First Day On River

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Although the terrain from Pruitt Landing to Carver is not nearly as dramatic, it is still scenic and there are still bluffs. Our goal after driving to Pruitt Landing (with a requisite stop at Harp's grocery in Jasper, of course) to meet our provisioner, Lost River Canoes, was to paddle as far as the confluence of the Buffalo with the Little Buffalo River to camp for the night. There was also quite a number of other river goers preparing to set paddle, but we had a plan to avoid the crowd. We hung back and, while we waited for Ronnie and Jason to stage a vehicle at the other end (Carver), watched all the day trippers paddle on down the river out of sight. Other than a few locals paddling by and one odd couple (he was in a canoe and she was in a kayak tied to the side of his canoe), we didn't see anyone else for the next three days. Oh, and the one Girl Scout troop that caught us and passed us on day two.

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Photos

Floating and Fishing
I'm not sure how, but I think I am in the rear here. I think that's Jim up there on the right fishing.

Lunch Break!
I tried to paddle in the shade whenever possible. This was one of the few sandbars (really, "gravel" bars) with any shade.

Fishing
One of the boys wade fishing. Not sure if he was more interested in getting wet (and getting cool) or actually catching fish.

More Bluffs
That's Leah waiting up there in the shade under the bluff. Too bad we never found a deep enough pool in the river to jump off any of the bluffs. I actually saw one rope swing, but it was obviously meant for higher water stages cause it couldn't have been over a foot deep all the way across.

Jim Working on Supper
This is looking upstream after we set up camp the first day. The shoal you can see behind Jim is where the Little Buffalo is flowing into the Buffalo (coming in from the left side of the picture. We actually camped right there on the rocks. We hadn't been there long when that "odd" couple came out of the Little Buffalo and continued down the main river. We would see them again.

Re-spooling a Reel
I'm not sure if John completely taught him how to fish, but Max was a good study. The plan was for the three of us to share two canoes and keep rotating between them. But Max was having such a good time fishing, I just decided to let him and John stay together while I paddle the equipment canoe solo.

Hey! That Stuff Won't Burn.
That is the Little Buffalo behind Jason and Ronnie. I'm pretty much standing in the same spot for all these pictures. Jim is in front of me, John and Max are sitting to my right (downstream side), and Jason and Ronnie are kinda back behind me to the left. me.