Swan Creek

While far from the first outing this year, my recent float on Swan Creek will be my first posting here.   I have developed an intense passion for the outdoors over the years.  I have hunted several different species, hiked and floated in many locations in Missouri and Arkansas, and I fish as much as possible.  My goal with this blog is to be able to share some of these experiences with people and hopefully inspire some to get out and experience the wonders of nature for themselves, firsthand.
Typically even the lower Swan can only be floated early in the year.  It was quite a treat to have the opportunity to float it in August!  While there was not a gauge on Swan that I could use to determine water levels I was able to get an idea by using the nearby Bull Creek gauge.  The water was just under the 5' mark and produced some of the most exciting water that we had been on all year.  There were a few nice waves of around 2' or so.  It would have been a fantastic float to fish on but we had anticipated a little more action.  I think around 6' or so the float would have really been a rush!
Right off the bat I was impressed with the clarity of the water.  We had received several inches of rain in the area during the two or three days leading up to our float.  With this in mind I expected the muddy stained rivers like the James and Finley that are more reminiscent of something out of Willy Wonka than a floatable body of water.  Swan Creek was nothing like this.  Even with the heavy rains you felt like you could reach out and touch the bottom of holes despite their 10' depth.  I always enjoy floating water like this.  My reasons behind this were enforced only minutes into our float when a beaver that we had been tailing for a couple of minutes suddenly slapped its tailed and submerged.  As we looked all over the river upstream for a sign of it, he was silently slipping directly under our boats.  Seeing a beaver just a foot away under your kayak is unexpectedly exciting.  I have always enjoyed being submersed in the outdoors though, so I guess getting excited over this type of thing should come as no surprise.  As always the float included many turtles, blue herons, green herons, and fish sightings.  I have been attempting to get a good picture of a green heron for a while but they turn out to be quite the elusive quarry.
The fast water started almost immediately and kept up pretty nicely until the last mile or two where we paddling against the backcurrent from Bull Shoals.  The Hull's Ford bridge didn't quite have water over it but it only would have taken another 4" of water to send the levels over.  This water level produced some very nice rapids that made me very happy to have a spray skirt.  On a couple of the runs we had waves crashing over our heads.
We are already looking for our next big adventure and hope for even better water.  Discussions abound about whether we need whitewater or playboats.  I am pretty sure that we have been bitten by the whitewater bug and I fear for our wellness!

Bryan