TRIP-AT-A-GLANCE: Buffalo River (Pruitt to Tyler Bend)
DATE / TIME	3/22-3/28 2026
PUT-IN	Pruitt and Carver
TAKE-OUT	Carver and Tyer Bend
GAGE	Buffalo River at Pruitt, AR - USGS-07055680 3.76' to 3.61' ("very low" on outfitter charts)
FLOW / DISCHARGE	100 CFS, decreasing over 4 days to 72.4 CFS
AIR TEMPERATURE	41°F-86°F (Mon: 46-68°F, Tue: 45-53°F, Wed: 41-84°F, Thu: 50-86°F)
PRECIPITATION	None
WIND	mostly calm with occasional breezes and wind
PARTICIPANTS	Duane Hecklesberg, Ken McCormack, Amy McGee, Christy Long, Dutch and Tracy Becker, Robert Killian, Robert Langley, Sam Reyna and Kent Walters
VESSLE TYPES	Remix XP9 (2), Remix XP10, Dagger Katana (2), Jackson Karma R/G, Dagger, Mad River Outrage, Wenonah, Mohawk Challenger
CLOUDS	Overcast, partial sun to Sunny
Paddling MILES	41.6 (NPS map mileage) 43.8 (GPS Tracks mileage)

 

SUNDAY, 3/22/2026 (travel day)

We met at Ozark Café at 4:00 and were able to push a couple of tables together to fit our group of 10.  We ordered, discussed the trip ahead of us, and ate.  From there, we drove to Carver Landing, where we found one of our two reserved campsites had been double-booked and was already occupied.  We worked it out by setting up camp in the single-booked campsite with everyone together in one campsite.  We gabbed around the campfire and learned from Amy about how Apple Cider Vinegar shampoo repels bugs.  We heard an owl hooting, coyotes yipping, and saw bats and lightning bugs.

 
   
 

 

 

MONDAY, 3/23/2026 – Empty-Boat from Pruitt to Carver – 11 miiles

 

There were scattered clouds and it was a little chilly as we cast off at 10:30 following a brief shuttle.  It remained cool and cloudy throughout the day.  The water was a little bony, but we never had to get out of our boats.  There were quite a few opportunities to flip on strainers and in rock gardens, but I don’t remember anyone swimming.  We saw lots of bluffs, redbuds, Great Blue Heron, kingfishers, a woodpecker and a few bald eagles.

 

We ended up at our Carver camp which was undisturbed from the previous day.  A small group of young female spring breakers came in with reservations for our “active” campsite, and Robert Killian was able to finesse them into an empty site on the other side of the campground.  After sorting out the reservation SNAFU with multiple apologies and reshuffling the boats, we returned to the Ozark Café for dinner, after which we had another great campfire experience with the usual discussions about everything.

 

TUESDAY, 3/24/2026 – Carver to Rydell Bluff – 10.4 miles

This was the big shuttle day, which we accomplished without incident.  We put in with our fully-loaded kayaks and canoes at about noon.  It was another somewhat chilly day and night.  We went through the usual assortment of cut-bank slides around gravel bars, strainers and scraping over slightly submerged gravel fields in the flat, wide sections of the river.  One of our group flipped, but no body parts or equipment were lost or broken.  We tallied 7 bald eagles, quite a few kingfishers, another great blue heron, and what we finally determined to be a groundhog/woodchuck by the shape, length and composition of its tail. 

 

We also saw a couple of very well-defined beaver slides.

We ended our day’s float just after 5:00 and made camp in a very nice campsite along a long gravel bar with sand and small, smooth gravel across from Ryddell Bluff, and gathered around another great campfire.

 

WEDNESDAY, 3/25/2026 – Ryddell Bluff to about a mile after White Bluff (through the Narrows) – 14.3 miles

We were awakened to the song of a whippoorwill.  Underway, we saw many more eagles of varying maturity, along with grebes, geese, bats, swallows, the ever-present kingfishers, great blue heron, hawks, turtles, and a submerged dead hog.

 

We had lunch at Woolum Landing, which was exposed to the sun, but had the advantage of a pit toilet.

Later, we went through the Narrows, which was where much of the wildlife was observed, and where we found interconnecting caves.  One of the interconnecting pair of caves formed a right angle, and those with small kayaks were able to paddle into one of them and out the other.

 

One of our group went for an unintentional swim as a tree that was leaning into the current of one of the cut-bank slingshots reached out and grabbed the kayak.  Again, no damage to person or equipment was sustained.

From 3:30 on we were looking for a suitable campsite, and finally at 5:00 we settled for a gravel bar with big rocks.  It wasn’t ideal, but it worked.

THURSDAY, 3/26 – About a mile downstream of White Bluff to Tyler Bend – 7.7 miles

 

A whippoorwill started our day again, and before getting on the water at 9:30 under sunny and clear skies, we spotted a weasel (or mink, or ermine, or ferret) on the opposite bank and bald eagles flying over us.  We were on the water by about 8:45, as I recall.  We saw a couple of snakes along the shore – one up on a rock and another in the water with some sticks.  The first one was kind of fat and still, with the head behind the rock.  The second one looked and behaved like a juvenile moccasin.  I did not provoke it to the point of opening its mouth, so I could not be sure.

 

We saw more eagles, turtles, hawks, another great blue heron and kingfishers.  The sign for Tyler Bend Landing came into view, and we dismounted.

 

We ran the reverse shuttle, set up camp at Tyler Bend campground, showered, and went to Los Locos in Marshall for a delicious dinner.  We returned to the campground and skipped the fire, but sat around a talked some more before lights out.

 

FRIDAY, 3/27/2026 – Tyler Bend (travel day)

We rolled up our equipment and were on the road before 8:00.  A few of us stopped at McDonalds in Marshall, and then made tracks for home.

 

Kent Walters, trip coordinator and author

 

 

 

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