNECK!!!!???!!!??!

geesh dood, i'm a blues player....no rednecks allowed up on that stage!

looks i got 3 gross left over from last year.....heh heh




lol roam, i'll be BEHIND the business end of the tater gun!”

“Will there be any boat dragging?”

“not for me, i'lll be in ma kayak....


actually, we've had some rain and i've checked and we can float from pruit on down.....maybe from steel creek....it's not low like when stickmonsky went though....”

“Have fun!
Just don't try a JackA$$ stunt like shooting the rockets from your butt. ;-)
I hear anal burns aren't fun.”

“firecrackers? tater guns? ANAL BURNS? oh my!”

“Can't wait for the trip report!”

“trip report;
tonight”

“Have fun strat.....that's what it's all about.”

“Where any trips to the ER required?

Come on strat, get us a little sneek peek. ;-)”

“we did jo! it was great. i gotta work now but i'll post a report tonight.

the buffalo rocks. too bad the words out, there were alot of people out there. but it was a great crowd, everyone was in the spirit and happy. great weather, great water, great googlie mooglie, i wanna go again!”

“all my family showed up around 2:00 on FRRI and i had the boats loaded on my truck. the rack i made for the canoes fits perfectly on my new ford F150XLT 4X4. we hauled bootie to ponca and checked into our cabins which were very near the compton trailhead. the cabins were awesome, in spite of the horrible attitude of the owner(more on that later). we had awesome views overlooking boxley valley. it was kndof windy but it was very pleasant. we went down to the ponca bridge to play a little that evening and drank a few beers. got back to the cabin for some friggin outta this world grub prepared by my lovely bride, buffalobabe. she made the most wonderful meals throughout the entire trip. that night, she hand made all these small pizza crusts and had tons of different toppings prepared and we all made our own pizzas. whatta woman! me and my bro played guitars and my boys played in the not-so-hot tub.

got up sat morning, loaded up and headed for pruit. BOC, our outfitter as well as our cabin renter, refused to take us any higher than pruit, but i saw alot of people floating from kyles to pruit. he also wanted $20 extra per person to shuttle us back to pruitt after the float. we decided we could find another way. i dumped my canoe and kayak at pruit and took my truck to hasty and my bro-in-law brought me back and we were off. pruit was an amazing scene. AT LEAST 300 boats all lined up and all the people getting ready to float. i've never seen so many people there. it was almost sad in a way. when i was a kid, i'd play down at pruitt all day long and i'd see maybe a couple oldtimers gar fishin and maybe one canoe go by. i skinny dipped there, my sisters gang would all have wild parties out there. it wasn't even developed at all back then. you just drove down a dirt road that went through a bunch of river cane and right onto the beach below the bluff. there were'nt any parking places saturday it was packed. some lady rammed a tree and caused a HUGE clusterphuck trafficjam. it was a nightmare. there were so many people it really made the float feel different than all the other floats i've done there in the past. again, when i was a kid...maybe 8,9,& 10, my dad would drop me and my buddy off with a canoe, 2 paddles, a couple peanut butter sandwiches and say..."i'
ll pick ya up in 10 hrs @ such n such a place". we'd hardly see a soul. man, it was like a water park at six flags out there on saturday. i heard one outfitter say that there were 700 boats rented out that day...plus all the folks who brought their own boats. people were THICK! it was discouraging at first but we soon realized that everybody there was really happy and having a blast and it was cool to be around haappy people. we all took turns in the kayak and stopped several times to eat, pee, play, check out a cave, or just to dissapear in the woods for a few minutes. we saw several rangers hiding out in the bushes at different spots trying to bust lawbreaking canoers as they passed. luckily, we we're behaving. i asked a dood that had fishing poles if he'd caught anything and he said he got a $150 ticket for fishing without a license. DOH! he was bummed.everyone was laughing, having fun...it was a carnaval atmosphere. it kindof made you forget the nature aspect of the float being around that many people the whole day but everyone agreed it was a great time anyway. at one point we stopped at this rock wall that skirts one side of the river. there were no others stopped in that spot at the time. i remembered this place as a great place to cliff jump and pulled in and stripped down to my shorts and started climbing. everyone in our party joined me and soon we were all jumping off. the water was really deep and you could jump frm 1 foot or 5 feet, or 10 or 15 or 20 or 30 or 40 feet over the water because of the way the bluff is situated and it was easy to clib all around it. before we knew it, several other floaters had joined us and there was a flotilla of observers in the long pool and on the opposite beach. i was feeling totally relaxed and was the first one up and without hesitation did a swan dive from about 20feet. i'm usually a LITTLE more apprehensive but not that day. after 3 or 4 of those i tried a watermelon from 30 feet. i misjudged the distance a little and tucked in too early and slapped my knees on the water really hard. it stung my sunburned thighs really bad . my boys....12,10 and 6 were all jumping and my 10 yr old even jumped from the tallest 40 footer. my 6 yr old is fearless and was doing 20 footers the whole time. even my wife and sister jumped a few times. we drank beer and hung out there for awhile. at one point, i was up on the big boy, the 40 footer and looked down below on the next level down(about 30 feet high) and buckshot was trying to get up to me, but that last climb was impossible for him and anyways he looked up at me and lost his footing and started sliding down the steep face of the cliff. he fought it and fought it almost gaining a grip several times as he slid down, it was very dramatic and finally he realized it was hopeless and jumped on in from about 15 feet high, landing perfectly in the water and swimmng to shore. the croud went wild! it was SOOO freeking funny! we floated on to hasty, where it was just as chaotic and loaded up my boats and decided everyone could fit on/in my truck and we drove 20 miles back to pruit like that, nice and slow. got back to the cabin and PIGGED OUT on eenchaladas and fajitas and drank beer till we passed out.

on sunday, after we got all packed up and went to check out, the owner of BOC hands us a bill that's like $400 dollars more than the confirmation he sent and we signed and returned. buffalobabe threw a fit and he finally saw that she wasnt gonna give in and gave us the cheaper price. but i'm sorry to say that this guy is a true shiester and i'll try my best to avoid ever using him for so much as a can of coke in the future. BOC.....go somewheree else is my advice, there are plenty of alternatives that WANT you to come back next time.

on the way home, all my family that lives in okla booked it and me and wife and kids stopped by dixon ford, on the upper buffalo wilderness area and played in the river for a few hours. it was nice and relaxing, we had the place to ourselves. the boys saved landlocked tadpoles, caught a salamander and a slender madtom(a tiny posonious catfish) and crawdads. we ate lunch & shot some bottle rockets they played in the kayak, me and buffy even snuck off for a lil afternoon delight, heh heh. it was really nice.

i love that river, it holds a special magic for me. ya'll come on down/over/out/up sometime and join us!”

“What about the potato gun?

Trip sounds fun.”

“lol,ignition systemfailed soitossed it backintothe shed......


the trip was great fun”

“I've decided I'm going back to the Buffalo this year. Maybe Stikmon will catch this thread or someone else who's in the know.

When does the water level drop? I seem to remember going in mid May or thereabouts a few years ago and all was good. Then it seemed like the water was all dried up not too long after that.

Canoeing the Buffalo River is one of those trips I look back on and always wish I was there again. Perfectly clear water, awesome campsites, great scenery, and fun rapids. Plus, the fact that all the gear's in a canoe means goooood eatin.”

“long before you think about this.”

“River level reports and recommended floating levels are here: http://www.buffaloriverandrain.com/”

“Stikmon only has two kinds of experience with the Buffalo.

Raging Flood and No Water.”