Big Creek
Sunday december 12, 1999 Wayne Clepper and I paddled Big Creek.It flows west from Arkansas into Oklahoma between Rich Mountain to the south and Black Fork Mountain to the north. The average gradient is 60 fpm.The gage is Black Fork Creek @ Big Creek. 7.5 ft is minimum, 8.5 is good with almost constant class II+ action with a couple of III's. The level in these pictures is 12 ft. The creek was bank full and pushy.
Big Creek is mostly long steep rocky shoals winding through numerous trees with many blind turns and braids. A few spots require bank scouting as downed trees can be a real danger. There are also some ledgy drops and a few huge boulders midstream in some rapids.
Put in at the state line and take out in Page at the bridge north of 270. There's a sign: Big Creek Baptist Church. Since the water was very high we put in 1.5 miles east of the line where the railroad,which is between the creek and hwy,and the creek came close to the road at a tributary.For the entire run of 6-8 miles depending on put in the creek is never more than a quarter mile from the highway. All but 3 of the 24 pictures were taken from my kayak,enjoy the ride.
low water bridge 1/2 mile below the put in .Portage right.
Bank scout the five fingered braid 1/2 mile west of the state line,the left is best but a tree blocked it and we had to bushwack to the right.We also found a tree blocking the entire creek just above here. From this point on there were eddies to boat scout the blind turns and no more portages. Ride on!
