Van Work, Fish Camp, and Myers Branch Pioneering

For a few years I have been hoarding random outdoor gear. For instance, i found a good roof basket for close to nothing and bought it, stuck it in my garage, and never used it. I have had my van since 2007 and it has had the ugliest boat mounting situation known to man. It hasnt bothered me much since i normally just pile all the boats inside and people sit on the couch/bed. My spare tire has been bugging me with its ugly space hoggy-ness. I decided to cut off the racks WELDED to my gutters, install some gutter towers, and install my basket with tire and bumper jack mounted on it. It involved some sawzall work, grinding, and paint/sealing work ... FUN.

Glorious Chariot

Layin' it all together

Fish camp is a gathering we have on the north fork every year (since last year). This is a random fall on the float from victor to the little long pool crossing. Fish camp weekend was awesome and we even made shirts for the event.

The day for myers branch was drawing closer. The first week in may was special, "Creek week" arkansas style was upon us. Newton/Searcy county had been getting demolished by heavy rains all week and we began to salivate. "The run we had worked to cut out has got to be going off," we said to ourselves. We met up early and headed to aqua bliss.

Scouting was a must in the first gorge. Discuss that sieve on the right boys. pssst.... video

Todd gettin' it done dropping some gradient and punching some holes

Weird little slide/slot move

Angled Slide on the way to the tongue. Great lead in rapid.

Joe heading down the tongue about to slot move it up

Todd

This was a dare/personal challenge to catch the bonus eddy in between two boulders on the edge of the hole. JB: 1 ; Hole: 0

Need i say more? this creek has it all

Joe hitting the drool line.

Best rapid. Which way would you go? you guys get to find out later which way we went.

Joe sure is probing hard. She goes.

This creek is great. The hike in is comparable to eating scissors. The rewards are worth it though, I will be there again and again. I couldn't ask for a better paddling group to explore with. The comradery among us three amigos is unparalleled. Safety is a huge topic on our trips and i appreciate their cautions and unwillingness to get "comfortable" even though we have all seen what each other can do.