Cossatot River State Park-Natural Area

Arkansas State Park Natural Area On The Cossatot River, Protecting About Eleven Miles Of The Most Difficult Whitewater In Arkansas. The Cossatot Falls Section Runs To Class IV At High Water. · Wickes, Arkansas

The Cossatot is the hardest whitewater in Arkansas and the name is said to come from a French rendering of a Caddo phrase meaning skull crusher, which paddlers consider fair. The state park protects about eleven miles of it in the Ouachitas, including Cossatot Falls, where the river drops through a staircase of ledges that runs to Class IV when the water is up. That is the catch: the Cossatot is undammed and entirely rain-dependent, so it is a serious river for a few weeks in spring and a string of clear swimming holes over bedrock for the rest of the year. Both versions are worth the drive. There is a visitor centre on Highway 278 and primitive camping along the river.

1980 Highway 278 West, Wickes, Arkansas, 71973, United States

The park is open year-round and Arkansas state parks charge no entrance fee. The visitor centre keeps daytime hours with reduced winter hours. River access points and primitive camping are open all year. THE RIVER IS RAIN-DEPENDENT: it is runnable whitewater only after significant rainfall, mostly in late winter and spring, and the gauge - not the calendar - decides. Low-water road crossings flood and close.

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