The Buffalo River

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A view from the "Goat Trail" on Big Bluff

I have been to many rivers and places around the country and there are very few places as beautiful as the Buffalo River and the area around it. I have not been to any rivers that has such awesome and beautiful bluffs along it. Sure the Royal Gorge is deeper but the limestone bluffs, waterfalls, hanging ferns, and forests along the Buffalo River make it a much prettier place.

I am most familiar with the upper sections of the river although I have done some canoeing on the river as far down as Woolum. The very upper section above the Boxley bridge is hard to catch when it is up but if you can catch it when it is up it is a very good Class III-III+ whitewater run. It is a long section, about 15 miles long, and one of the toughest things about it is that the most difficult rapids come after you have already paddled 10 miles. After 10 miles you have about 3 miles of challenging whitewater. The most popular section is the section from Ponca to Kyles Landing, shown here. It is a very pretty section that can have up to Class II+ rapids when the river is up. The most notorious rapid is Grey Rock shoals where many an unexperienced canoeist have taken a swim. This is also the section that has Big Bluff, The Goat Trail, Hemmed in Hollow, and also Indian Creek comes into the river in this section just above Kyles Landing.
Another unique thing about this section is that you can often see elk in the fields just upstream from the Ponca bridge as shown here. Your best bet is too look for them just before dusk or early in the morning.

I have camped at Kyles Landing many times. There is also a nice campground at Steele Creek, just downstream from the Ponca bridge. I will never forget the great times I've had camping at Kyles Landing every Easter with my friends from the Tulsa Canoe Club. I would like to pay a special tribute here to John Hutcherson (shown cooking below), who passed away after a long battle with cancer. John was one of a kind and he sure new how to cook on a campstove. John...we'll never forget you and great times on the Buffalo River will always bring back memories of you.

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