Arkansas in all it's Glory

On March 10, 2007, 8 students ventured out from Minnesota to go hike by the Buffalo National River in Arkansas.

070310: We left at 6 am and drove for the better part of 12hrs down I-35 and finally arrived at 6 pm in Jasper, Arkansas - a town of 498 people. We had dinner and set out to camp at Steel Creek from where we would launch our canoing trip the following day. Our first night is best described by the following report by Lee Buschkowsky, Upper District Ranger.

Buffalo National River (AR)
Three Charged In Campground Brawl

During the afternoon of Saturday, March 10th, a group of 15 men and women in their early 20’s set up camp at Steel Creek Campground. Members of the group apparently knew each other from working at the Olive Garden restaurant in Fayetteville, Arkansas. A law enforcement ranger made contact with them after 4 p.m. and warned them about their loud radio and group size, instructing them to spread out to more than one campsite. After the ranger left, two men in their early 20’s on horseback stopped at the campsite and offered rides to several of the women. The pair continued to hang out with the group into the evening, when group members began to consume a considerable amount of alcohol. A man in the camping group did not like the advances that one of the riders was making toward his girlfriend and made a racial comment to him. The two men then began yelling and cursing at each other. The two horseback riders broke away, loaded up their horses, and left the campground around 7:30 p.m. They returned in a different vehicle around 11 p.m., but with another five to ten men with them. A confrontation followed with the camping group, with one of the riders striking people with a metal pipe. The other rider apparently tried to stop the fight, but the jealous boyfriend confronted him. The girlfriend got in between the two men and was struck in the head by the rider when he attempted to punch the boyfriend. Another man in the camping party grabbed the pipe and began repeatedly striking the rider on the head and back. At about 12:30 a.m., the Newton County Sheriff’s Office received a call reporting a fight in progress with weapons involved and a possible fatality. Deputies, Arkansas state troopers, rangers and an ambulance company responded to the remote location. The groups had in the meanwhile separated. As the group of locals returned to their vehicle, they vandalized two parked cars. Before driving away, they made the comment that they were high on crystal meth and that nothing could hurt them. Based on information provided by one of the reporting parties, two of the men were immediately apprehended at their homes in Compton, Arkansas. Other units at the campground began treating injuries and taking witness statements. Two men from the camping group were transported to Northern Arkansas Regional Medical Center in Harrison, Arkansas, where they were treated for minor injuries and released. The two men who were arrested in Compton refused to provide information on the identities of the others involved. Both were charged by Newton County with third degree battery and disorderly conduct. One of the men in the camping party was charged with the same offenses.

070311: We made pancakes in the morning, and started canoing in our 3 canoes around 10 am. Team yellow for the day consisted of Aditi Nayar, Maddy Cochrane and myself. We started by tipping 3 times and made sure that all of our bags were soaked - the trip shouldn't be too easy. After half a day on the river, Aditi abandoned ship and moved to a different canoe. Maddy and I "set sail" and moved forward and ended up working well together. A little too well it turned out as the others were soon out of sight, and we were unsure how far back they were. We stopped canoing at 4:30 pm so the others could catch up, and while we were waiting, we decided to set up a fire and look for a great place for the tents. The site that we had picked was great with a free elevated area for the tents and a fire pit left from previous campers. 4:30 pm soon became 5 pm and 5:30 pm without a soul in sight. We started to fear that the two other canoes had set camp further up the river not knowing how far down the river we were. After a short debate, Maddy and I decided that we had enough equipment to camp without a tent, and that we should be just fine between the four sleeping bags, the tarp, the one sleeping pad and all the gear I had in my backpack. We started unloading the canoe and setting up and just as we were getting started, we hear some yelling up steam. Jeff and Joe had been sent to find us and bring us back to the other camp, and they were standing on the other side of the river after having walked through half a jungle to look for us. After a short debate, Maddy reluctantly decided that we should return to the other camp which appeared to be no more then half an hour away. We made it up there after 25 minutes and it turned out that the other camp were less then 5 minutes up stream from where we had stopped initially. I had a brief argument with Justin and Alese where I explained how I would never have left them hanging and bedtime soon came around which marked the end of that night!