Mile 189.5 — Big Muddy Wild & Scenic Section

Big Muddy Mike Clark unofficially designated the stretch of free-flowing river between Duck island and the bottom of Gabaret Island as the “Big Muddy Wild & Scenic Section” (i.e.: the river channel not going through the Chain of Rocks Canal). Paddling this wild stretch involves negotiating the notorious Chain of Rocks. So proceed wisely, and read all of the descriptions below for when you can run the Chain of Rocks and when you should portage. Here is Big Muddy’s description: “The reach from the Confluence to the Arch includes the only 11 non-commercially navigable waters of the entire River between Minneapolis/St. Paul and the Gulf. Two pristine islands punctuate this reach, Duck Island and Mosenthien Island.  And its very reason for being non-commercially navigable sits just a bit more than midway down, the Chain of Rocks low water dam.  This is the Big Muddy Wild and Scenic reach in the heart of the St. Louis metropolitan area.”