Happy Friday y’all! I could not be more excited for this weekend because tomorrow just happens to be MY BIRTHDAY (cue fireworks!)!! It’s true, I’m turning the big 3-2 tomorrow and I honestly can’t believe it. This year I have so much to be grateful for, and, if I’m being completely honest, a few things to be sad about. Don’t worry, I’m not here to bum you out (this time). Today’s post is going to be a recap of this year’s birthday trip that we took a few weeks ago to the Buffalo National River.
The Buffalo
If you’ve never heard of the Buffalo National River, you should definitely look it up! It’s a gorgeous 135-mile-long river in the heart of the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas that boasts rapids, bluffs, and clear water. Its claim to fame is that it’s the country’s very first national river, but it has been a peaceful place of recreation since long before it got national recognition.
I had visited the Buffalo a few times before this trip (once for an elopement, and once for a family weekend getaway), but this was my first time floating it. I had told my husband that this was all I wanted for my birthday, but the ideal time to float and camp is near the end of May/early June, so that’s why we went a few weeks early.
The weather in May this year was so rainy and cool that I was worried the trip would get rained out, but it ended up being absolutely perfect for us! The day we floated the temperature was around 83, and that night we camped it was probably in the 60s. It did lightly rain overnight, but nothing crazy and it was mostly dried out by morning.
Floating
There are three main areas of the Buffalo River – Upper, Middle, and Lower. Within these three areas there are several locations to put in and take out. Water levels in the early season are usually best in the Upper Buffalo, and then throughout the summer the best places to float shift to the Middle Buffalo and then at the end of the season to the Lower Buffalo. We chose to do the most popular Upper Buffalo float from Steel Creek to Kyle’s Landing, which is about eight miles. It has a lot of rapids and iconic landmarks like Big Bluff.
The whole week before the trip I kept checking the water levels. The National Park Service has a meter on their website, and so do some of the cabin/canoe/kayak rental places in the area (like Buffalo Outdoor Center). Two days before we went the water levels were borderline high, but I checked it again the morning we left and it was exactly in the middle of the normal range. Perfect.
We chose to just camp one night, so the morning of our float we left around 6:00 am to make the two hour drive. Everyone going with us (there were six of us total) had their own kayak, so we planned to shuttle ourselves from the put in and take out places. Buffalo Outdoor Center does have an option to shuttle your car for you from Ponca/Steel Creek to Kyle’s Landing, but since we had three cars we didn’t want to spend extra money on that. Lol.
Because of all the shuttling back and forth, it was around 9:30 am by the time we got out on the water. There’s something about kayaking down a river that is so relaxing, and it was especially relaxing there because there is no cell phone service and the playing of music on speakers is prohibited. It was just us and the river and the trees and some deer. And a bunch of other people – it is the most popular float after all.
We stopped a few times to swim and eat the lunches we packed, and it was around 3:30 pm by the time we got to Kyle’s Landing. By the time we got all the kayaks out of the water, loaded onto cars, and picked up the third car from Steel Creek (where we had put in), it was about an hour later.
We had planned to stop in Jasper, AR to eat supper on our way to our campsite. There’s a pretty popular pizza place on the square there called Jasper Pizza Company, and I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was. Also, since we arrived just before 5:00 pm, the wait to get our food was not bad at all.
Camping
I definitely waited too long to book a campsite for this trip, but I was kind of waiting to see what the weather would be like since we had such a rainy Spring here. I booked it about two weeks before the trip, and I don’t recommend this since there were almost no campsites available. The only thing available by then was a walk-in group site at the Erbie campground, but it ended up being perfect because it was larger (the group sites there can accommodate up to 25 people) and a little more secluded than the regular drive-in sites. And it really wasn’t that far from where we parked the cars to our campsite.
Since we had already eaten supper, all we had to do when we got there was to set up camp, which didn’t take long at all. We were all so tired that we didn’t stay up very late (though we obviously made smores over the fire!), and I was fast asleep by about 9:00 pm.
Even though it had rained a little bit the night before, the morning dawned with clear skies. It was so beautiful there, and cool enough to make breaking up camp not too bad. We cooked biscuits and eggs over the campfire before leaving, and it was honestly the perfect way to wrap up the trip. We were able to get back home by the early afternoon, which left us time to dry out the tent, put away all our camping gear, and do some laundry.
Final Thoughts …
I enjoyed this trip so much that I want to make it a yearly tradition! I grew up camping a lot, but as an adult I haven’t been able to go as much. This trip was so perfect and everything I wanted for my birthday celebration. I absolutely love spending time outdoors, and I’m so glad I’ve been getting back into it these last few years since we’ve been back in Arkansas (of course we spent lots of time outside exploring when I was a travel nurse, but since we lived in a camper full time we didn’t really want to go camping in a tent. It’s much more of a novelty to go tent camping when you live in a real house haha). I want to know what your favorite birthday traditions are, so be sure to let me know in the comments below (and maybe I can get some ideas for next year)!
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