Fall guy: this will be the 37th year Lloyd Funk outfits Fall River float trips

Lloyd Funk spent much of his childhood afloat on Fall River with a few relatives. Much of his adulthood he’s shared the same waters with thousands of strangers.

“The idea probably came in the late ’70s, I had my first customers in 1980,” said Funk, owner of the Eureka-based Fall River Canoe Trips. “I can’t even remember how that first group found me. We’ve put a lot of people down this river every year since. It’s provided a lot of fun.”

Funk did his annual preseason float Tuesday, making sure all would be right when clients started floating sections of the river near Fall River Reservoir, about 70 miles northeast of Wichita. Though he can host floats up to about 8 miles some days, Funk said most are happy with his half-day, 4 1/2-mile trip.

“You could probably make the float in a couple of hours or so,” he said. “but I want to give people time to stop and get out their canoes to do some swimming, maybe some fishing or to eat a lunch on one of the gravel bars. Most people don’t want to rush right through it.”

Funk let Fall River’s easy current do most of the work Tuesday as he drifted downstream, looking for places where he might need to trim some weeds or clear a path before his April 1-Oct. 31 business season.

Funk explained both sides of the river were part of Fall River Wildlife Area, hence the river and banks were open to public usage. Such access is unusual in Kansas, where only the Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri are considered open to public access.

There’s no such thing as a bad time of the year to be on the river, according to someone who has lived in the area all of his 68 years.

“It won’t be long and the trees down through here are going to be so pretty,” said Funk, talking of the coming lavender of blooming redbuds, with the bright green of new leaves on assorted soft and hardwood trees. Wild flowers will grow in some locations as temperatures warm.

About the time his float season ends mid-autumn, the same banks will be brilliant as everything from the elms and oaks to walnuts and willows carry colors with more variety and vibrance than the drake wood ducks that seemed always in sight Tuesday.

Around about every bend in the river, Funk pointed to where the water was deep enough for swimming. He drifted past shady-side gravel bars where floaters often stopped for picnic lunches, and spots on sunny sides for those wanting to work on tans. Covering those gravel bars were enough flat chunks of limestone to keep a bus load of Boy Scouts into prime skipping stones well into Y3K.

Through the years, Funk has outfitted quite a few scout troops, and gatherings of about all kinds.

“I get quite a few church groups, and a lot of families,” he said as he rounded the last bend before his take out on Tuesday. “I’ve had some big business groups, too.”

With a fleet of 15 canoes, Funk has the ability and gear for up to 45 people to float the river at a time, though he prefers to keep just two people per canoe. His trips include the canoes, paddles, vest-style life jackets, drop-off at the river and ferry service from the take-out point back to where guests’ cars are parked. The floats are unguided.

The end of Tuesday’s float was a broad shoal of flat rock and shallow water about half the size of a city block. Funk’s truck and trailer, which he’d parked their earlier in the morning, was the only sign of civilization. That will soon change.

“When it gets warm there will be people all over this place. A lot of them will just be sitting around or laying in the sun,” he said. “There will be a lot of people and about everybody will be having fun. It’s a nice river.”

This story was originally published March 19, 2016 at 2:32 PM with the headline "Fall guy: this will be the 37th year Lloyd Funk outfits Fall River float trips."