Current and Jack's Fork Rivers

discourteous paddlers
There is no question that one encounters loud, unruly and discourteous paddlers on the Jack’s Fork and Current Rivers. That has been the experience of many others who post here who paddle the ONSR and it is addressed in the draft management plan as well.



In my experience, these people have always been patrons of canoe liveries, not that there are not many well-mannered canoe livery clients as well. But paddlers simply don’t have the potential to endanger others’ safety the way a power boater can.



As I said before, I have not encountered a power boater who exhibited malicious behavior on the Current or Jack’s Fork Rivers. But I have elsewhere, particularly on lakes in Pennsylvania and Tennessee.



I have had power boaters pass me at high speed unnecessarily closely many times. I have had some deliberately set a course straight at me and veer off at the last moment. I have twice had power boaters come at me at speed and turn quickly in close proximity in an attempt to throw up a big wake to swamp my canoe. Objecting to behavior of this type does not constitute a “power trip”.



It might interest you to know that there are quite a few paddlers who are mountain bikers as well. I am one, and in years past I did quite a bit of road biking. A number of times I had drivers zoom past me when I was as far onto the shoulder as I could get, at very high speed coming as close to my bike as they could. I also have had bottles and other objects thrown at me from passing cars.



Obviously, only a tiny minority of drivers engage in truly nefarious behavior like this, just as a tiny fraction of power boaters engage in the types of activities I described. But those who do certainly don’t manifest high IQ.

It looks like you are missing the point

– Last Updated: Nov-16-13 8:03 PM EST –

The NPS is proposing possible policy changes, and considering that it is a National Scenic Riverway, naturally some people on a paddling message board are going to prefer that the new plans do not include less stringent rules regarding power boats. The fact that some people here have had bad experiences with a few power boaters (and it looks very clear to me that it's been with a "few"), is no reason to act as if that means they are in actuality bad-mouthing the whole bunch. Going one step farther, the idea that powerboaters must somehow be smarter than paddlers, or that naturally they are more careful than paddlers just makes no sense. Applying that form of logic would lead one to conclude that drivers on the road would be smarter and more safety conscious too, which we all know would be ridiculous. Within any recreational group you'll find the whole range of personalities and behaviors. Speaking for myself, I can say that the vast majority of powerboaters I've run across are "regular people" like us who don't want to cause anyone any grief, but I've also noticed that when the careless ones among them screw up, the results are a lot more catastrophic than what happens when an unskilled paddler simply bumps his canoe into a rock or another boat (brilliant observation, huh?). Fortunately, the powerboat wrecks I've observed were more humorous than dangerous, at least once they were over and done with (though in each case not at all humorous to the boat's owner), but on a small river like the Current it's not hard to imagine the danger level to others on the water being a lot greater. Think about it. What's wrong with horsepower limits based on the size of the river? They put speed limits on small winding roads and residential streets for the same reason. On rivers, speed limits can't be enforced, but rules regarding the size of the motor can be.

Me too

– Last Updated: Nov-16-13 8:31 PM EST –

Within the small minority of powerboaters who've I've considered rude or stupid, many of them got some sort of a thrill out of passing by at high speed really closely, and driver and passengers all crane their necks to see the expected carnage in their wake. I've found the best way to deal with them is by "not even noticing" them and continuing calmly on as if this sort of thing happened every few minutes or so. And yes, the ones who do that sort of thing are just plain stupid, and whether that's in I.Q. or actions, it makes no difference to me. Still, I'm not lumping all powerboaters, or even a significant proportion of them into that category, but such people ARE out there.

More on “more knowledge” being required

– Last Updated: Nov-16-13 8:08 PM EST –

You say running a power boat requires more knowledge than paddling, but I say it's not necessarily so. First off, most powerboaters don't know any more about the workings of their machines than most drivers know about fixing their own cars. That's obvious.

Second, the one comment I hear from powerboaters more than any other is "that looks like a lot of work". That's what I frequently hear from them when I'm out rowing, which actually is easier, in terms of overall exertion, than paddling. Anyway, it's obvious that those folks have a distorted view of what small, human-powered boats are all about, and actually, I've had to bite my tongue a few times to keep myself from replying "in your case, it looks like it must be a lot of work to just crawl out of your boat onto the dock" (Oh, did *I* just think about saying that?). Fortunately, what I can say in the defense of MOST powerboaters is that what I hear a lot more often from them is "nice boat!" But it really takes no special skill or knowledge to drive a power boat "from here to there" which is all they are doing. Doing it well in difficult conditions would be a different story, but how many have ever had to do that? Like drivers on the road, the usual way to deal with difficult conditions is to just go slower (and the ones that don't sometimes end up a bit like the drivers you see in the ditch during a snowstorm).

Finally, anyone I've ever met who refers to going down the river by "steering" has been ignorant of the nuances of what a good paddler can do. There are plenty of folks who can make a canoe dance, and they didn't learn to do that in a day, or even just a few years. The powerboater who basically knows how to turn a steering wheel and operate two levers (or to just operate a twist-grip tiller) is not necessarily any different in skill level than the canoe-paddler who only maneuvers by switching which side he paddles on and/or dragging his paddle like a rudder. In fact, a first-time powerboater doesn't ever go weaving all over the water and bumping into obstacles like a first-time canoer does, yet the power boat takes more skill?

powertrip paddlers

– Last Updated: Nov-16-13 9:29 PM EST –

I hope there aren't too many changes made. Minor adjustments here and there, and some additions and improvements sounds okay enough. Some of those who were discussing in the backrooms their plot to get non-paddler users off the river were alarmed when the possiblity of them not being able to gravel bar camp came about! Typos in three places! Hmmm.

We all want to be able to continue to access the river No one is getting very wealthy there using the river for their gain, hauling canoes, serving food, selling horse tack and hay, paying increasing insurance, meeting more stringent regulations. Many of them should have some right to do make a few dollars, considering how much land was taken, the manners in which was taken, the land removed from the tax rolls of the counties, the increasing regulations put on it, the direction the park has taken towards more restrictions in the name of the environment and being a national monument istead of a recreational riverway like was promissed to the locals. The massaged pro-NPS figures that assume no visitor dollars and visits would come to the Current River if it wasn't a protected National Park with those brown national park signs and rangers...would probably be more than the paltry $39 chump change per visit.

I don't particularly enjoy seeing big homes built on the hlls overlooking the park, but that's not part of the park. Same with powerlines and cellphone towers. You have to keep in mind that other riverways never thought up the great idea to turn their land into a park and preserve and sell it all off for pennies on the dollar forced to relocate so they would eventually not even be able to drive their pickup down to the same gravel bar and set up a lounge chair and have a cold beverage w/o some snobs telling them they are destroying the environment and their tranquility for disturbing some gravel that will wash away after the next rain.

notes about boats…,
On rivers like the Current, the “powerboats” are all jet boats. Putting a jet lower unit on an outboard motor reduces the horsepower that the motor actually produces to propel the craft by about 1/3. So a motor with a 60 hp engine is actually putting out the energy of 40 hp to move the boat. That’s why motors up to a rated 60 hp have been allowed in the 40 hp limit sections of the river, but apparently that was not the way it was supposed to be.



Now, at least one manufacturer (Mercury) is rating their factory jet outboards for the true hp that they are producing, so while limiting the hp to 40 at the engine will reduce the power actually produced with many outboards, the Mercs will still be as powerful as what was being allowed before.



It’s generally believed that a motor rated for 40 hp at the engine (which is about 25-30 hp at the pump, what it’s actually producing to move the boat) is about the least amount of power you can have and still have an efficient jet engine. On the Eleven Point River, there’s a 25 hp limit, and while some of the people using jetboats on it are using 25 hp motors (which are putting out about 17-18 hp at the jet pump), others are using 40 hp engines and trying to say that they’re only putting out 25 at the pump, or they’re “re-labeling” their engines so that they say they’re 25 hp.



I own a jetboat. I use it almost entirely from October to April, on rivers in the Ozarks the size of the Current, for fishing. I don’t like to use it on the popular rivers in the summer because I don’t want to have to worry about having an accident with the numbers of people canoeing, kayaking, swimming, and tubing. I am surprised there have not been more accidents on these rivers, because of the inability of many of the other users to move fast enough to get out of the way of a jetboat coming around a blind bend in fast, shallow water. What non-boaters don’t always understand is, while jetboats can run in about 5-6 inches of water, the channels they can run are often narrow and winding. A jet operates by sucking in water from the bottom of the motor’s “foot”, and jetting it out. If the boater has to slow down or stop in a riffle in order to avoid hitting something (like a canoeist), the boat comes off plane and sinks six inches or more, and if the motor is still running when the “foot” comes within 6 inches of the bottom when it’s not moving fast, it sucks up gravel and rocks which can really damage the jet pump. That’s why boaters don’t want to have to slow down going up or down a riffle, and why a few of them will push the envelope and buzz by you dangerously close.



Another reason jetboaters don’t always slow down when passing canoes and kayaks, is that the boat throws less wake while on plane that it does when it slows enough to come off plane. Slowing down makes the boat sink lower in the water and throw a much larger wake, and the only way to avoid it is to slow down to idling speed, something that few boaters want to do because it means they are barely making any headway.



When a river like the Current between Round Spring and Two Rivers is at summertime levels, it is not easy to run in a jetboat. Because jet outboards have to run at nearly full speed to stay on plane and run shallow, and because so little of the motor (and boat) is actually in the water when going fast, it is not easy to control sharp turns. The boat wants to slide sideways instead of turning, almost like you’re on ice. So it isn’t as easy to maneuver in shallow water as what the non-boater might think.



I hope this helps some of the paddlers on here to understand jetboats a little better. Personally, even though I own a jetboat, I’d be very happy with alternative A. I’ve only fished the Current above Two Rivers once out of my jetboat, though I often fish it from Powdermill downstream in the winter.

Power boaters on the Current

– Last Updated: Nov-17-13 10:15 AM EST –

The major problem with power boaters on the Current River is that the vast majority of them are are under the influence of alcohol. No doubt, a very high percentage of them are legally drunk. If they were stopped, and had to submit to tests that a drunk on the highway had to submit too; they would be found to be legally drunk.
I have never seen one power boat stopped for careless, or reckless operation.
I have never seen one power boater submitting to any test for drunkenness.
Along with the ownership of a power boat comes the responsibility of operating the power boat in a safe & responsbile manner, and NOT being drunk (or stoned) when you are operating that power boat.

Face the facts. For every jonboat that is being used for fishing on the Current river; there are at least 99 jon boats being used to go from point A to point B, as fast as they can.

Canoes cause more problems for power boaters than power boaters cause for canoes? That's about like saying that cars create more problems for trailer trucks on the interstate than trailer trucks create for cars. Power boaters are not going to stop using the Current river; neither are the canoes. Cars are not going to stop using the interstate; neither are the trailer trucks.
Deal with it...........
In both cases(interstate/river), the solution is the same; aggressive enforcement of laws on the books. Get those who are drunk, stoned, careless, reckless, going to fast, or who are too aggressive off the interstates & the river.
Enforce the laws that are already in the books aggressively. And while they're at it; those in charge of enforcement need to keep the 4x4 pickups, 4 wheelers, dirt bikes, and horses OUT of the river.

Obviously, NPS can't do it; not even with help from Missouri Conservation Agents, Highway Patrolmen, and County Sheriff Deputies. Park Rangers are woefuly understaffed. Solution; more campgrounds, more primitive/horse campgrounds, more interepretive centers? I think not!

All the blame for problems can't be placed on any particular group. The problem as I see it is the lack of enforcement by those responsible for law enforcement on the Current river. The river was allowed to gain the reputation as a "party river. Money rolled in, and those making it, love it. Enforcement became lax; problems got worse. In some cases, non enforcement of laws, or looking the other way became the norm. The party river reputation, and atmosphere is still hangin' on.

Too many come for the party; too few to really enjoy the river. Family groups are wise to stay home, or go elsewhere, and more & more they do.


BOB

P.S. I don't fancy myself a voyageur, did not buy my canoe with a Mastercard, and I don't think I'm on some powertrip. I have done quite a bit of backpacking, rock climbing, caving, and I do ride a hybrid bike these days. I don't think I'm lazy.
Having multiple college degrees; I don't think I qualify as lacking in IQ.

I took my first trip on the Current river when I was 4 years old; that was 1946. That trip was in a wood jon boat with NO motor. It was poled; motors weren't/aren't necessary.

Many such trips (hundreds) followed that one. I first soloed a canoe on the Current river when I was 13 years old; 2 cousins & I in 3 old beater Grumman 17 footers, and we didn't wearing pfds(I do now). I have spent more than 2 years of my life camped on Current & Eleven Point river gravel bars, and have paddled in excess of 3,000 miles on the Current river alone.
Many members of my family & relatives of my family have lived(since the 1950s), and still live in Ripley County, and close to the Current River.
While I don't have all the answers; 3 thing I know for sure. 1. I have a pretty good idea of what goes down in that area. 2. I didn't just fall off the damn pumpkin wagon. 3. Those responsible for the river need to get the drunks & dopers off the river; no matter what they paddle, drive, or ride. That will assist in curing the need for expansion because the drunks & dopers will migrate elsewhere in droves. Family groups, and more people who fish might come back to the river if that happened. The politicians & money men won't allow that to happen.

Thanks for the info

– Last Updated: Nov-17-13 8:31 AM EST –

Yes, many of us are aware that planing boats raise less wake than when they settle down in the water. I was not aware of some of the nuances of jet boat engines, however.

Of course, as Vic's experience indicates, canoes are sometimes limited to the same channel as the power boats at lower water levels or in shallows and can't necessarily get out of the way quickly either.

And canoes paddled by livery customers sometimes handle even more clumsily and skid worse in turns than jet boats do.

What you say suggests that there is some danger in paddle craft and power boats sharing the same stream bed in the narrower, shallower upper reaches of these rivers. Since the upper Current and Jack's Fork are virtually ideally suited for paddlers, especially overnight river trippers, and not all that well-suited for power boaters, it seems reasonable to preserve them for the former use.

NPS mismanagement of ONSR

– Last Updated: Nov-17-13 11:27 AM EST –

READ THIS:


A Legacy of Neglect: The Ozark National Scenic Riverway

www.georgewright.org/282 flader.pdf

What happens to a national scenic riverway when the government agency in charge passes the buck, denies problems, ignores problems, allows problems to continue, does decades of paper studies w/o follow up action, and yields to local business & political pressure.

Thanks Bob

– Last Updated: Nov-17-13 1:05 PM EST –

Very interesting read. It sounds as if the National Park Service's stewardship of the ONSR has been a bit lacking to say the least.

Perhaps a new management plan is long overdue. But a plan isn't worth much if the will and means by which to enact and enforce it are lacking.

I agree…
I liken it to a narrow, paved “road” on which hikers and walkers and little kids are allowed, at the same time that autos are also allowed with a 45 mph speed limit and there’s little or no enforcement of the DWI laws. We’d never do that. And yet we allow high speed boats on the same waters as canoes and kayaks and rafts and inner tubes and swimming…and we don’t even patrol the water most of the time.

Collisions
Where does the fact of 99 powerboaters out of 100 are racing as fast as possible on the river. Is there a stat for this?



In all seriousness, how many deaths have occurred on Current River from powerboats striking paddlers, swimmers, and tubers? Or injuries?



I can’t recall hearing of any recently, although there have been several canoers and tubers drown in the larger part of the river around Van Buren.

Collisions retort…

– Last Updated: Nov-19-13 2:21 AM EST –

As far as I know; there are (no statistics) kept for any type of lawless behavior on the national scenic riverways. That does not mean that lawless behavior does not occur.
If there are statistics; I for one would like to see them published. Why aren't they published?

I have no idea how many paddlers, rafters, tubers, or swimmers have been hit, injured, or killed on the Current river by jon boats. As far as I know,no statistics are available. Would 1 injury & 1 death a year be acceptable to you? None is the only number acceptable to me. Just because none of those types of incidents were viewed by you does not mean that none occured.
How many incidents have gone unreported, or were buried on page 6 of the weekly wiper. No statistics on this are available as far as I know.

99 of 100 is (not a verifiable statistic).
I will say instead; I believe that the vast majority of jon boats are going unnecessarily fast,(you brought up racing; I did not), and the vast majority in use on the Current river are not used by people who are fishing.

While I did not mention racing; I have seen jonboats/2 abreast racing on the river on several occasions. Is that acceptable behavior to you, on a crowded river?
Not really that unusual to see a jon boat spin out of control on curves, or when jumping other jon boat wakes.(No statistics available). And do it violently enough to throw the operator out of their seat. On two occasions I've seen jon boat turn into the pool in front of Cave Spring at speed. Acceptable speed & acceptable behavior on a crowded river?

When the vast number(statistics not available) of paddlers, rafters, tubers, and swimmers on the Current are taken into consideration; excessive speed equals recklessness in my opinion.

Statistics are impossible to come up with if jon boaters are seldom stopped. In over 50 years of paddling on the Current river; I have yet to see 1 jon boat pulled over by any law enforcement agency. If none are stopped; no statistics are created. Therefore we should assume that all jonboats are being driven at a reasonable speed, they are never operated in a careless, or reckless manner, and the operators never drink to excess, or use any drugs? Either that, or law enforcement is lax, understaffed, or not doing their job; none of which is acceptable to me.

Again: Use the laws on the books; get those involved in unlawful, reckless, and aggressive behavior, and those that are drunk or stoned off the river. I don't care what you, or they choose to drive, ride, float on, or paddle. It's a national scenic river; not the damn Mardi Gras! It is not a NASCAR track either!

BOB

P.S. I feel sorry for the guys who unwittingly bring their wife & kids to the Current river for the weekend during the Summer. A whole lot of them will never come back again (their words). That is truly a shame, and says a lot about what is happening there.



Tool Identity
We have allowed ourselves to identify more with our tools and technologies than we do with the natural environment. Our modes of movement do shape our perceptions not only of what we do see in the natural world but also what we see and judge of our fellow travelers. Our identities are so molded by our technologies that perpetuating those choices have become more important than perpetuating life itself. Sportsmanship or the application of ethical restraint in the wild is only for the effete, sensitive weenie tree huggers. And the industries that bring us the power over the wild and over our fellow humans reap big reward. Yeah, misanthropic humanist here. Slide to power off.

Enforcement
My only encounter with power boaters on float streams in MO was on the Big Piney in MO. Some friends I had just put our solo canoes in the current. A jet boater powered up beside us and warned us that law enforcement was on the water that day. Like he was assuming that we were carrying something the lawmen might be interested in. He continued to race up and down the river warning other boaters that the man was about to ruin their day. We didn’t encounter the men with 4 eyes. And I haven’t been back to the Big Piney either, not for fear of the law, but for fear of those who fear the law.

Nothing misanthropic about that
assessment in my mind, Gremmie. I participate in a mentoring proram for at risk kids and we spend some time each week in one on one Bible study. One thing I learned during that time that has really stuck with me was the difference between dominion and domination within the context of humanity’s relationship with the earth. Something that merits serious consideration. Sorry to disappoint you, but if it will help I’ll always think of you as a misanthrope. Imagine smiley face thingy here.

invented danger
Didn’t think you would have any reports of deaths or injuries. Maybe you should read water patrol reports and read the papers. And you said you pretty much know what goes on in Shannon and Carter County since you have been coming to the river for so long.

Invented danger…

– Last Updated: Nov-19-13 6:32 PM EST –



Sept. 15, 2011
Daily American Republic
by Michelle Friedrich

Van Buren, Mo. A Poplar Bluff woman will stand trial in the spring of 2012 in connection with a boating accident on Current River that left "two people dead and three people injured".

A 29 year old woman is charged with 2 felonies of involuntary manslaughter with a vessel, 3 felonies of second degree assault with a vessel, and the felony of first degree endangerment of a child.

The charges stem from a two boat collision, that occurred near Worley's Rock, a couple of miles upstream of Doniphan, Mo., on the Current river.

A Water Patrol officer at the scene reportedly noted a "strong odor of intoxicants being omitted from the boat driver's breath", and noticed her eyes were glassy & pupil's dilated. The driver submitted to a field sobriety test, including a preliminary breath test, which indicated "she was intoxicated".

The driver was transported to the Doniphan, Mo. Police Dept., where she "reportedly registered a blood alcohol content of .123" on a breath test.

The state, represented by the Missouri Attorney General's office, filed a second amended information with the court in June. The driver had been accused of causing the deaths and or injuries with criminal negligence in that "she "operated the vessel at a speed which was too fast for prevailing conditions". The amended information charges she "operated the vessel while failing to keep a careful lookout" and "failing to pass on the left side of another vehicle".

The vehicles involved in the collision were Blazer utility boats. I would describe them as a short version of a jon boat.

One of the dead was an 11 year old child.
That's 2 deaths & 3 injuries.
NOT invented danger!

P.S.
I never made "any" comment referencing Shannon or Carter County. That's you trying to put words in my mouth.

Your quote: "Didn't think you would have any reports of deaths or injuries".

I’ve seen…
Youtube videos of jetboaters on the Current doing lots of really stupid things, and proud of it, like running in the six foot wide gap between a person sitting in the water and a gravel bar. And it’s a continual wonder to me that there AREN’T more fatal accidents. One of these days a jet boat is going to wipe out some kid who can’t get out of the way, and then there will be a lot of handwringing and wondering what to do to keep it from happening again.



I know the mantra is that everybody has the right to enjoy the resource in their own way. But the jetboat motorheads who do nothing but race up and down the river just to see how fast they can go simply make me sick. The river resource deserves better. And as I noted before, I own a jetboat. But you won’t see me using it on the river on summer weekends, and you definitely won’t see me going past you more than once going upstream and maybe once going downstream a lot later in the day. Most of the time I use it only to go upstream as far as I want to fish that day, and then I mostly drift back downstream.

Doniphan is downstream
You didn’t have a report of a serious accident in the Riverways. Doniphan is not in the Nationl Park area.