THE BUFFALO RIVER BACK COUNTRY HORSEMEN
Three Arkansas Chapters Divide the River
By Nancy Deisch
In the center, the author Nancy Deisch, along with fellow BCHA members Carol Bitting left, and Jacque Alexander right, on the river
Riders head out for a work day
BCHA members clearing trail
Photos by Ted Spears
40 / Sport and Trail Magazine
After having spent the best part of the
last 16 years riding on the Buffalo
National River of Arkansas, I have had to
stop and think about how the various
areas are so very different. In order to
write this article, some mental digging
had to be done.
The upper Buffalo usually gets the kudos
about the bluffs and the more
spectacular scenery, but that is simply
not the case. Some of the bluffs in the
lower river are the tallest in the whole
140-mile (+/-) expanse. The trails are a
little harder to find, maybe, but if you
don’t know anything about the area,
that’s sure to be true wherever you are.
The lower river is usually categorized
from Mt. Hersey to the White River. Just
down river from the primitive camp at
Woolum the river can head underground
for several miles, leaving a dry river bed
(mostly happens in the sometimes dry
summer months--NOT 2019!). When it
re-surfaces closer to Tyler Bend, you’d
never know it had been absent.
Canoeing is always a huge part of the
recreation of the area, and summer
floating tends to center on the lower
third, roughly from Gilbert to the White
River where the Buffalo remains
floatable before it empties. All of that
changes when a summer thunderstorm
dumps a couple of inches in the upper
reaches, and the kayaks come out of the
woodwork for that brief, fast whitewater
that will be gone in 12-24 hours.
Canoeing can almost always be done in
the lower third.
Horseback riders are looking for those
lower river levels that the canoeists hate.
We don’t get to cross the lower river until
the weather has been dry for a while. The
river is broader, and the trails are fewer,
but the beautiful bluffs, mountain top
views, and perhaps rougher terrain make
the effort most worthwhile; there’s even
an historic ghost mining town to explore.
There are several commercial horse
camps that cater to the lower Buffalo as
well as a couple of primitive camps on
the national park. Maps and GPS’s are a
must. In short, you really cannot go
wrong on a horse, on foot, or in a kayak/
canoe when you visit Buffalo National
River Park in Arkansas.
The Arkansas BCHA has three chapters
that divide the river into sections making
our work a bit more manageable. The
Buffalo River BCH concentrates on the
upper/mid river from Ponca to Mt.
Hersey; the Lower River BCH spends its
work time from Mt. Hersey to Hathaway;
while the Arkansas/Ozark BCH works
more with the national forest service in
the lower river area.
Since the national park has
limited maintenance personnel,
the horse trails are almost
exclusively kept open by work
from all three BCHA chapters.
Representatives of the Buffalo River and
Lower River chapters will be riding the
entire length of the river this October.
This involves getting those 140 miles of
trails cleared and safe. Each season
presents new problems after spring
floods and all the obstacles of trail work
in a lush and verdant river basin. Our
work is never done! But we have such
hard-working, loyal, interesting, diverse,
and fun members who make it a labor of
love for the river, for each other, and for
our organization.