Ponca gauge
I did one multi-day trip with camping gear starting at Ponca at what was considered a “minimal” level. If I remember correctly the air space at the Ponca bridge was around 28-29 inches and the USGS gauge at Ponca was just over 2.0’.
Although the scenery was great as always, it was a fairly miserable affair and I wished we had put in further downstream. I was paddling a whitewater canoe with a lot of rocker so it drew more water amidships and I hung up a lot. It might not have been quite so bad with an unloaded boat or a different canoe.
Personally, I would be very happy if water levels allowed put-ins at Ponca. I would be ecstatic if they were sufficient to put in above the Boxley Valley. Put-ins at Kyle’s Landing or Ozark would be OK but if levels were such that one had to put in at Gilbert or lower, it would make little sense to camp at Ozark.
Ponca Gauge
Checked with my friend Richard (you probably know him, Pete) last night and it turns out the gauge was at 2.75. In any case, I agree with everything you’ve said. Sufficient water to run Boxley to Kyle’s would be a real treat but there’s so much worth seeing on the entire river, so if the Buff works out only a major malfunction will prevent me from joining y’all.
Why Ozark campground and river levels
I suggested we base camp at the Ozark campground because it is the most centrally located campground large enough for us to have reasonable shuttle distances allowing us to paddle river sections ranging from Ponca to Carver or Mt. Hersey.
If river levels are high enough the Ponca access is about 20 miles from the Ozark Campground. If river levels are lower the Carver Access is about 18 miles from the Ozark Campground. The Mt. Hersey access is about 23 miles from the Ozark Campground, but includes a rather long bumpy steep gravel road section to the access. As I recall the only more difficult road is the one down to Kyle’s Landing.
The next campground downriver from Ozark is Carver with only 8 campsites. Next below Carver is Woolum. Woolum is located 7 miles southwest of St. Joe on paved and gravel roads. Woolum is primarily an open field with no designated campsites and little shade. It only has vault toilets with limited or no servicing. It has no drinking water. No fees are charged. Horse camping is permitted. This is a pack in/pack out facility with no trash service provided. Woolum campground is 46 miles (over one hour) from the Ponca Access.
Here are some estimates I made of one way mileage shuttle distances from Ozark Campground to various accesses on the Buffalo River. They are based on driving distances from a few mapping programs:
20 Ponca
19 Steel Creek
13 Kyles Landing
10 Erbie
4 Pruitt
13 Hasty
18 Carver
23 Mt. Hersey
41 Woolum
48 Tyler Bend
As for water levels, here is a link to the Buffalo National River Services and River Level Guide web page of the USGS. Click once on a gauging station (triangles) and it will give you the current conditions, the stage in feet, the airspace in inches, and the NPS Floating Recommendations.
http://ar.water.usgs.gov/buffaloriver/
As the Rendezvous approaches I think we should all check these river levels and make our decision on whether to proceed with the upper Buffalo, choose a lower section of the Buffalo, or fall back to the North Fork of the White River.
Vic, thank you
for an excellent suggestion and well articulated case for it. I really do hope I can make it to at least part of this one. Chances are good since it’s only a couple hours away.
Ozark Campground
Oh, clearly Ozark Campground makes the most sense for our group. I am assuming that most people want to do day trips and not a multi-day downriver trip. Given the small size of the campground at Carver and the lack of drinking water at Woolum, I can’t see how they would be very suitable for our group.
My point was if water levels are such that we were restricted to paddling the river below Gilbert, which is certainly not an unheard of occurrence in late April/early May the shuttles from Ozark Campground would become pretty onerous.
I suppose camping at Tyler Bend might be an option in that event, but I don’t know what shuttles for day trips would be like from that location.
downstream
from Tyler river miles Gilbert 4
Maumee North 20
No other access. I have my Buffalo River map and the shuttle to Maumee North looks to take about an hour over secondary gravel and dirt roads with a couple of fords and a lot of turns.
Woolum ( next river access from Tyler upstream) is 15 river miles.
Ozark makes more sense for day trips as the roads are better and cross the river more often.
Of course it does
But only if there is water on the Buffalo above Gilbert.
Options if low water above Gilbert
If low water above Gilbert we have two campground options for the Buffalo: Tyler Bend or Buffalo Point. Here is some information on each from the NPS Buffalo National River web site:
From the Tyler Bend campground web page: Tyler Bend campground is 2 miles off Highway 65 about 6 miles south of St. Joe, Arkansas. 10 walk in and 28 drive in sites are available on a first come first served basis. The campground provides flush toilet restrooms, one with hot showers. Water spickets are located throughout the campground. A dump station and tank filler is located near the park entrance at Highway 65 but there are no RV hookups in the campground. Individual sites are $16 per night with 6 people permitted per site. Group sites may be reserved in advance for groups of 10 (minimum) to 25 (maximum) at $3 per person per night.
Tyler Bend NPS campground web page http://www.nps.gov/buff/planyourvisit/tyler-bend-campground.htm
From the Buffalo Point campground web page: Buffalo Point is the only campground in the park which has hookups for RVs and reserves individual sites in advance. The campground has 109 campsites: 83 standard drive-in sites with electric, 21 walk in sites no electric, and 5 tent only group sites with no electric. Drive-in campsites have water and electric hookups (30/50 amp) and are suitable for both RV's and tents. Walk-in campsites are for tents only. The campground has hot showers with four separate shower buildings. Each campsite has a picnic table, fire ring and lantern hook. RV dump station is available just outside the campsite on Highway 268. Up to six people are allowed for all individual campsites. Drive-in campsites are $22 per site per night while walk-in campsites cost $16 per site per night. Group sites are available for 10 (minimum) to 25 (maximum) people per site at a cost of $3 per person per night. Individual campsites and group sites may be reserved in advance at www.recreation.gov or by calling 1-877-444-6777.
Buffalo Point NPS campground web page http://www.nps.gov/buff/planyourvisit/buffalo-point-campground.htm
Here are my estimates of the shuttle mileage from Buffalo Point and Tyler Bend to various accesses.
From Tyler Bend Campground
23 Mt. Hersey
16 Woolum
0 Tyler Bend
4 Grinders
9 Gilbert
23 Maumee N
25 Maumee S
30 Spring Creek
27 Dillards Ferry
30 Buffalo Point
32 Rush
From Buffalo Point Campground
28 Tyler Bend
25 Grinders
28 Gilbert via St. Joe
18 Gilbert via Tomahawk Rd
10 Maumee N
26 Maumee S
13 Spring Creek
6 Dillards Ferry
0 Buffalo Point
12 Rush
Note that from the maps I consulted it looks like there may be more unpaved roads on these shuttles. I am not familiar with the roads to accesses below Woolum. So if you have any insights please share them.
Also take in to consideration these are Ozark roads, plenty of turns, traffic, two lanes, hills, and some unpaved roads. So don't look at the mileage and figure time at 60mph. It's more likely speeds will be closer to 45 to 35 mph if not lower for some sections.
some of them are dirt
and 25 for some sections is realistic. I have only been to Rush for a shuttle.
Tyler is right on a main highway . I had gear and food stolen there. Not to dissuade anyone but rangers cant be everywhere and kids do raid the campsites …quick in and out.
Buffalo Point is quite a bit more secluded.
Just to get you in the mood
My favorite river song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtG4hJsLepw
Hears from the back…
A music request from the back of the audience (in slurred language). “Play something we can dance too; play Proud Mary”! Location: honky tonk called the 25 Club; about 12 miles south of Blytheville, Arkansas. It was very late on a saturday night; on stage was Jerry Lee Lewis.
Lewis’s retort, “I got your Proud Mary hangin”!!!
Then he did Great Ball of Fire…
The bouncer showed the Creedence fan to the door!
BOB
Creedence fan…
Somehow he slipped back into the honky tonk, and bought a bottle of beer. He immediately sailed it across the length of the dance floor towards the band stand. The bottle missed Jerry Lee, his intended target I believe. The bottle burst when it hit the guitar player’s Fender guitar. The band stopped playing in a heartbeat. Lewis vaulted off the stage, and headed for the bottle thrower; band members grabbed him & held him back. Bottle thrower hit the door running. The you could hear the sound of his car being fired up; followed by it roaring out of the gravel parking lot, slinging gravel all over the outside of the club & parked cars.
Also heard was the sound of honky tonk owner emptying a .45 automatic at the car as it blasted off down the highway.
Creedence fan did not return.
The incident was the highlight of the evening.
Lewis played until 1:00 a.m.; I have no idea how I made it home…
BOB
Hehehe…
…Jerry Lee in Paducah in the '70’s. I could see how he stayed so skinny watching his show; there’s only one appendage on the guy that didn’t touch those piano keys (LOL)!
Hmmmmmm.
Not sure I’d agree that Buffalo Point is more secluded than Tyler Bend. Both are large, well developed campsites a few miles off the highway. I do think BP is a little nicer than TB, and there’s an outstanding little hike that originates in the park (Indian Rockhouse Trail). The NPS also runs a little restaurant there in the high season. Never partaken but it’s supposed to be pretty good. And, there are cabins.
OTOH, one can launch a boat at TB but not at BP, and Tyler Bend is more geographically advantageous for boaters as it provides relatively convenient access to the middle river reaches which I think are being overlooked in this conversation. Baker Ford to Gilbert is a dandy little float for example. For those who’d like to see the lower Buff it’s close enough to that too; not as close as BP but still close enough.
And Pete, I’d definitely be interested in a multi-day if I can swing it. If memory serves you’ve expressed a desire to do the lower Buff wilderness. That’s certainly an option.
Vic, I agree completely with Pete and it sounds like you do too; upper for sure if it’s there, but if it isn’t (and it very well could NOT be) there are other viable options if the group would still like to go to the Buff. Be honored to help however I can.
Tyler has a driveway right off hwy 65.
We used Tyler twice for a through boat camping trip.
Some of the camping area is relatively out of sight of the boat launch.
I would suggest highly checking with the Rangers if they have had recent pilfering episodes. There is outstanding hiking at Tylers.
We also camped at Buffalo Point and it is very accessible from the river when you come in by boat. Its uphill and dragging all our camping gear was not fun but there was a storm coming. However our boats were not in sight as the campground is on a bluff. Carrying boats up and down could be an issue.
BP
Not sure when you were there last but it’s changed quite a bit.
Not gonna make it
I won’t be there this Spring. Hope you have great weather and water levels.
Thanks Pat
We’re gonna miss you, and you’re gonna miss your chance to pole up to Boxley 
Hope to see you at another Rendezvous soon.
Spring Rendezvous on the BNR
I am hoping to bring several others from the Waco Paddle Club and join you for part of this trip.
Here’s hoping for sufficient rainfall prior to the trip so we do not need to go to plan B. I love the Missouri rivers, but have not been on the Buffalo in years and am looking forward to it.
Diane
good post
a very nice post, we are new to paddling and were planning on the buffalo or current, maybe around spring break if now first week school is out.
thanks