[snap]

IMO, there are some great campsites on this river for those who like to rough it. My favorite is the gravel bar at the left hand turn just upriver from whites creek. Shade all day, lots of sand, and lots of holes to wade. #2 would have to be horseshoe bend. More shade all day but not as many holes to fish. The sound of the rapids 24/7 is hard to beat....not as much sand as before spring floods. #3 is what we call the sticks. Located 1/4 down river from horseshoe bend. The island or the gravel bar. The island is loaded with sand now...could probably put 6 tents on it. A great pad of sand at lower end of the gravel bar with shade all day. Wading fishing on both sides of island and from the front end of the sticks sticking out of the water to a good ways below. All of these sites or between Turner and Whiten. Have always been intrigued but have never camped at Halls Bay...fishing would be tough !!! Any one else have any favorite campsites....Mark....??? Summer Cottage??? your site of choice???

[jdmidwest]

Why would fishing be tough at Halls Bay? Good spots above and below.

[snap]

jd....how is the wading above and below Halls Bay? The times I have stopped at this island, it didn't seem like there were many spots to wade? If you have some tips, I would surely appreciate it!

[Mark]

Snap named a couple of our favorites, but even with all the times we have floated the 11 pt., every time I'm on the river it seems like I see another place I would like to camp, like camping at the place we call "The Sticks" for the first time this summer. Sometimes the old reliables are good, but I also like the experience of somewhere new.

[jdmidwest]

Snap, I'll give you a better idea after this weekend. I plan to float thru from Whitten to Riverton this weekend.

In the past, there was wading above. It is deeper below for a while.

[lizard]

Tumbling Shoals, or atleast the spot that I stayed, is about 2 miles above Horseshoe Bend near McDowell on the map. The states forest camp, horseshoe bend is at the end of the bends in the river on the left as heading down stream. All so I dont rember and forest service camps that have any gravel bars. They all seem to me to be very muddy at the tables and fire rings.

[Mark]

I stand corrected!! Thanks.

[Kyle Kosovich]

Hello all-

I've camped on the Point a few times now between Greer and Turner. Always at the first big bluff you run into facing the west. Above the first huricane creek. There is a big hole and a spot of sand on the opposite side. I plan on camping within the next two weeks and was wondering how that site looks and if it still big enough for a few tents and a campfire.

thanks

[2sheds]

Horseshoe Bend is the generic name for a 2-mile stretch of the river. It begins with a 90 degree bend toward the northeast, flows past McDowell Access on the left, then turns 90 degrees to the southest at McDowell cave, and then turns 90 degrees again to the southwest. The final leg finishes out with a 90 degrees turn to the southeast and passes a bay on the left which contains the Forest Service Campsite also named "Horseshoe Bend".

[snap]

From Whiten to Riverton....2 really good sites on the river would be 1) what we call "whipporwill camp"....which is the 90 degree bend to the right immediately below the power line that crosses the river. Big gravel bar island with a shaded gravel bar a stone throw away from the island. Shaded gravel bar on the right of the river. Deep hole after shoals...short hole before next run!!! Late in the year...fire wood hard to come by. 2) Bluff Hole....down river from whipporwill....river makes a 90 degree turn to the left. Gravel bar on left...small...but great scenery and good all day fishing. As the shoals begin....you cannot miss seeing the bluff straight ahead!!! Downfall for this site is lack of firewood also!!!

[Forsythian]

Kosofish, on Oct 7 2008, 10:24 AM, said:

Hello all-

I've camped on the Point a few times now between Greer and Turner. Always at the first big bluff you run into facing the west. Above the first huricane creek. There is a big hole and a spot of sand on the opposite side. I plan on camping within the next two weeks and was wondering how that site looks and if it still big enough for a few tents and a campfire.

thanks

Koso, that spot is still there, and looked pretty good from the boat. I wound up camping upstream from it...

[snap]

Speaking of campsites...drove through Greer on my way to the Thayer/Valle football game last Saturday and saw all kinds of deer camps along hwy 19 on the east side of the river. I said something to my brother, who was driving, about stopping in Alton to pick up some Don's crawdads but the looks I got from the teenage girls riding in the back seat gave me the impression that they thought I was crazy!!! Did get them to stop at Grandma's Kitchen for a nice lunch instead of eating fast food somewhere in Thayer!!! I would think hwy J would have maybe even more deer camps along it. Anybody know how these people hunt not knowing where other hunters might be and does anybody hunt up and down the river??? Seems to me like it would make fishing less peaceful! BTW, #10 for Thayer, the QB, was way too much for valle. Keep the fishing reports coming!!!!

[Aaron J Scott]

It's not quite roughing it, but I have some very fond memories of camping at Boze Mill. I went down on a church camp float a couple times back in junior high, and on one trip we ran into all kinds of fun. Like when one of the locals threatened one of the campers by saying he'd throw them in the spring and no one would ever find the body. Or when another local – who was obviously homesteading, having pitched a pretty elaborate campsite – frightened some other campers by toting a rifle around and bathing (in the primitive, buck naked sense) near our camp. After talking to him, our crew got suspicious and so my dad and my pastor got in the canoe – after sundown, mind you – and floated down to Riverton and called the sheriff's department from Hufstedler's. Turns out they had multiple warrants on him, so later they came out and picked him up. And our crew, being the good chruch-going kids that we are, helped break down his campsite. Not sure how much of that wound up in an evidence locker ...

It's an incredible shame that I haven't been back there. My dad and I have, in the last two years, twice failed to get a trip scheduled. Now that I have a greater interest in rivers and their inhabitants, I'm anxious to get down there.

[Aaron J Scott]

Also: the best blackberries I've ever had were up around the spring at Boze Mill.