An explorer made a stop in the River Valley on Sunday as he paddles along the Trail of Tears.
Dale Stewart took a break at the lock and dam near Barling to talk to 5NEWS.
Stewart is traveling by kayak the entire water route once taken by hundreds of members of the Cherokee Indian tribe.
He started on June 18 in Chattanooga, Tenn., and has traveled about a thousand miles so far. His voyage will be featured in a documentary and is being recorded by video cameras mounted on his kayak.
The kayak itself is unique.
“It’s a hybrid,” Stewart said Sunday. “It’s a cross between a canoe and a kayak. It has the hull of a canoe, but it’s enclosed on the top like a kayak. The hull is Kevlar, the same material they make bullet-proof vests out of.”
Stewart said one difficulty has been the heat, reaching 100 degrees for much of his journey.
Stewart says he paddles about 20 miles a day. His trip ends at Fort Gibson, Okla.