Upper Ouachita NWR A Kayak Paddle Trip
The Upper Ouachita NWR is a large area in north central Louisiana just below the Arkansas border and south of Felsenthal NWR. Lots of kayak paddle trips are possible in the Upper Ouachita, labeled in this section as A, B, C… Note that it’s pretty isolated and not a good place to run into trouble. For one or two trips the Lake D’Arbonne State Park near Farmersville was used as the camp, but that’s a bit far and for other trips the primitive sites in the Finch Bayou Recreation Area was used. It’s not perfect but the Ouachita River and refuge launch sites are a lot closer. The main public launch is down Alabama Landing Road Public Landing Road (or Hooker Hole Road). The roads to the launch always seemed to always have long puddles in them and I would usually do a walk through to see if the car could do it. Some roads in the refuge are impassable at high water levels.
The Ouachita River flows out of the Felsenthal Lock and Dam about 18 miles upstream. The trips in this section stay below that point. The route in the map above launches at the Finch Bayou Rec Area and goes upstream to explore various side channels. The plan was to paddle up the Ouachita to a side channel going west and from there go up as possible, but at some point it started to get too shallow. This northern region, according to google maps, looks open, but it wasnt on this trip, shallow water, old tree stumps, and brush. Water levels in the Upper Ouachita NWR vary a lot and this means that large areas can at one time be lakes, and at another time be dry land.
32.86591,-92.07997
Launch Site Google Maps Link
Above: Characteristic look of the Upper Ouachita NWR.
Above: Dragging the boat to go from point A to point B.
Above: The launch at the Finch Bayou Rec Area.
Above: Beaver dam. These can result in upstream lakes that look open and paddleable by satellite maps but may not be.
Above: Typical Upper Ouachita scenery.
