Arkansas River, Raymond-Nickerson, July 27-28, 2007
By: Vince Marshall
Rich Lind at the Raymond Bridge over the Arkansas River. Photo by Vince Marshall
Trying out the ‘upper river route’, Rich Lind and Vince Marshall went on an overnight kayak float on the Arkansas River from Raymond to Nickerson, July 27 and 28.
The river was running somewhat higher than normal Friday afternoon at the bridge launch site located south of Raymond. They observed that the river bed just below Raymond began to widen and was fed by additional water flowing from Rattlesnake and Peace creeks, plus ground water infusing the river flow.
Overhanging trees and strainers were not a significant problem although they existed in several locations. The paddlers ran into a couple of tighter spots caused by multiple fallen trees in the river that they were able to paddle around.
Other human activity along the river was pretty much absent and they saw 7-8 deer and several owls and other birds. They even heard a couple of whippoorwill birds calling after dusk near their sandbar camp site which was unusual.
They observed accessible put-in and take-out spots at all five bridges along their float route. The float distance totaled an estimated 22 miles. They accomplished the float on two different days in 3-hour-long segments averaging about 3.5 miles per hour.
Vince reports that he finds the Arkansas River from Great Bend to Wichita to be a good stream to float during this wetter year. The abundance of wildlife, especially deer, is attractive and there are sufficient sand bars for overnight camping.
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