What a great paddle we had!  Morning temperature was in the 30’s so we opted for a hearty breakfast at Renee’s Café in Black Rock before hitting the river.  We checked out the put-in on Hwy 167 and then decided due to the late start, we would put in at the Sims Town access for a 6-mile paddle down to the Barnes low water bridge. 

Eight hardy souls put on the river around 11:30. The weather was perfect by this time, cool but not too cold.  There were no major mishaps …. well, that is easy for me to say.  We had a new first time paddler with us who had previous canoe experience, but no kayak experience.  I don’t know how they do it, but trees seem to sense new paddlers. Sure enough, one reached out and snagged her and she took a swim.  But we were able to recover boat and paddle, pump out the boat, and continue down river.  And the best news is Joyce loved the paddle in spite of the swim and is now looking for a kayak to buy.  I must say, she looked like a pro coming through the rest of the rapids, even the one rated as a Class 2 on some web sites.

The take out at the Barnes low water bridge was not the best due to the water level going over the bridge.  We took out one at a time on river left right at the bridge with strong backs and arms grabbing boats as they approached.

Back at camp, some of us celebrated Teresa’s birthday with chicken fajitas, chili, rice and black eyed peas.  And of course, birthday cake and ice cream.  Everything was so good! 

For future reference when organizing a paddle on the Strawberry river, the water level on the Poughkeepsie, AR, gauge (gauge  # 07074000) was at 3.4 Saturday morning.  The current was moving at a good rate for paddling.  The larger drop that has some big rocks at lower water levels was basically high standing waves.

A good time was had by all!