St. Louis to Caruthersville
122 - 120 LBD Moro Island One mile wide and two miles long, Moro Island offers some of the best camping anywhere along the Middle Mississippi, especially at medium water levels or higher. It is the first island below St. Louis that has big sandbars even at flood stage (30SLG)
St. Louis to Caruthersville
122.5 LBD Upper Moro Island/Back Channel Upper Moro Island is found LBD at the top of the 2,000 foot wide Moro Island Back Channel. Paddlers can get through its narrow opening around 18 SLG. When the water is lower, great campsites form between the islands. The river
St. Louis to Caruthersville
122.5 RBD Ste. Genevieve Harbor/Gabouri Creek The Ste. Genevieve Harbor is silting in, and bankside businesses are shut down. Paddlers can access harbor when the river is above 12SLG medium water or higher, and continue on up Gabouri Creek drainage in high water. In fact as the river
St. Louis to Caruthersville
125.6 Ste. Genevieve and Modoc Ferry The Ste. Genevieve and Modoc Ferry is the last remaining ferry on the Middle Mississippi. Watch for its passage back and forth as you paddle through here, and be sure to pull your vessel out of water if making landing, or suffer possible
St. Louis to Caruthersville
127 RBD Tower Rock Stone Company Quarry
St. Louis to Caruthersville
128.7 RBD Lawrence Hollow/Magnolia Hollow Conservation Area This rugged 1,740-acre area is bordered by Establishment Creek and Schmidt's Island, along-side the Mississippi River. The area features steep bluffs and scenic river views. Eagles are commonly sighted along the river. The forest at Magnolia Hollow Conservation
St. Louis to Caruthersville
132.5 - 129.6 RBD Establishment Chute/Schmidt’s Island Adventurous paddlers could stay right bank descending and enter Establishment Creek at 129.6RBD for some superlative exploration of the steep forested Mississippi River Hills. Establishment Creek divides the floodplain from the Hills. Trees and undergrowth that grow on
St. Louis to Caruthersville
133.7 RBD Top End of Establishment Island After 50 miles of paddling below the Great Arch you can finally stretch out a little and enjoy the spiritual quietude emanating from the natural landscape of the Middle Mississippi, here stretching out below you in undulating alternating waves of Limestone Bluffs
St. Louis to Caruthersville
132.2 LBD Fort de Chartres For almost a century, beginning in 1673 when Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette explored the Mississippi River, France claimed the Illinois Country. In 1718 the French reorganized the administration of their American possessions and removed the Illinois Country from Canadian jurisdiction and made it
St. Louis to Caruthersville
132.2 LBD Fort Chartres Landing Primitive landing up muddy bank with access to historic Fort de Chartres. Make your landing and pull vessel out of water. Should be safe to leave for a walk up the levee to the Fort and nearby State Park, but if you plan on
St. Louis to Caruthersville
134.3 - 132.3 LBD Fort Chartres Island A narrow wildlife-packed chute wanders behind Fort Chartres Island, leaving the river at a perpendicular to the north-northeast, and curving around a small island to make a one and half mile run southeasterly, parallel to the main channel. Full of eagles,
St. Louis to Caruthersville
139.5 - 136.5 LBD Salt Lake Island Salt Lake Island is a beautiful two-mile long island that hugs the left bank descending in a beautiful wall of bluffs. Salt Lake Island Chute is a wide back channel that opens to easy passage in low water 8-10SLG. A smaller