No More Pictures!

Wet. Simply wet. That one word sums up Nate and Cody's Arkansas canoe adventure on the Buffalo River. From the beginning to the end, everything was wet.
After their gear (mostly stored in garbage bags) was unloaded at the bridge near Ponca, AR ... Nate's car was picked up and shuttled 30-some miles downstream where it would wait for them Saturday morning. Alone with a raging river ahead of them ... Nate and Cody set out down the river into the unknown in the pouring rain.
3 miles downstream, the tent was pitched before a thunderous storm rolled through the area pelting the tent with rain and soaking the sleeping bags.
Day 2 was filled with miles and miles of towering bluffs, crystal blue-green water and solitude around every bend. But that solitude was silenced with series of class I and II rapids that were skillfully traversed by the confident canoeists. That is ... till a low hanging tree limb proved their un-doing.
While Cody managed to limbo beneath the limb, the twisting canoe and swift current put Nate in an awkward position to do the same and then ... just like that ... the canoe capsized. Swimming to stay above water, Nate saved the canoe while Cody scrambled to gather what floating gear he could save. From there the two continued downstream, soaked from head to toe, scrounging for what lost gear they could find. Cody's sandal was found along the bank and the bag of Chex Mix, a bottle of Dr.Pepper along with Nate's hat made it to a log downstream. Everything was eventually found except one bag ... the bag that contained:

• Nate's
• Wallet
• Keys
• Cody's
• VISA and Driver's License
• $90 cash
• Sony Camcorder
• Digital Camera
• GPS

It's fair to say that a little bit of Nate and Cody remain somewhere at the bottom of the Buffalo River.
After making it to the Erbie River Access, a faulty pay phone prevented a call for help. Fortunately, a Park Ranger soon arrived to assist in the emergency retrieval of Nate's car. The two soaking river-rats eventually made it back home (a day early) just after midnight Thursday night grateful for the safety of a memorable canoe trip (and good BBQ en route!)