Buffalo River Trip

[Mark]

We just got back from a camping trip along the Buffalo River. The original plan was for four nights of camping, but we cut it down to two nights after two days of thunderstorms and frequent rain on day three. After that, we stayed at hotels and did some local sightseeing.

The river part of the trip went so bad it was funny. I'm considering writing a trip report. We had trees crashing near us, major shelter failures, attacks by raccoons, midnight naked runs to the canoe, our longest ever one-day paddle with gear, and unbelievably patient kids. No one got hurt (much) and we escaped alive.

The complete set of pictures from the trip are at http://barbieri.smugmug.com/gallery/3096770#P-1-15

The start of the trip:
http://barbieri.smugmug.com/photos/169296689-L.jpg

The first night's downpour:
http://barbieri.smugmug.com/photos/169296757-L.jpg

My homebrew Nintendo DS charger made from a flashlight made me a hero to the kids:
http://barbieri.smugmug.com/photos/169296885-L.jpg

Strangers in the mist
http://barbieri.smugmug.com/photos/169296873-L.jpg

Turtle Shells
http://barbieri.smugmug.com/photos/169296844-L.jpg

Erik and a butterfly
http://barbieri.smugmug.com/photos/169297197-L.jpg

Dante and Erik tubing near camp
http://barbieri.smugmug.com/photos/169297523-L.jpg
http://barbieri.smugmug.com/photos/169297539-L.jpg

Dragonflies
http://barbieri.smugmug.com/photos/169297626-L.jpg

[Tacey]

awesome pics

thanks for sharing

and who knew you could charge that up with a flashlight, you're my hero too.lol

[Mark]

who knew you could charge that up with a flashlight,
To be honest, I'm not sure that it won't damage a DS. I just figured that since the DS charger uses a bit over 5 volts, a 6 volt battery would probably be within tolerance. I grabbed an old 6-volt lantern battery flashlight and figured I could use it. I took a DS charger and chopped off the end. I drilled a hole in the lens, removed the bulb, threaded in the wires through the bulb opening, and soldered them to the flashlight contacts. I also hot glued the wire to the lens so that it wouldn't put stress on my soldering. When I put it all together and turned on the flashlight, it charged up the DS.

It would have been easier to buy a couple of extra batteries for each DS, but I didn't think about it until it was too late. The only solution I could think of the night before leaving was this homebrew charger. It appears to have worked and not caused any noticeable harm to the kid's DSes, but I wouldn't recommend it.

[James]

Great pics Mark! Thanks for sharing!!
I did'nt see any castle pictures?!?!?!?:confused:

[Ursulinda]

sure looks like the river rose between the beginning and the end. I'd LOVE to read that trip report. Most of our camping trips were bedeviled by weather too.

[Mark]

I posted a musical slideshow at: http://barbierifamily.org/slideshow/2007Arkansas.exe. It only runs on Windows PCs and it's pretty big, so don't try downloading it on a dialup connection.

[cshore]

Despite the weather it looks like you had a wonderful time. I loved looking at all the terrific shots you took. Thanks for sharing.

Chris

[MJTinNH]

Great pictures and it looks like the boys were really enjoying their trip!