Thread: Spring river, AR gone wrong

Spring river at riverside is where I used to camp with my family for years. Awesome trout fishing, river can hurt you quick. In college it became more of a party and saw many risky situations and bad fights. Haven’t been in 5 or so years. Beautiful place and hope your foot mends up


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Been up there many times, love it up there!

I met some people and camp/fished at Many Islands in '03, first time there. We camped before going through the dip in the road. The other side of the dip was party town every night. I remember some of the sights while sitting at the campfire.
At Riverside we stay in the campsites with elect and water. Don't know how bad it gets at the other end.

from dam 3 to many islands was great night of frog gigging about 30 years ago. had it to ourselves and lots of pinto bean frogs below each set of rapids. other than beaver, deer, otter. wood ducks and an occasional Ozark hellbender we pretty much had it to ourselves.Those days have passed me by.

never been there but it sounds like a sketchy trip!!!

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My son,DIL and grandson were there this week. My grandson was in a kayak by himself last year at 7 years old without turning over the entire trip. We used to stay a Many Islands back in the 70s but it got to be so wild with the drug heads, we moved to Spring river Oaks ever since.

Originally Posted by canebreaker

We took a 7 day trip to Spring river, AR for Father's day weekend. We have always stayed at Riverside Resorts campground. It's 5 mile float trip from the dam. My son carries his truck to the dam, unloads and leaves it there. I unload my truck and Debbie will drive back to camp. I get almost to the first rapped and a young guys says, didn't you leave your wife with a truck to drive back to Riverside? Yep. Well she can't get the truck to crank. So, back up river I paddle until the stronger water won't let me continue. I beach the yak and walk about a quarter mile. Crank the truck, send her on her way and walk back to the yak. I down river to the first water fall and meet up with the family. 9 of us, grandson is leaving before I make the fall. I rest for a minute before going on. 2 granddaughters jump out front and hurry on down the river. My son, wife and 2 little girls take out, but the young ones slow them down and I pass. When I get to the campground take out Debbie has an canopy on the beach. Says Seth came by, said he was going farther down river. No clue where farther is. I get a few more drinks and head down as my son and family make it to the beach. I'll call or text where we are when I meet up with him so you'll know where to pick us up. Debbie takes my son back to the dam for his truck. I've been on this river a hundred times and never past the 5 mile take out. So all this is new to me. On the way down I ask everyone if they have seen a kayak like mine out here lately, nope. I get close to Sadler's falls and get a text. Seth is at Riverside #2 take out and we will pick y'all up. I ask a lady where the take out is located and told it's just past the fall, I didn't hear falls. You need to hang the rock wall on your left to make the fall/s. The first fall was great, it kicks you back out to the right in the river. I tried to paddle back up stream to line up for the fall. Nope, I hit it at an angle and flip. Have to gather up everything that came out of the yak. I lost a shoe and kicked a rock while doing that. A couple in a float help all they can gathering items. The yak is full of water, I throw everything on top and float to the take out. My foot and legs are burning. Seth helps me dump the water out and carry the yak up to where his is. He turns around and says your legs are blood from the knees down. Got a good many scratches on my knees and shins. They don't bother me as bad as my foot. Pull my phone up and I didn't get the bag sealed right the last time I looked at it. Took it a part and laid it on his yak since it had been sitting there for a while and was hot. 20 minutes later it works. Send a text to my son, we are almost there, if we can figure out how to get there. Ride back to camp, get out and my second toe is bigger than the big toe. It's broke. Haven't done much since I've been home. A bit of walking wrong gets it to hurting.

The fall you are talking about, is that the big one near dead man's curve? I can't remember f that is part of the Riverside float or not, I know it's part of the Many Islands float. I saw on the news where a big sink hole has opened up, looked like it was right in dead man's curve, I'm surprised they are still letting people float it.

Originally Posted by canebreaker

I met some people and camp/fished at Many Islands in '03, first time there. We camped before going through the dip in the road. The other side of the dip was party town every night. I remember some of the sights while sitting at the campfire.
At Riverside we stay in the campsites with elect and water. Don't know how bad it gets at the other end.

I haven't been in at least 12 years but back when we used to go every year, Riverside had some strict rules on getting loud after dark and I can tell you from first hand experience they were serious about enforcing them. They were determined not to become another Many Islands. We always went to Many Islands when I was younger but we went to Riverside the last few years we went, after Many Islands just got way too crazy. Riverside had better canoes than Many Islands back then too. The thing I didn't like about Riverside was that you put in at the campground and then they picked you up at the takeout. At Many Islands they bus you up river to put in and you float back to the campground. The first time we went to Riverside we stayed on the river all day without even thinking about it, by the time we got to the takeout the bus and several groups who had finished the float long before us had been waiting lord knows how long and were not too happy, it was an uncomfortable ride back to the campground.