Put in at hebron

Thanks to Mark Jones and Rob Batchman for the pictures.

10 Rangers and Friends of Rangers leave Ozark, Missouri at 5:45 p.m. and drive 70 miles and arrive and setup camp at Hebron Access.

We quickly sat up camp and located some drift wood for a fire. Jackson and Joshua quickly got a fire going and soon Cole and Rob arrived back with supplies from the Twin Bridges Store.

Soon David Huff came into camp in his Big 1 ton truck and had his Hammock and tarp up in short order.

We enjoyed a cooler evening high of 78 and no rain. Humidity was at 100% and the trees were dripping wet drops yet the whole night not one rain storm. It was forecasted yet missed us. Rob brought the evening council fire with the 3 Hebrews in the fire. We were all in our shelters by 11:30 p.m..

At 2:30 am a truck came in drove around the park and woke just about everyone up. I got up and readjusted my under quilt on my hammock Soon it was quiet again and at around 6:30 am Jackson and Cole were up getting a fire going.

Our wood was wet so Jackson and Cole battoned some kindling and soon we had a nice hot fire.

Most of the food was a quick cook. We sent Alan, David and Rob to run shuttle vehicles and just before their return back in 45 minutes Joshua and Blake drove in as we were bringing gear down to waters edge.

We hit the water at 8:25 am. Cool morning, overcast and what a blessing. It could have been steaming hot. The North Fork of the White river had plenty of water for a 10.5 mile float with only one place we had to get out and portage our boats.

A quick 3 hours and we were just past Twin Bridges in the shade along the bank eating lunch. One of the younger boys was having some issues minding us. After about 20 minutes he relented and we returned back to enjoying the float. Sometimes boys have issues and they test the limits. A firm hand and some quick reminders on the importance of of listening and obeying are reinforced. Sometimes Love has to be tough. I am thankful we serve a God who loves us even when we are being a fool.

We enjoyed the water. Fishing was a hard call. Half the group had fishing poles the other half not. So we fished when we could and Rob caught a nice bass on his first cast and then that was it for him. I lost the air-conditioning in my house and it was 94 degrees in my office one day worked on the outside condesor unit for 2 evenings before cool air was restored the night before we left for the float. So my fishing gear was left at home mistakenly (that's my excuse) . Rob loaned me his gear and I caught 4 fish and had 3 others get away. It was a fun trip. Water was perfect. Weather was perfect. It did get a little hot in the afternoon and we enjoyed the shade and took out at 2:30 p.m.. Stopped at Ava, Missouri at McDonalds for a treat then was home by 5pm.

We are so blessed to have all that we have here in the Ozarks for outside fun. Those that miss floating our rivers have missed out on some of the bests fun there is.

We saw some 20 turtles and only 1 copper head snake A perfect float.   Click on a picture for a larger view.

Mark Jones