Buffalo River Spring Break Trip

Hi Hoofers,

Come and join us as we paddle 96 miles down the Buffalo National River in Arkansas!

Sign-up: We have 7 spots available for this trip. The first 4 spots will be decided by the openings on this rechub post, which will open for sign up at 9 PM tonight. The remaining 3 spots will be chosen randomly from the waitlist for this post. Preference may be given to individuals with extensive paddling or wilderness medicine experience (contact us if that sounds like you). The waitlist will be open for 24 hours, until 9 PM on Wednesday, Feb 21. We will email everyone on the waitlist by Thursday, Feb 22 about whether or not you were selected. 

Ratings: A swim test (either standard or provisional) and a canoe orientation rating are required for this trip, but they are not required to sign-up. We can find time before Spring Break to get those done if needed. 

Payment: The cost of this trip per participant will be around $300 to cover food and transportation. Trip members should also bring money for food on the drive down and the drive back to Madison. Payment is not immediately required to sign up for this event.

Here is a general itinerary: We will be leaving after classes on the afternoon of Friday March 22nd and returning late at night on Saturday March 30th. The drive in both directions is around 10 hours, and we will be stopping near St. Louis on Friday night to spend the night at a campground.

On Saturday morning, we will continue the drive to Buffalo river and arrive there around noon. We will need to shuttle our vehicles which will take a few hours, and then we will start paddling a little while before dark. 

For the next 6 days, we will be paddling an average of 15 miles per day and camping along the river at a mix of designated campsites and backcountry campsites. 

On Friday night, we will camp near the landing spot for Saturday so that on Saturday morning we can quickly get out of the water and begin packing up our canoes so that we can start driving back to Madison.

Pre-trip Meeting: We’ll meet Tuesday, March 12th at 8pm in Mendota Lodge following the outing club general meeting.