THE CURRENT RIVER...A BEAUTIFUL OZARK STREAM

This is the first Ozark river I ever paddled, and is still one of my all-time favorite rivers. Ozark rivers usually flow beneath high bluffs and have strong current, many gravel bars, "chutes", but few if any rapids, or "shut-ins", as the locals call them. My canoeing buddy Mike and I led our first expedition to the Current in the early 70's. We get cabin fever pretty bad, and by mid April, the best time to paddle the Ozarks, we are ready to go anywhere to get to some good weather and scenic paddling.

The first time we went down, we camped the first night at Montauk State Park. This park has a campground near seven springs that form the source of the Current. The night we got there, it rained heavily. The next morning everyone in the campground (it was full because it was the first day of trout season and there is a put and take fishery here) was frantically packing up and fleeing the rapidly rising flood. We were one of the last vehicles to cross the only ford out of the park, and water was up above our axles. We were afraid the flood would sweep Mike's little Fiat 128 away, but we made it across. Ozark rivers tend to flood quickly, due to the extremely pourous limestone that predominates in the region. That is also why some of the largest springs in the world can be found in this area.

We spent our first night at Welch Spring, where there is an old building and an island to camp on. I remember seeing someone not from our party picking up a rattlesnake by the tail. In spring these guys tend to be sluggish, but I don't recommend messing with them. We have seen many snakes in the Ozarks but have never had any trouble with them.

The next day we canoed back into Cave Spring and camped at Akers Ferry. There is a large campground here but it was almost deserted when we got there. We found lots of wild onions in the campground to flavor our dinner. All along the Current you will find high bluffs with huge squared off boulders jumbled at their bases. If the water is medium to low, there are plenty of gravel bars to camp on, but if it rains, watch out!

Pulltite Spring, a beautiful spring with a runable outlet and lots of wild watercress was another easy day's paddle along. I climbed the high bluff next to an outlet and found flint chips left behind by an Indian perhaps centurys ago. At night the best view of the night sky was from this same bluff top.

Another day's paddle will get you to Round Spring, where there is a campground with showers and laundry. You can continue down river for several day's until you get to the aptly named Big Spring. This is the largest single spring in the world. We usually leave the Current here and drive over to the Jack's Fork River. We can usually do both rivers in a weeks time.