I’m start the discussion regarding a Spring Rendezvous. Since we went to the North Fork of the White last spring the thought was to return to the Buffalo River this Spring. Dates would be April 30th to May 4th. Camping at Ozark Campground.
Unfortunately this group has decreased in size over the last few years, so we welcome new paddlers, anyone is welcome.
Look forward to seeing who is interested.
Thanks for posting this, Pam. Hope to see you and Rob there.
Thank you Pam! Yes, I am planning to make the long journey to the Ozarks this spring - missed last year due to medical issues scheduling which interfered with travel - no similar conflict this year. And my Missouri-resident daughter will really appreciate that I can visit this year. I will plan to arrive Ozark Campground on Monday the 28th, ready to paddle (river cooperative!) on the 29th.
Brad
Brad,
Keep an eye on the board to see if anyone will be there on the 28th or 29th. If Pat Cannon knows you will be there he may come earlier. We won’t arrive until sometime Wednesday and will paddle Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Since you emailed me your phone number if anything major changes I’ll text you.
I’ll need to coordinate with Linty if we’re to come before the 30th. Since her fall she is not sure she’ll be up to tent camping, so we may take a room in Jasper if we can find one. We’d still hang at the campground and shuttle together, though. We’ll see what we can work out.
I’ll likely be arriving on Wednesday evening. If I can get there sooner I will update y’all.
Ms Pam, I am not familiar with the Rendezvous, but why is a nice outing like this and a chance to meet up with people again not better attended? You said last year’s was small, but a lot of fun. I would be thinking something well run like this would be overflowing with people.
mjac, that is a very very good question.
And there have been other Pnet/com gatherings that have been held successfully, and maintained for a time, in the past (I’m thinking mostly of Raystown here) - what happened to them? (I could speak to the one I used to lead on the Wisconsin River, but not to others.)
And the Great River Rumble that was held on the Mississippi for many years… there were hundreds of attendees on those and the logistical organization on those was phenomenal. What happened?
This was addressed to Pam, so I won’t step on this thread, but its a discussion I’ve been considering starting for a while now.
My wife and I are considering joining in this year. What are the costs? We would most likely tent camp. We have family in Fayetteville and will plan on visiting them as well maybe get them to join us for a paddle.
The cost is gas to get there, food to eat while there, and the cost of the campsite. We’ll be camping at the Ozark campground which is off hwy 7 near Jasper. One word of caution however - The Buffalo is a river that fluctuates considerably. In spring there is a risk of flooding and it can be truly wild at high water. (Ask tdaniel about that…) And dry at other times. So keep an eye on the board prior to leaving.
If the Buffalo is not in condition, the Northfork (of the White River) is the usual backup with camping either at Twin Bridges or Sunburst Ranch. If I’m not mistaken, that would be nearer Fayetteville for you. Nearest sizable town is West Plain.
So, I guess if we do decide to go, we will be better off to wait on reserving a campsite?
Ozark Campground is first come, first serve, so no reservations needed.
There is usually not a problem with reservations in the off seasons. What we usually do is split sites (and costs) if it happens to be crowded - a very rare situation off season. We self shuttle so no cost there.
mjac,
This is not an “organization” that is being “run”, it’s been just a bunch of paddlers getting together. There is no set schedule for what will be paddled, we typically discuss it the night before as a group. The group started in either 2001 or 2002, Pat would have to confirm that as he was there. My husband and I found this group in 2006 and at that time we had up to 35 people join us. Unfortunately several in the group have passed away (several that started the group), many have aged out or have health issues that prevent them from paddling anymore, people move and don’t want to make the drive to the Ozarks. I keep posting every year in the hopes new folks will join us and we have had a few over the years. And to Pat’s point and from what I’ve heard from other paddlers who have attended other gathers at other locations/rivers I hear those aren’t been attended either or have gone away all together, which is very sad. I’ve been told by one of our younger paddlers that we need to get the word out in a different way other than just these forums, he was going to give it some thought, especially for younger paddlers. So, in closing I don’t think there is one reason but many. I’m blessed that I have found life long friends from this group and even if we have shrunk in attendance we still have a good time. Hope to see you there!
Step, Step, Step…I am curious about this whole phenomenon. Why people stop congregating at previously very popular events, in general. What happens to them.
Ms. Pam, “ well run” is a general term , in this case it was not referring organizational efforts, but congeniality. It would be nice if something could be done to get the word out and make it vibrant again to help promote the sport, though that does not diminish the fun that is had by those that are now attending. Perhaps if people put their heads together. Symposiums? Lessons? Boat Fest Demos?
Not sure anyone in this group is looking to do something that organized or in-depth, if someone is looking for that they need to find an ACA sanctioned group or go to Canoecopia. And when you start taking about lessons, you start to get into legal issues if something would happen to someone. I belong to several paddling organizations in STL that are ACA clubs and lots of legal work involved with that and my husband is a former L4 solo and tandem instructor so he is well aware. This is just a group of paddlers, some have formal training and some don’t. The hardest think we seem to deal with is shuttles (always the dang shuttles).
You did see the question marks? I am not at all familiar with the group, the Rendezvous or what makes it tick, as I have said. Just trying to think about it a little bit, perhaps get some suggestions or ideas. Or maybe it is quite okay just the way it is and let it happen naturally.
That counts me out.
As I said , I can speak to the Wisconsin River Trips that I led for 9 years. The first years we did 45 miles in three days with two nights river camping on sandbars. The last three years we added another day and15 miles or so and ran the trip in two parts. The early years were about 25 paddlers or so. I don’t think we ever hit thirty, although one year a group of L. Michigan sea kayakers joined us in a combined trip. That was a lot of boats on the water at once.
I think a good part of the reason folks quit coming is that most of the folks who came from a distance were folks from the Ozarks, the Upper peninsula of Michigan, and Minnesota. In fact, my main reason for doing the trip in the first place was to reciprocate for the kindness and hospitality that they had been shown me on their trips. But it has to be said - they have some mighty fine, though different) water in all those places. After doing the trip (and it was a real river camping trip, the only such trip of any of the Pnet/com gatherings. I’m kinda’ proud of that) I think many reverted to what they knew best - the BWCA, whitewater, northwoods paddling.
The last few trips were mostly folks from around here who had been on all the previous trips and who paddled the same water on most other weekends. They were mostly along because it saved them the trouble of setting up a bus shuttle. Well, these folks didn’t need me. They all could do anything I did.
We also had a couple years where the river was running so high that our river camp sites were under (a climate change thing? It has been a pretty consistent pattern in Aug. for years now, though it didn’t used to be a problem) and we had to make do with some less than ideal municipal and private campgrounds. (One of these campgrounds that I hastily found space for the group at had changed ownership and had, unannounced to me, been reorganized to serve the nudist beach nearby. It was changed to a “clothing optional” campground - but the mosquitos were bad enough that year that even the nudists couldn’t take nudity at camp, so we lucked out and it all stayed family friendly. 
)
The local paddlers, good friends of mine one and all, were rather prone to their habits on the river and some decided spur of the moment to camp on their own favorite islands, visit bars near the river and paddle back in the dark, and other such stuff. Herding cats. If we had been paddling together but not on a trip with a schedule where we had to meet others who were joining us at a particular landing at a particular time or had to campsites large enough to hold a group of that size, I had no problem with that - but not on an organized trip. (Who might be held responsible if there was an accident? Trip leader?) And that’s a longish paddle if there’s a strong headwind or if we needed to sit out a thunderstorm and make up time later - folks got blisters doing stuff like that.
So since it was locals only toward the end, I decided to quit “leading” the herd of cats. (Mind you, I do love cats.)
So I quit it. But there were a lot of good times, we had some wild storms, nights beneath the stars, laughter around the campfire, and I made some of the best friends I’ve ever had on these trips. To this day I can’t paddle those water without remembering events that happened on this island , that landing, that channel.
I think a bit of it is also that, though we can’t step in the same river twice, many folks might want to move on after trying to do so for five or six years…