Date: February 24, 2001
A NOT SO FAMILIAR MULBERRY FORK
Several years ago I talked with a gentleman who related a story about a great float fishing trip that he had been
doing. He told me about a whitewater stretch of the Mulberry Fork River which lies well above both the standard
Mulberry Fork run and the "Upper" Mulberry Fork stretch. He and his partner, neither of which are whitewater
paddlers, paddled and fished this segment of the Mulberry several times at low water until he broached his canoe
under a tree and decided that this was just a little more river than he wanted to canoe. I filed the idea of running
this portion of the Mulberry away in the back of my mind after visiting the put-in twice, each time the water was
too low to run.
In the meantime, Mark D' began the worthwhile project of running, photographing, mapping and publishing every possible
whitewater stretch in the state of Alabama. Well, my procrastination led to Mark being the first HCC paddler to
run this segment of the Mulberry Fork. My hat is off to Mister D'Agostino; his description of the run and the
water level requirements were right on the money.
The weather forcast for Saturday, February 24 didn't sound too encouraging. The Weather Channel was predicting
high winds and afternoon showers, but the temperature was to approach the mid 60's. The water level seemed about
perfect, 5.5' on the USGS Mulberry Fork, Garden City gage. We decided to try and beat any rain so Bob and Brenda
Barnett, Si Klueger, Curt Ruffing, Kay and I left Hardy's at 8:30 a.m. A short drive to just above Rainbow Crossing
led us to the put-in on Route 67. Parking is ample at the put-in; there is a wide paved shoulder on the downstream-river
right side of the bridge. The gentleman who owns the property at this location said we were welcome to park there
anytime. The shuttle run has to be one of the quickest of any run in the state; I believe that it may be shorter
than any of the convienent shuttles on the nearby Locust Fork.
Bob, Si and I ran shuttle while Curt, Brenda and Kay took the boats down to the river. Curt managed to step on
a stob (that's my west Tennessee lingo for a sharpened sapling that sticks up from the ground) and puncture his
paddling shoe and a good portion of his foot. By the time shuttle was complete, the girls had emptied the blood
out of his shoe, treated the wound and applied bandages. Curt decided that a little punji stick puncture wasn't
going to ruin a good day's paddling, so off we go with only Mark's description to guide us.
I won't go into a blow-by-blow description of the trip, but it was a pure class I-II delight. The river flows
right along with no really dead pools. As you proceed down the river, it progresses from Class I shoals to Class
II drops. Toward the end, the run again backs off to Class I. This stream is a pure delight. It is what most
beginning paddlers look for and never find; a non-intimidating whitewater run that can both build confidence and
provide a playground for newly acquired skills.
Again, many thanks to Mark D' for documenting this stretch of river. By the way Mark, is this the Upper-Upper
Mulberry or the Upper-Upper-Upper Mulberry?
Murray Carroll