Trip Report: Spring Kayaking on Southern Lake Eufaula

(April 19, 2008) Dianne and I headed south this weekend for some Eufaula Lake kayaking. If you read our blog much you may know that all of our previous paddling on Lake Eufaula has been on the northern portion of the lake. Eufaula is an enormous lake, so traveling from the northern end to the southern end provides quite a bit of terrain changes.

The water in the northern portion of the lake is much redder, due to the Deep Fork River water that enters the lake there. As you drive south along Highway 69, the water becomes less red and more of the sandy brown color of the Canadian River. Also, the numbers of evergreen trees along the shore increases as you drive farther to the south and east.

Using our new Oklahoma Water Atlas, we located a boat ramp and campground called Hickory Point and decided it would be our destination for sunset paddling on Saturday. Since Highway 69 goes by several boat ramps on Eufaula, we decided to visit them and have a look.

We first stopped at Oak Ridge campground which sits right off Hwy 69. Naturally, Eufaula is a bit flooded these days. Every campground we stopped at had some picnic tables and BBQ grills under water.

This suited me fine because I like paddling around in flood water. When the lake water rises this high it surrounds trees that are colorful and vibrant. More importantly it creates shady paddling, one of the three key features that make rivers better for kayaking than lakes. The flood water often creates excellent new boat launch areas for kayakers.

I found Oak Ridge to be a nice, well-equipped Lake Eufaula campground that was easy to find. BTW, Highway 69 is a great road to explore if you want to see a lot of Lake Eufaula. It runs roughly along the same route as the Indian Nations Turnpike, but Highway 69 is FREE and leads to a whole lot more boat ramps and campgrounds on Lake Eufaula. Frankly, the Indian Nations Turnpike in this area is no bargain! Countless miles of barriers and Men-at-Work signs with no working men to be seen abound on this busy turnpike.

We paddled around at Oak Ridge for a few hours and then headed to McAlester for lunch. The Meeting Place is the name of the downtown McAlester restaurant we ate lunch at. It's a huge 'place' that we had all to ourselves. I hear that they have dinner theater there at night.

After lunch we drove to Elm Point, off Hwy 31. Dianne and I and paddled there for a few hours. The light was too harsh due to the hour of the day, but I was also surprised to that the trees seemed oddly leafless. This was no place to shoot the sunset...so we moved on after a couple hours of kayaking.

Our final paddling spot on southern Lake Eufaula was Hickory Point campground and boat ramp. This was the best Lake Eufaula kayaking area we found on this trip. This part of Lake Eufaula is skinny, curvy and loaded with sweet smelling cedar, pine and juniper trees. The campground is more primitive than the others we visited on this trip and it was also MUCH less crowded there. We really enjoyed kayaking around Hickory Point and I hope to be able to return and camp there sometime.

Dinner in Krebs, Oklahoma is a given for Dianne and I when we travel to this part of the state. On this trip, we ate at Pete's Place (established in the '20s). Dianne enjoyed their microbrew and I enjoyed their insanely large portions. The meal was served family style in a private dining room. Pete's Place has about 30 of these private dining rooms. It makes for a cozy meal. Overall, it was not quite up to the food standards of our last Italian food meal at Carrabba's in Tulsa but it was a great end to an excellent day of paddling on southern Lake Eufaula!

So much food and paddling made it a sleepy drive back to Pierce, Oklahoma but we made it safely. We decided to spend the night in the RV at our river lot, so that I could do some dawn kayaking on the river Sunday morning.

Trip Report: Dogwood Acres to Frisbee Ramp by Thomas Jones

(July 21, 2007) Last week I got an email from a blog reader in Checotah with an idea for a paddling trip. Greg, a kayak paddler who lives near our lot at Dogwood Acres, suggested we paddle from our lot, down the North Canadian River and across Eufaula Lake to the Jack Frisbee boat ramp.

Normally, Dianne and I have to take 'up-and-back-again' trips on the river because we only have one vehicle and no shuttle. Needless to say, we were thrilled to get a chance to do a 'one-way', downriver trip and to meet one of our new neighbors.

The float trip is about 6 miles, most of it with a decent downstream current. We started early in the morning to try and beat the heat. This is pretty important for taking this particular trip during the summer. Although the river portion of the trip offers some current and quite a bit of shade, the last leg of the trip is pure Lake Paddling in the blazing sun.

One of the downsides of paddling Oklahoma lakes is that the wide open area offers little shade. Also, the lack of distance cues around you makes it seem like you are paddling at an a very slow speed. The feeling of slowness makes paddling across many Oklahoma lakes feel very monotonous. There is also an element of danger when paddling your kayak across a big expanse of water where ski boats and personal watercraft race around at breakneck speeds.

Despite a couple miles of paddling across the lake at the end, the trip is a good one. Although not as scenic as the Illinois River or the Lower Mountain Fork River, paddling the North Canadian offers solitude, peacefulness and some cool bird watching opportunities.

Meeting Greg was the best part of the trip. He is a really conscientious paddler and all-around nice guy who has developed some very good safety habits. Dianne and I set the bar rather low when it comes to safety procedures. We wear our PFD's when paddling, but that is about the extent of our safety preparations. Greg plotted the whole trip out on a map and brought along some rescue gear in case someone ran into trouble.

His kayak is a cool Advanced Elements boat about ten feet long, some folks call them Folding Kayaks. Advanced Elements makes hybrid kayaks that have the buoyancy of an inflatable kayak with a rigid frame that makes it easier to paddle than most pure inflatable boats. The best feature of the boat is that is can be carried on a roof rack like a regular kayak OR you can take it down and fold it into a bag for traveling!

The trip running from Dogwood Acres to Jack Frisbee Boat Ramp near No Name Creek will be one I am sure we will repeat. The Frisbee Boat Ramp is right of Highway 150 and offers a great parking area that is close to food, lodging, bait...whatever you need.

Greg offered two suggestions on the trip that I ignored and looking back on it...I should have taken his advice. The first was when he offered us all sunscreen at about 9:30am and the second was when he suggested a group picture at the end. Buddy, you were right!

This felt like our first real float trip of the summer because it isn't a real float trip until someone (me) gets a sunburn on their knees, right? Greg, if you are reading this…thanks for a great trip! Dianne and I really enjoyed it meeting a fellow paddler that knows the Eufaula area so well. Taken from Our Oklahoma Kayaking Blog.