Gravel Bar Camping - Almost

Another cool night, good for sleeping, another misty morning, promising to be a picture-perfect day.  We packed up the last of anything that was laying around and left Shawnee Creek.  Beautiful little campground right on the river and under lots of big shade trees, but apparently well-known and well-loved by the locals.

We would have stayed a little longer this morning, but we wanted to have better Internet access to stream the church service.  It’s pretty spotty out here.

We drove into nearby Eminence, parked at the city park, and sat down for the church service.  Conveniently, due to the time zone difference, it started just after we arrived, at 8am.  Good to be under the teaching of Scripture and doctrine again, even if viewed through a small iPad screen in Eminence, Missouri.

We spent another day in the Ozark National Scenic Riverways, opting to kayak another section of the Current River.  Leaving Eminence, we drove to Round Spring, where we dropped off a bicycle.  Then on to Pulltite, 9 miles farther down the road, where we unloaded the kayaks.

This portion of the river had an entirely different feel than that of the last few days.  Mostly because it was busy.  Several outfitters and several private parties were all launching boats from this launch point, and we joined the throng.  I guess we won’t have this river to ourselves as we have the last couple of days.

For the first half hour or so, we were two of many, although we gradually passed most of the groups up.  One group had two dogs which just swam behind their canoes, barely able to keep up.  I felt sorry for the dogs, they looked like they were getting tired and the owners appeared to be ignoring them completely.  It was good to get past that group.  Navigating around swimming dogs wasn’t my idea of a peaceful float in the river.

Eventually we left the crowds behind and it became more like the last couple of days.  The water was clear, the weather was great, and the wooded slopes and cliffs rising out of the water were a treat to the eyes.

This section of the river was wider and a little slower than the others, although we still managed to paddle 10 miles in around three hours.  Not as much wildlife along this section, although maybe that’s because we started later in the day.  We got on the water at just after 11am.

We landed at Round Spring and decided to camp here for the night.  No cell service so we used the courtesy phone on the porch of the ranger station.  That was kind of a throwback as it resembled the pay-phone booths that used to be in airports and bus stations. Complete with a push-button phone with a cord that was just a little too short.

When I finally got a live person, she told me that all the sites here were closed for maintenance.  That would explain why no one is here.  We’ll have to find somewhere else.

Before we left here we took a dip in the river. Yesterday’s swim was so refreshing that we wanted to try it again.  Only this water was colder and there was a rather swift current, making it difficult to stand up.  We managed to wash our hair before getting out and drying off.

While on the river, we saw a large gravel bar near the Sinking Creek Campground.  Gravel bar camping is a thing around here and we have seen several people camping on large expanses of gravel next to the river just like this one.  Just park your rig and camp.  One gravel bar we saw earlier had half a dozen trailers scattered across it.  So we made that our next stop.  We pulled into the  campground, past the open gate, followed the many wheel tracks on to the gravel bar, and shut off the engine.  Great place to camp.  Several old fire rings and some junk scattered about were evidence that this has been done before.

We made and ate a nice meal overlooking the river.  We were settling in to do some writing when a guy walked by and talked at the side of the RV. He then walked on.  I came out and approached him and asked him if he was talking to us and what he was trying to say.

“You can stay there if you want, but there’s a %#*& 250-dollar ticket coming,” he said, while hiding behind a large tree.  I tried to move around the tree to establish some sort of eye contact but he kept the tree between us, resulting in a bit of a tree-dance.  “Don’t come any closer,” he said.  “I tell you, it’s coming.” 

It was obvious that he didn’t want any sort of normal dialog, so I gave up and walked away.  I find expletive-laden conversation rather off-putting.  "Goodbye," he said, from behind the tree.

We decided to move on.  This guy had a canopy set up on the gravel bar and his van parked in the campground.  So whether in the campground or on the gravel bar we would be next to this person who rather obviously did not like us there.

The road eventually climbed high enough to get a cell signal.  We stopped long enough to look it up.  Gravel bar camping is definitely a thing around here and can be done just about anywhere there’s a gravel bar.  Just not within 300 yards of an established campground.  So gravel bar camping is a thing, just not here.

We ended up at Pulltite, where we had launched earlier today. 

While we like to travel with no set agenda and no reservations, sometimes it results in some rather interesting situations.