Hey, has anyone paddled the wave in Dallas? Looking for any beta on that one or other standing waves in the north half of the state or OK, AR, or really anywhere within a 5 hour drive of Wichita, KS. Thanks in advance for any help!
The wave in San Marcos is better known as "RV" (Rio Vista). it is in a city park just down stream of the campus. Do not go there when the weather is nice (during the daylight hours) thousands of stupid people (mostly drunk tubers) keep you from surfing the hole with a constant flow of people running the chute that creates the hole. The flow needs to be at 200+ to really do tricks in. Nice eye candy though. I take the Mini with friends with sit on tops ect starting at campus and take out 7 miles or so down river. Its a fun flat water float when nothing is running. If the flow is around 200+ the wave is nice. Go down at night, the park/wave is lit till midnight i think. Only boaters are there. Park closes at 10pm I think, but we never get hassled by the law. They know kayakers come there to paddle after the crowds have left.
Lots of good stuff in The Ozarks, when it rains. Supposed to be a good dam release wave near Panama, Oklahoma called the Wister Wave. I haven't checked it out yet but it looks awesome at the right levels. Also, another good dam release play spot at Rockport near Malvern, Arkansas. Haven't been there in a long time, but they used to get frequent releases all year making it the only think going during the Summer. Wakarusa Wave in NE Kansas after big rains. Heard rumors of a surf spot at a drainage culvert in Wichita when The Arkansas gets high enough. Check out www.ozarkpages.com for better info.
A spot that might interest you is on the Saline near Dierks, Ark.There is a campground in a horseshoe bend that has several playspots in 3/4 of a mile but only 1/4 mile foot shuttle...have not been there yet will probably camp there in a couple weeks so can't speak as to the quality of the features, but a great set up....and it is only about 1/2 hour away from the Cossatot -Baker -associated creeks and Li l 'Missouri -Crooked Creek areas.
It's really cool to see that the Dallas Wave has come to fruition. About 7 or 8 years ago I worked on an urban redevelopment project looking at the environmental issues of the area (subsurface contamination from past industrial practices) and saw that they had a whitewater feature planned. I seem to remember they can get some pretty significant flows coming through there.
Arkansas: http://forums.arkansascanoeclub.com/
Dierks, AR - great play features, built 100% by kayakers. Requires a dam release
Cossatot/Baker creek - Awesome runs, rain dependent
Fayetteville area: tons of good runs, all rain dependent
Oklahoma:
No play park yet, they're working on it
Some great flood runs in the Arbuckles
Texas: http://www.texaswhitewater.org/
Dallas: Always there but requires some rain to be good
San Marcos: RV is always there, always fun, best at 200+ (like liquid photo said), night sessions are great. The San Marcos offers 20 miles of Class II spring fed river.
Aren 't they making s park somewhere near Fayetteville too, and expanding Malvern? How is the Guadeloupe at higher flows /less drunken tubers? Ever get on Grape, Pedrenales, or Crabappple? Seems there is good stuff that runs periodically all.over the place...just hard to catch...duh
Paddle like hell,
Aren 't they making s park somewhere near Fayetteville too, and expanding Malvern? How is the Guadeloupe at higher flows /less drunken tubers? Ever get on Grape, Pedrenales, or Crabappple? Seems there is good stuff that runs periodically all.over the place...just hard to catch...duh
I haven't heard about a park in Fayetteville but that's be awesome news, great boating community there. Good friend of mine was living there but he's moved on to greener pastures (Idaho). By Malvern I assume you mean Rockport (Malvern is the closest town). There is talk to improving it but I don't know if they've actually moved on anything. Arkansas boaters are a hardcore group so I wouldn't be surprised if a few of them took it upon them selves to improve it.
The Guad. at full release (5k) is awesome but it hasn't happened since 2008. Anything over 1k is fun and tubers get scared away.
We got some real gems but they only run once or twice a year if we're lucky. Pedernales is my favorite run in the state with over 20 miles of class III big water play and a one Class IV/V section. If it ran at an annual avg. of 20k I would be running a raft company on it's banks for sure. Here's a pic:
My avatar is from Onion Creek, my local run just south of Austin.
Never been on Grape (super hard to catch) and crabapple has some legal issues to overcome but I hope to run it very soon (if it ever rains). Other great flood runs in Central Texas include Barton Creek, Mexican Creek, and Blanco River Narrows.
But it's obviously not all that great or I wouldn't spend our time lurking around a Rocky Mountain Paddle forum.
Chappellco, you're right about the 8 hour deal. Unless there's a huge storm you should just book it back to Co. as much as you can.
Dierks sounds great, that's about 6-7 hrs from me. Worth it for nice waves. San Marcos is 8. Its kinda funny b/c approaching that 8 hour mark means I could be back in CO...yeah, decisions decisions.
I know the rain this spring will open up all kinds of options, even some cool KS spots but def OK and MO which keep me under that 4 hour mark. I'm just impatient enough to try and find something before said "rains" so Dallas it is for now and come on rain!
Malvern or Rockport (same place) has cool clear water and good surfing and runs a lot. Even in the summer.
Fayetteville is talking about a play park but far as I know not built yet.
Same for OKC and Tulsa. OKC is doing a really good job and may well get their play park built soon. Tulsa Wave is working on a WW Park but having big time issues getting it approved by the voters. Gonna be a while.
I was in a arkansas canoe club BOD meeting with several of the North Texas River Runners and they said the Dallas Wave was back open and while it washes out at high levels was great at reasonable levels. I do not know how to access current levels but google might help.
Arkansas is full of good runs when it rains, but is iffy in the hot summer months. Here is the gold standard place to go for Arkansas creek info
Nothing in the Dallas Observer is ever a 'good read'.
Yeah, the Dallas Wave works when the water level is right, but even though above it is a 6105 square MILE watershed, that isn't very often. The wave is officially open now, so there are no access issues. But if you have the choice to drive to Dallas or Colorado... well, there just isn't a choice. Go west.
I have not been to the Hill Country (Austin, San Marcos, Central Texas etc,etc) in YEARS due to the drought. Very hard to catch these runs unless you live 30 minutes away. Same sitch in Arkansas. Most runs are rain dependent and fall just as fast as they rise.
We ran the San Marcos stretch on Monday. Didn't see a single tuber and only 3 other kayaks, even though temps were in the 80's. I can only imagine how bad it gets when the tubers get out of class.
I've never been but doesn't SW Missouri have some good rivers? Seems closer than the Texas runs.
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