No one expects to capsize and take a surprise swim when they slide a canoe or kayak into the flow of an Ozark stream. Yet an unexpected dip happens to the best of paddlers.
Such was the case during a float Nov. 4 on the Buffalo National River. Three of us, Tom and Karen Mowry from Nob Hill, and yours truly drifted and paddled along the storied stretch of the Buffalo from Ponca to Kyle's Landing. Tom and Karen were together in their canoe. I paddled solo in mine.
The water was low. The air temperature was chilly for early November, but sunshine quickly warmed the day.
About the time we passed Steel Creek, a drop of about a foot just about tipped my canoe. I was in front and saw it in time to steer hard left and miss the drop, then hand signaled to the Mowrys behind me to stay far left.
They didn't see my signal and headed straight for the drop, way too far right. Karen was in the bow, and it was too late by the time she saw it. The couple hit the drop a tad sideways and over they went. Both hit the cold water with a splash, a total immersion dump. Their canoe turned belly up while they both swam in the cold, flowing current. I collected their water bottles and a boat cushion bobbing downstream while Tom and Karen dragged their boat ashore.
In 39 years of floating the Buffalo River, it was the first time they'd tipped. The Mowrys have floated hundreds, maybe thousands of miles, on some of the roughest water in the Ozarks. Dumping happens to the best, most experienced river runners.
"We never expected to tip," Karen said, soaked from hair to toenails. "I mean, we've floated this stretch a hundred times."
Being the prepared paddlers we are, each of us carried a change of clothes in a dry bag secured inside our canoes. Once the water cools down, a change of clothes is standard equipment in our boats. Of course, we always wear our life jackets.
Tom and Karen dried off in the sunshine, then slipped into dry clothes. We shoved off from the gravel river bank and finished our trip.
I promised my friends I wouldn't mention their capsize in the newspaper.
"Go ahead," Karen said. "It'll be a good lesson."
The lesson learned is, paddlers don't have to mothball their boats once autumn chills the air. Just be extra careful, go when the weather is decent and be prepared to capsize. Stash a change of warm clothes in a waterproof dry bag. It's good to pack an extra sweater or jacket, maybe a stocking cap and gloves, in case the temperature drops during the day.
When the water's cold, it's no time to stretch your paddling skills. Stick with rivers you know you can handle.
Some of my most memorable float trips have been in winter. I'll never forget a snow float my buddy Hog Ears and I took many moons ago on Beaver Creek in southwest Missouri, east of Branson.
We'd been laid off for the winter from our jobs at Table Rock State Park and were holed up in our backwoods bachelor cabin out in the boons. One night it snowed 4 inches. In the morning Hog Ears slapped the tire chains on his truck. We loaded up the canoe and headed to Beaver Creek.
Adrift in the fluffy, fresh snow was a dream. The white forest landscape made little Beaver Creek appear almost black, though the stream was spring-water clear.
Thankfully we didn't need the warm, dry clothes secure in our waterproof river bag. That snow float was one trip I'll always remember.
Flip Putthoff can be reached at [email protected]
Sports on 11/19/2019