Maumee to Rush on the Buffalo River - an Overnight Float

[@501BBQ]

Awesome video. Fixing to overnight this next week! Glad I found your channel. Subscribed and Enjoying your videos. Maybe we will see you on the river!

[@AROwnBackyard]

@501 BBQ thank you! I appreciate the comment and the sub! We'll be on the lower Buffalo again this weekend, just not sure which section yet. If you see me on the river, say hello!!!

[@dirtdauberadventures]

Looked like a good time.

[@AROwnBackyard]

It was! Except for the swarm of bugs on our campsite! lol

[@mattttyp6126]

About to do this trip, buddies will be renting canoes from Wild Bill's but I have my own yak. How did you go about shuttling your personal kayak?

[@AROwnBackyard]

@mattttyp6126 - first thing...this section of the river is currently(as of 8/25/24) floatable, but pretty low. So don't expect the same kind of flow that you see in this video. But to answer your question, I paid Wild Bill's to shuttle my truck to Rush and have it waiting for me. So I drove to Maumee and unloaded, and got on the river. Then Wild Bill's picked up my truck and drove it to Rush, and hid my keys.

[@chuckspearman833]

Awesome Video! I’m planing an over night Float trip with my Trail Life Troop. Are you able to send a pin drop where you wanted to at min 14:34. It look like a sweet place to camp. Do you think at July 23rd would have Good Current?

[@AROwnBackyard]

@Chuck Spearman Thank you! That was definitely THE place to camp on this float. I should have dropped a pin there. The best I can tell, I THINK it was right here, across from Devil's Tea Table - 36.081873, -92.543255. As for July 23rd flow....it might have good current if there is recent rain. It is often floatable at that time, but maybe not with good current. Be sure to check the river levels. You'll want at least 3.5 feet on the Hwy 14 gauge to have GOOD current. (we did it at 5.5 ft on the gauge). If you're not sure, call Crocket's Canoe Rental and see what they say.

[@WholeOtherLevelOutdoors]

Nice trip! We did Rush - to White River (Riley’s) last year and it was pretty awesome. Elephant rock is pretty sweet. Long float. We planned for two nights but turned it into one night. Great fishing and some wildlife you don’t normally see. Only saw two other paddlers. What’s up with not being able to camp near Dillards or Buffalo point? I’m guessing bc it’s public access areas.

[@AROwnBackyard]

Yeah, it's an NPS rule that you can't camp on the river within 1/2 mile of an NPS campground. I guess it's to not disturb the people that paid for camp sites?? idk. Wild Bill's told us it applies to the Dillards Ferry Bridge too, but I couldn't find anything saying that. www.nps.gov/buff/planyourvisit/backcountry-camping.htm Rush to Buff Point is on my list for next Spring. I'm looking forward to doing that section. I've heard the smallmouth fishing is world-class!

[@WholeOtherLevelOutdoors]

@@AROwnBackyard the fishing was great down through there. Keep in mind, transitioning from Buffalo river to white river can be tricky . A . The water temps are way cooler and the current is different and probably stronger on any given day. Like I said, we went to Riley’s so we had to go straight across and white was rolling lol. Buffalo points down stream from Riley’s I believe so that will be a lil easier I’d guess. You probably know all this :-)

[@AROwnBackyard]

Well I've never done it, but I've heard that you have to hit the left side and really paddle hard across that current to hit Buffalo Point. I definitely appreciate the tips!

[@WholeOtherLevelOutdoors]

@@AROwnBackyard it’s like the Buffalo current just hits a wall and stops and immediately shifts to the whites current, total opposite direction. I went first in our group and sort of didn’t know what I was doing . It whipped me into the current and nearly flipped me then I was able to point or angle down stream at an angle and get across a lil ways down stream. We all made it but it was a lil tricky. We definitely made sure we had everything secure and had vest on. I was fearing flipping, hitting that cold water, then fighting the river to rescue self and yak. 😂 🧐

[@AROwnBackyard]

haha, well thanks for the warning, cuz I didn't know it was quite like that! That's a good thing to know before I go!

[@mackjenkins7721]

Man that was a good video man. I can tell it was a fun day on the water man. The water flow was moving pretty good I could tell you didn't have to paddle at all just steer while drinking a nice cold 🍺 one on the water man that is the best lazy float you could ever have on the water. Look like you had a nice campsite too besides the unwanted bugs. That's awesome that you had nice warm weather today instead of it being cloudy , cold , and rainy. I like your Crocs sandals you were wearing man. I hear they are very very comfortable to wear for kayaking. Do those sandals hold any rock in them? I would like to get me a pair but I can't find my sz. I have to kayak Barefooted 👣style because i have big very very extremely wide feet sz15 6E wide with very chubby fat wide toes that are equally straight across making my foot very very wide at 6 1/2 inches wide from my big toe to my lil toe. My foot outgrew shoes , socks , & boots when i was 18 years old & flip flops is the only footwear that will barely and i mean barely fit my foot because of my toes being wider than the flip flops straps. I was supposed to take my family ( wife , 6th boys , granddaughter , daughter-in-law ) on a kayak camping trip on the Buffalo River back in July but I twisted my foot really bad. They thought it was broke but it turn out to be just twisted really bad. It took longer for my foot to heal because they did not have a foot brace for a very extremely wide foot that is 6 1/2 inches wide. The doctor said they've never seen a foot this extremely wide with very fat wide toes that are evenly straight across. This was a good video man thank you for sharing this.

[@AROwnBackyard]

Thanks Mack, I'm glad you liked the video! I appreciate the feedback. Yes, the Crocs get some pebbles in them sometimes, but they shake out pretty easily.

[@sherryrorie]

When did u do this float? We are floating tomorrow but the water levels look lower than what you had.

[@AROwnBackyard]

This was an early June float. It is much lower now