NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — There’s an oasis from the heat here in our little corner of the Ozarks where the water is always cool and refreshing breezes comfort warm skin.
Cool your toes just once in the White River below Beaver Dam and you might join the ranks who say there is no finer place to be on a summer day.
No matter how hot, the tailwater stream is ice cold because its water comes from the bottom of Beaver Lake and emerges at the base of the dam.
Wade barefoot or in flip flops for an elixir from the heat.
Jump in for a swim and it’ll take your breath away.
Trout fishing is the marquee event on the White River, but the waterway is everyone’s river in August. On the surface, it’s a paradise for canoeing and kayaking, or for a chilly dip if you dare. Rainbow and brown trout cruise down below.
Sit in a lawn chair on the gravelbank and fish for trout or have a picnic. Or go after trout in a boat.
An early-morning kayak excursion brought us to the river last Thursday morning. Our flotilla of fi ve paddlers launched at Houseman Access under a blanket of fog.
Cool, misty fog is the norm most every early morning on the WhiteRiver. The bank of mist makes paddling on the glassy water even more delightful.
We paddled upriver through the mist that appeared as a fog bank a little over head high. If they cranked up the generators at Beaver Dam, we could just float downstream back to our cars. But they didn’t. There’s usually no power generation this early in the morning.Afternoon power generation is the summertime pattern.
We made our way upstream cradled by forests and limestone bluffs. A few homes are seen along the river. There’s a john boat wrapped around a tree that proves this placid river can get high and mean.
The White River showed its angry side when the Beaver Dam floodgateswere opened during fl oods in April and May.
Fishermen, paddlers, everyone is eager for a normal-water year. Opening the floodgates used to be an event. Now it is almost expected when spring comes.
We beached our kayaks for lunch at Parker Bend. Sandwiches and drinks were savored along with a show of dragonfl ies, fl itting above the chilly stream bythe thousands.
Fly fi shermen tried their luck. There is lots of wadefi shing opportunity now that the river level has dropped. There was scant little wadefishing available while the river was high.
Halfway back to Houseman Access, the temperature turned baking hot, climbing toward the expected 100 degree high.
I dipped my hat into the drink and let that ice-coldwater drip down my hot forehead, neck and back.
No te p i d l a ke wa te r here. The White River is refreshing as a tumbler of ice water. It’s there right now to dabble your toes or dip a paddle here in the throes of a hot summer.
FLIP PUTTHOFF IS OUTDOORS EDITOR FOR NWA MEDIA.
FOLLOW HIM AT WWW.TWITTER.COM/NWAFLIP.
Outdoor, Pages 6 on 08/04/2011