War Eagle Creek

War Eagle Creek is a scenic Class I Ozark float in northwest Arkansas (Madison and Benton counties) that flows north out of the hills near Huntsville and St. Paul, past Withrow Springs State Park — the traditional float base and canoe-rental point — and on past the historic 1830s War Eagle Mill before reaching the War Eagle arm of Beaver Lake. Framed by tall limestone bluffs with mostly easy Class I water (occasional Class I-II), it is a rain-dependent, flashy creek best floated during spring runoff (roughly March to mid-June) after rains; it drops low and scrapy by mid-to-late summer. Paddlers judge floatability from the USGS gauge near Hindsville (the 'Hwy 45 gauge'), where about 2.0-3.5 ft is the ideal range and just over 4 ft is flood stage.