Jill Rohrbach

Hike the trail to Indian Rockhouse, visit Collier Homestead near Tyler Bend, guide a canoe down the river’s many miles, stick your toe or a fishing line in the water, take a photo of Roark Bluff, view the reflection of Skull Rock in the water on a fall day, or camp at Steel Creek, and you’ll know the Buffalo River is worthy of being the country’s first national river.
Buffalo_National_River_elkBut it took years of debate and the hard work of many landowners, individuals, groups, politicians and federal agencies to pass the legislation designating the Buffalo as a national river. Today, the National Park Service oversees 95,730 acres and three designated wilderness areas within that acreage. Rushing whitewater is interspersed among sections of calmer water as the river wends its way 135 miles through the lush green valley that is home to elk, deer, black bear and other woodland…