Bayou Majesty

BEAUTY OF SWAMP UNFOLDS ON STATE WATER TRAIL

Debbie Doss of Conway explores the wonders of a swamp while paddling on Bayou De View, one of the routes in the Arkansas Water Trails system. Bayou De View water trail passes the spot where the ivory-billed woodpecker was seen and videotaped in 2004. Doss paddles here on Nov. 9 about 10 miles south of the woodpecker sighting location.
Debbie Doss of Conway explores the wonders of a swamp while paddling on Bayou De View, one of the routes in the Arkansas Water Trails system. Bayou De View water trail passes the spot where the ivory-billed woodpecker was seen and videotaped in 2004. Doss paddles here on Nov. 9 about 10 miles south of the woodpecker sighting location.

Arkansas swamps are home, sweet home for ducks, deer, maybe an ivory-billed woodpecker or three.

They’re also beautiful, wondrous waterways to explore canoe or kayak.

It helps to have a guide to keep from getting lost in these exotic swamps. The marked routes of new Arkansas Water Trails system are like trusty navigators that lead paddlers through these swamp wonderlands.

Arkansas Water Trails is an Arkansas Game & Fish Commission program to develop canoeing and kayaking day trips on waterways around the state.

They range from Ozark streams like Crooked Creek near Yellville to the dark water of Arkansas’ swamps.

One is Bayou De View and its acres of swamp in east-central Arkansas. It’s revered water for many Arkansans. It’s here in Bayou De View that the ivory-billed woodpecker is believed to have been seen and videotaped in 2004 This Arkansas Water Trail passes right by the sighting spot, a couple of miles south of the Arkansas 17 bridge near Brinkley.

DISCOVERY TOUR Imagine taking the 1.1-million acre Ozark National Forest, flattening it out and fl ooding it.

East Arkansas swamps are like that. They’re vast watery forests of giant cypress and tupelo trees.

Their trunks swell at the base like the bells of a thousand French horns.

A paddler can get lost exploring such a place. Here at the Bayou De View water trail, blue diamondshaped blazes tacked to trees guide paddlers along a 15-mile route through the black water and maze of timber.

To this swamp novice, Bayou De View was the most beautiful place on Earth this bright autumn day on Nov. 9, a warm Friday.

It was the destination for our flotilla of seven swamp paddlers.

They’re all seasoned swamp rats who volunteered to establish the Bayou De View water trail and others.

Paddlers may not think of the swamp when planning a canoe or kayak trip. Kirsten Bartlow, watchable wildlife coordinator for the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission, is out to change that.

She’s in charge of developing Arkansas Water Trails around the state. We hopped into canoes andkayaks and followed Bartlow into the swamp.

We launched at the Lake Hickson boat ramp on Bayou De View in the Sheff eld Nelson Dagmar Wildlife Management Area west of Brinkley. This natural lake is really just a wide spot along the bayou.

Blue signs show access points so paddlers don’t miss them. Routes themselves are discreetly blazed so the markers don’t compromise the swamp’s beauty.

Some tree trunks were as wide as our boats were long. Lake Hickson narrowed. The swamp folded around us.

Mikki White glided past a blue diamond blaze in her short, red canoe under a canopy of fall color.

“The idea is you come to a blaze, then you look up ahead to the next blaze. They’re all in your line of sight so when you leave one you see another,” she said.

Bartlow followed in her canoe behind White.

“The trails are blazed both ways so you can paddle out and back,” Bartlow said.

We floated past tree trunks that were hollow and big enough to paddle into, like a natural boat house.

“There’s been core samples done and some are 850 years old,” Bartlow told our group.

TRAIL BLAZERS

To get this water trail going, these swamp paddlers made several trial runs and used GPS to determine thebest route. Once that’s done, ribbons of tape are attached to branches where permanent diamond blazes will be tacked to the trees.

The first Arkansas Water Trail was blazed through Wattensaw Wildlife Management Area near Bayou De View. The closest one to Northwest Arkansas is Crooked Creek near Yellville.

No blazes were needed on the Ozark stream. Bartlow said information signs were installed at river accesses that tell the mileage between landings.

Flatwater trails like Bayou De View have one advantage, Bartlow pointed out. You don’t need a shuttle. On a swamp paddle, you can just paddle out and paddle back.

“This is a fabulous place to see wildlife,” Bartlow said.

Black bears in the swamp have a quirky habit of climbing to the top of a hollow tree, burrowing into it and hibernating there.

“That way, when the swamp floods, they’re OK,” Bartlow said.

What about less fuzzy wildlife, like cottonmouth snakes and mosquitoes? Margaret Bartelt of Little Rock set the record straight.

“You see ‘em,” she said of the cottonmouths, “but they just kind of look at you. If you see one swimming it wants to go in that direction. Just back off and it’ll keep going that way.”

To avoid mosquitoes, midday is the best time to swamp-paddle in warm months, Bartelt said. Take insect repellent anytime.

“Spray your hat,” was her advice.

Bayou De View is tops for swamp exploring, said Bartelt, who has paddled in 49 states.

“It’s better than the Okefenokee Swamp,” of Georgia and Florida, she said.

There’s no telling how many Arkansas Water Trails will eventually be established, Bartlow said. With about 90,000 miles of streams and a wealth of lakes in Arkansas, opportunities seem limitless.

“There’s more water-trail potential than we can dealwith,” Bartlow said.

RAIN DANCE

As low water has hindered paddling on Ozark streams, it’s been tough going in the swamp as well.

We paddled up Bayou De View and hopped out of our boats occasionally to drag them over logs and mud fl ats. Acres and acres that would normally be underwater were dry land.

“Normally we just paddle right through here,” Bartlow said.

Dragging got tougher, so we headed back to Lake Hickson without a hint of disappointment. Swamp beauty unfolded with every paddle stroke.

Well, there was one sliver of let down. I wanted to see some ‘gators - bad. Bartlow said we were too far north.

That’s why I’m going back in June to reunite with these swamp paddlers on another Arkansas Water Trail farther south at Arkansas Post near DeWitt.

Bartlow assured we’ll see alligators, lots of them.

Outdoor, Pages 8 on 11/29/2012

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