This year’s spring break float on the Buffalo River was a washout.

And a snowout.

It shortened a four-day float to just more than 24 hours.

My son Matthew and daughter Amy comprised this year’s crew, and we prepared for a grand outing. We filled the larder with three big ribeye steaks, a pound of Boar’s Head roast beef and a pound of brown sugar-glazed ham. We also packed fresh and canned fruit. For breakfast, we packed oatmeal.

I don’t know why we didn’t bring eggs. Our hens lay more than we can eat. That’s probably why. We’re all kind of tired of them.

We intended to leave the first Monday of spring break, March 18. One thing and then another delayed us until I finally cleared my schedulefor March 20, a Wednesday. I was concerned about rain in the forecast for the weekend, but scrubbing the trip at that point would have sorely disappointed the kids, so we pressed on.

The weather was clear but windy on the way to the Ozarks. We made arrangements with Lost Valley Outdoors in Ponca to shuttle my truck to Pruitt on Sunday, and then we launched our boats at Steel Creek Recreation Area about 4:30 p.m.

The first thing I noticed at Steel Creek was the huge chunk of rock that had shorn from the bluff just past the first bend. The resulting rock slide defoliated the entire bank for a considerable distance. The folks at Lost Valley said it was fortunate that it happened on a low-traffic day or it might have been catastrophic.

To my dismay, the water was quite low. The section of river from Steel Creek to Pruitt is difficult during low water in an unladen boat. I stuffed most of our gear into my boat, a 17-foot, square-stern Alumacraft. It is a heavy-duty touring canoe that is stable with such a load, but it handles like a barge. That’s probably why it’s designed to take a small outboard motor. With the water level at less than 2.70 feet, piloting this boat wasdownright treacherous in places.

We pitched camp on a high, grassy bank a couple of miles downstream. We started one big fire for relaxing, and a separate charcoal fire for grilling the steaks. They were delicious, and our Case Hobo utensils proved their value. I fell into a deep and satisfying slumber.

Morning dawned cold, gray and windy, and the weather deteriorated as the day progressed. A 5-mph wind was in our faces all day. The temperature was in the mid 30s, but the wind made it uncomfortable. It also ensured nonstop paddling because the minute propulsion ceased, the wind blew us backward.

Paddling the upper Buffalo in low water is tricky because it has so many tight, bank-hugging, serpentineruns. Those are actually the easiest obstacles. There are also rocky rapids and big rock gardens through which there is only one very narrow, unforgiving route. This makes paddling an all-consuming experience. It’s mentally exhausting. When you approach a rapid, you have an instant to read the route. If you misread, you’re going to get stuck or flip.

The perils are threefold for a heavily laden canoe of aluminum, which sticks to rocks like Velcro. One rock garden near Kyle’s Landing had no discernible route from a distance. From the right bank there appeared to be only one, across the current and between two giant boulders. The passage was barely wide enough for a canoe. If I missed, it was going to be ugly. The kids were behind me. Matthewsaid my paddle whirled like an airplane propeller, but we made it.

Later, we encountered a similar run, with a cross-current course that passed a big boulder and shot over a small waterfall. Then we rounded a bend and ran into a wall of snow. That wasn’t in the forecast. Rain was likely to follow, which meant we would probably spend a couple of days holed up on a high bank somewhere downriver.

At Kyle’s Landing, Amy said her feet were numb and that she wanted to go home. Matthew wanted to continue. If it’s not going to be fun for one, it’s not worth going, so I called it.

Fortunately, my truck was still at Lost Valley. Two young ladies delivered it 40 minutes later, and we got out of the valley just as the brunt of the snowstorm hit.

Sports, Pages 34 on 03/31/2013