On Monday, April 26, 1999, a young couple engaged to be married set out alone in a tandem, open canoe from the Ponca bridge for a float trip on the Buffalo National River in Arkansas . The river was at a medium to low level, and is considered Class I-II. They were about 1.5 miles downstream from Ponca, approaching the Steele Creek campground, when they encountered a downed tree at river center, about 20 yards past the start of a bend to the left. It had been washed down the river about 3 weeks prior during high water. It was about 18-24 inches in diameter and 20-30 feet long. The root-ball was whole and facing upstream, like an open "catchers mitt". Most of the tree trunk was out of the water, with only the root-ball submerged The trunk and branches ran downstream, and almost touch the right bank. There’s an eddy on river left, formed by a gravel bar, directly beside the strainer. The river is about 30 feet wide at this point, and 4 feet deep.

The couple tried to avoid the strainer by going river left, but they were already too far right. They hit the root-ball strainer sideways and flipped. The canoe pinned, and the woman was trapped under the boat, and under water. The man tried to rescue his fiancée until he knew hope was lost. At this point he hiked a mile to the Steele Creek Ranger station for help. He returned with a Ranger and they, along with nearby campers, recovered the body of the woman. She  still pinned under the broached canoe, two feet underwater.

This strainer is easily avoided by experienced paddlers. The current pushes canoes to the right as it sweeps to the outside of the bend. Passing the strainer on the right sends the boat through a few small branches and twigs sticking out of water near the right bank. Going to the left puts your canoe in the eddy, safely past the strainer. The usual route is to paddle to the left to avoid the branches on the right. I watched about a dozen open canoes do it successfully.

As of April 30, the strainer is still there. A Park Ranger told me there were no plans currently to remove it. "The river is in its natural, wilderness condition,” He said, “and it is inherently risky and dangerous."

SOURCE: Jim Burton, posting to rec.boats.paddle

ANALYSIS: (Walbridge) Strainers, even on easy whitewater streams, are always dangerous. They are difficult to escape because the current goes through the branches, rather than around them. Inexperienced paddlers are advised to portage when in doubt.