Big South Fork River

“We conquered!

Me, Dutch Oven Dave, Stratusloop and Dlookout and lil Rebecca (sl's daughter) decended upon BSF last week in an attempt to float from Leatherwood Ford to Blue Heron. It rained like a banshee leading up to the trip and continued through the first day (Saturday) SL made a sumptous stuffed porkloin and all the fixins. The river became a raging monster. The outfitter wisely wouldn't put us on on the first day (sunday)and made us wait a day till the water came down a bit(Monday). We dinked around Sunday and did a dry (more like wet) run down to Angel Falls, which is a MUST PORTAGE area. Once we found the portage take out, we headed back upstream, fighting the current and every rapid and having fun doing it. Dave's boat with Don and Rebecca took a bath 2 times and shook up Rebecca a bit, but undaunted, we continued and had a blast. Rebecca has earned her bragging rights for the rest of her life. Dave's boat got a needed bath.

We base camped at Leatherwood put in that day (Sunday) and had a very wonderful time playing in the water, eating BBQ ribs and everything else.

Monday morning, SL and I headed out to hook up at the take out at Blue Heron with the outfitter. Sheltowee...anyone using this group needs to ask LOTS of questions cause they don't volenteer alot of information. Anywho...we were shuttled back to Leatherwood and finished packing and began the trip in earnest. Got to the portage and did the deed. It was hard and took us a long time. Even though we had left lots of stuff behind, we still had WAYYYYYYYYYYY to much stuff. If your gonna do this trip, you need to think like a backpacker and bring ONLY a backpack and dehydrated foods. The portage is not a short one.

Portage accomplished, we continued on and went through some awsome canoe swamping class 2 rapids. I had to pull out of one when the bunnie took on almost a full load of water. with skill and grace, I moved the bunnie into calm water and began to bail her. Rebecca and Khatru were in the boat and in short order we were on the way again, when the next rapid swamped me again. This time, I just beached, unloaded the bunnie and did the flip bail and reloaded and off we went. The others had kept moving on and it was only me, Rebecca and the Dog Faced Boy to enjoy the silence and solitude of the BSF.

This place is awsome. I know many of you probably have done the trails, but to see it from the river is supremely special and presents a view unequaled by any other manner.

We passed through many rapids and swam some incredible flat pools. Rebecca was regaining her confidence and was having a really good time. Khatru was swimming his heart out and having fun, I was sucking down ice cold coors and swimming with ease...sweet!!!

We made Station Camp where we were to spend the night and Dave cooked up a monsterous meal of Lasagna and Garlic Bread. When we crashed, it was hard and fast.

This was a big day, the first long one, but the following was to be even longer.

tuesday morn came and we arose to coffee, pancakes and bacon. we departed as early as we could. this was to be a 17 mile day with a big portage at the tail end of the trip.

The question of the day was "will we be off river before dark"? the answer was YES. But, little did we know that we had to be off river by 6 or there would be a penalty with the outfitter, but at this time we didn't know this. We went down some class 3 rapids which were mucho fun and Rebecca squeeled like a kid on a roller coaster, Khatru swam every single rapid and only got scared once. We swam and played and the day was superb...nothing but blue skies and fast moving water, unless it was in one of those VERRRRRY long non moving pools.

When we reached the portage at Devils Jump, we were all ready to be done with the trip, but there was still the 2nd portage to be done, so, we all began to do what needed to be done and in long order, we were on the other side. This rapid is NOT one that you would want to attempt. It would take and rip you in two then spit you out, and then suck you back in for a second go round.

It was a difficult portage, we were all very tired and each person kicked it out. when we reached the other side, it was still daylight, and in less than 10 minutes we were at the take out, and portaging the gear one more time. it was LATE 8:15pm and there was no outfitter. SL called and then the doo doo hit the fan. The outfitter was NOT happy and we were tired and hungry, we wanted to be gone and soon were to be back at camp setting up wet gear for the final night. We ate an impromtue ham, egg cheese rollups.

Wed morn, broke camp, hit the road, and drove home.

The end...photos at a later date.”

“sounds awesome! what class was the last rapid, 4?”

“How long were the portages?”

“Woot !

Sounds like fun !”

“1/4 mile. there was no way to get closer on the last one Called Devil's Jump. you had to haul all the gear up hill to the trail. Because of all the rains the side of the hill was slick willy mud. you literally took 1 small step and then slid 3.

Next time, and there will be a next time, Dave and I decided to only take one portage pack per person, 2 persons per canoe and 1 cooler, maybe 2 per boat. This way the portages can be accomplished in 2 trips. I'm now looking at a new dry bag that holds 6950ci and has really good shoulder pads and a wicked hip belt...thats the ONLY way to go. What we did was crazy, and everyone was torked due to the mass amounts of gear we had. It was a herculean effort.”

“he lives.”

“Cool. Thanks for the info.”

“if you;d come down off your eastcoast high horse and join me down here in the heartland, i'd be willing to get closer to you and show you what REAL livin is all about.”

“I miss canoe trips!”

“right now, I'm missin backpackin, but the portages really did a bruisin on my shoulders, so, I'm ready and waitin . in anouther month and half, I'll be trekkin again. Thar's still time for you to hit the water though...come on out and play.”

“A bunch of friends of mine are up in Quetico Provincial Park right now. They just started day 2 of a 14 day trip. I almost went, but due to the length of the trip, I couldn't make it.”

“Stikkie, I bet the portages would have gone smoother, if only the attempted child sacrifice had worked.


LOL!! Aw, c'mon, you know I have nasty, dark-side humor!!!! ;-)”

“I don't get it.”

“Yoooo Hooooo.....where are those great pics ????

(taps foot impatiently)”

“as for photos...since losing the last of my digital cameras in the Current River, I am reduced to using the waterproof disposable cameras. They don't take great photos and the ones that were taken at BSF were not great. That's too bad, cause the place was awsome. I will have to await the photos from the rest of the crew to put up some that do justice.”

“ok...I'll be more patient....but only if ya narrate it.......”

“I've received personal email regarding taking an 8 year old girl out on this trip. In response:

there never was any danger that couldn't be negotiated. Dave is a master oarsman and I'm not too shabby, but nothing compared to Dave.

We weren't reckless, nor where we unaware of the dangers that "might" pop up. Rebecca had blast and gained great confidence. Her courage has grown tremendously, and she will only remember the great time as there really was no scarry stuff, only unfamiliar and that unfamiliarity is now gone, she's a river rat.”

“Sorry Stikky....was it someone without children???....cause children at that age have a great sense of adventure and not afraid of too many things.....8 is a GREAT age......and who ever wrote that letter is either mean, mad at you, or doesn't know you very well....I have seen you help old ladies with stream crossings....and I personally would totally trust you with any of my kids.....( except my 20 yr old who is georgous)....
HUGS.....”

“I want to meet her, I MUST meet her...

Thanks for the vote of confidence...kind of wish OTHERS had it too. sheesh.”

“I believe I know why not...”

“Until you prove you are a real person, but going out on ANY trip where there is a TT person present, then you are a figment of your own imagination and are probably a Troll.

Personally, I doubt that even hike, backpack or canoe, and that makes you worthless and your comments even more irrelevent.”

“the trip was fan would go do it anytime .4 days of doing thing at i like doing !!!!!!!!!! see you later .”

“Someone wrote you reprimanding you for a kid being on the trip? Sounds like someone needs to mind their own damn business.

Mutt and stiky fighting? That's interesting since they're both in Missouri. They're actually close enough to one another to knock a knot on each other's knoggins.”

“only a class B putz. now, I'm a class A putz, but then again, there are those that I have met and would whole heartedly agree...mutt is only a loud mouth.”

“Kids can do a hell of a lot more than most people think they can.”

“kid do good rebcca like to good thing go hike and go on trip and she do thing at you would not do for a 8 year old”

“mutt want up are you a ass hole”

“want up”

“So where have you been hiding this young lady?

Seven of us hit the Eleven Point last weekend with Dutch Oven Dave as master chief. We floated from Greers Landing to Riverton. Mary (11) and Aaron took over my Kayak and had the time of there lives.

No boats were swamped or anything exciting along those lines to tell. But, the weather was nice and the water level just perfect.

Of course we had to take a side trip to Botz Spring for a nice cool dip.

End of report!

Time to set up the next trip.”

“LOL - stikmon, you're too easy. I bet you have problems with hypertension, eh?”

“Quit picking on Stiky, he's an excitable boy. ;-)

Were the young lady's parents on the trip? As long as she was wearing a good fitting life jacket, I see nothing wrong with her being on the trip.”

“if you have three set of eye on her . she will do ok .she like to do thing like this .”

“John has a long mustache.”

“whatnever.

Everyone was fine and nothing was lost except a small peice of rope.

Mutt...$^$#@@! yourself”

“stikmon is river tippin again....shh”

“Is the middle of June a good time to float this river?

I want a paddle camping trip this summer real bad.”

“Look in here.”