Several brave (ok maybe even crazy, insane, stupid, etc.) souls made a semi-frozen run down Richland Creek on Saturday January 2, 1999 with a mere 8" of airspace showing under the bridge at the top. Here is their insidious story:

Horace Sheahat was surfing in the warmer temps of the great Texas Guadalupe River on New Year’s Day 1999 - had to start the year off right! After making a quick detour through the Alamo that afternoon, he smelled the air and knew it was time to head back home. Rain was a comin' to Arkansas!

After driving all night, Horace hooked up with Cowper, Lance, Ted, David, Scott and Matt in Russellville to the arrival of snowflakes falling on a fresh 2-inch rain. Rob, Mike, Danny and Dusty from Ft. Smith pulled up and all headed North in hopes of some Ozark Mountain creekin’!

Having only 2WD, and a revelation from God, Matt turned around just before the snow started to cover the roadway up the mountain. Good decision, as the rest of the crew grunted and locked in the 4WD for the remainder of the trip. Let it snow, let it snow . . .

They briefly stopped at Pelsor to decide on a plan. "Dale says Richland is at 5 inches of airspace and dropping", Cowper declared, "Richland is our best shot." So East on Hwy 16 was the way to go. Horace, in the lead and cutting new tracks in the snow, decided to see just how slick the road really was. As he entered a turn on top of the Mount, a nice fishtail threw his passengers all about; each hoping the bailing wire would hold the door firmly shut. Thoroughly convinced that it was real ice, he decided to slow down and drive real nice- after just one more good donut.

The boats and riders were dropped at the top as the drivers took off to run the long, long shuttle. The Fort Smith crew waited smartly in Dale's Cabin, while Horace headed down river early to tear up some waves. If you know Horace, he can’t sit around waiting when the river is raging right in front of him. Ted, Scott and David went along for support claiming to have matches for a fire.

The drivers return and launched with the last of the sunshine as the temps dropped below the mid 20's. What a beautiful winter wonderland, snow on the ground, ice covered trees glistening in the bright sun, beautiful iceflows and icicles on the bluffs.

When the rest caught up to Horace and the others, they could not believe the story being told. Seems Horace had fallen victim to a trap set by an evil beaver. Now Horace isn't the fondest of the flat-tailed rodents. They chew on trees and clog up our rapids and they ain't even good eatin'. While pulling off to the side to take a break from his extraordinary rodeo maneuvers in his ice covered creek boat, he looked at a beaver chewed tree, amazed that it was still standing. He pulled his legs out of the boat and stretched them out on his deck to relax and soak up some rays in the fading sun. All of a sudden: Crack, Creak, Boom!

The others looked up to see Horace pinned in his boat by this booby-trapped tree! The tree had fallen across his midsection, which was luckily protected inside the cockpit seat. But with the rest of his body out of the boat, he had no where to go. Now Horace has gotten into many situations, but this one was a first. He was pinned half in is boat and half out, and on DRY land! They thought about leaving Horace there but after his polypro had destroyed Dale's dryer, they decided that the decaying body wrapped in his polypro would be an environmental hazard. True it would take care of the beaver problem for the rest of us for years to come, but Horace's polypro has a several thousand-year half-life. You see, Horace was wearing polypro that had never been washed (at least not in a machine with soap) because he heard it would get little fuzz balls all over it. So they plucked Horace's camera off of him and took a photo before removing the tree.

The rest of the group didn’t quite believe the story until the strange sounds started from the frozen woods. They weren’t quite sure, but finally figured it out, the damn beavers were laughing! The vicious creatures had actually planned their attack. They usually hide their traps by dropping a tree in a blind rapid in hopes of catching an unsuspecting boater who is off line. But this time they got lucky and caught one of the best. Since the beavers caught Horace, they will surely be after the rest of us in the future!

The clouds soon snuffed out the last remnant of the sun and ushered in more snow and added a nice a bite to the air. The group paddled on, trying not to roll and keeping an eye out for more beaver traps. Nothing much happed except to Horace of course. Near the bottom, Horace was turning blue. Horace couldn’t resist the urge to play and had been underwater most of the day. You know he don’t wear poggies or heaven forbid neoprene gloves, and head warmers are for wimps!

The group was glad that no swims occurred and that all had dry clothes and warm heaters at the campground. They all had to crack through the ice to get the wet (oops, frozen) gear off. After the boats were loaded and bodies thawed it was time for the final drive out. A beautiful sunset finished off the great day.

Horace soon split off from the group that evening and hasn’t been heard from since. He made a remarkable recovery this summer and isn’t going to let some little buck-teethed flat-tailed rodents get the best of him. Don’t worry, Horace knows how to avoid the game warden (or at least he has so far). Stay tuned for more adventures of Horace Sheahat.