At the base of the rapid, there's a user-friendly hole behind a pourover rock, two big eddies with churning eddy lines for squirts, and a smooth wave for fast ferry glides. That's the play program. Running the rapid, river right is Class II with an optional far-right narrow slot and short drop for boof practice. A place where many good paddlers began their careers, First Street was the site of the whitewater slalom events during the 1998 Nike World Masters Games. The Ledge starts as a hole against the shore and turns into a nice V-shaped wave midstream.
Shallow cartwheels are the norm, and there's plenty of flat-spinning room on the wave.
But for most paddlers, who park in the newly created Forest Service parking lot and walk in, it's a destination spot. What flows out becomes the Arkansas again. Through Tulsa, the flow is regulated by the Army Corps of Engineers for barge travel. When the release is 4,000 to 5,000 cfs, a super wave and rodeo hole forms behind old dam rubble at 31st Street. It's been rated one of the best rodeo spots in the United States.