St. Louis to Caruthersville — Introduction

St. Louis to Caruthersville Introduction: Welcome to the 2014 update to the Rivergator : Paddlers Guide to the Lower Mississippi River! This section of the Rivergator starts at the wild confluence of the Upper Mississippi and Missouri Rivers above St. Louis, and continues down the Middle Miss to Cairo Illinois, and then down the Lower Mississippi to Caruthersville, Missouri. St. Louis sits like the center hub of a giant wheel. You find rivers every direction you go. Big rivers. The rivers that define the very heart of America: the Upper Mississippi, the Meramec, the Osage, the Illinois, the Kaskaskia, and the “Big Muddy” Missouri.

And the Middle Miss gathers them all together like a big mother hen and off they go slipping and sliding southward through a ten thousand year old glacial-carved valley that is roughly ten miles wide. The Big Muddy Missouri (headwaters Idaho/Montana divide) is the longest river in the sprawling Mississippi drainage, and makes the greater Mississippi Valley the longest in the continent and amongst the three longest rivers in the world. Add in the Ohio and you know have the biggest river in North America, now tossing and turning wildly in its broad floodplain in between the rolling bluegrass hills of Kentucky and the Missouri Bootheel, swirling around big wild Islands like Wolf Island and Island No.

8, around big bends like Bessie’s Bend (20 miles to go one mile), and through big forests and big trees like the ones found at Big Oak Tree State Park. Everything is big about the Mississippi: big sky, big waters, big islands, big bluffs, big towboats, big industry. If you are a long distance paddler coming down the Upper Miss, tighten down the hatches! Everything changes as you lock through the last dam (Melvin Price L&D and maybe the Chain of Rocks L&D). Read below for a warning. Warning: St. Louis Harbor Expert paddlers only through St.

Louis where concentrated industry and large volume water hazards create a 30-mile long maze of bridges, towboats, harbor boats, fleeted barges, and unexpected changes in hazardous water with whirlpools and eddies over chevrons, around pylons and docks, and around industrial installations. The fun starts below the confluence at the notorious Chain of Rocks. Intermediate paddlers will be capable on all other sections of this stretch of river below St. Louis to Caruthersville. But not here. Maybe you will get lucky and pass through unscathed, maybe not.

If you are overloaded, or in a home-made raft, or some craft of questionable reliability, you would be best to upgrade at St. Louis. Be forewarned: you might get pulled over by the St. Louis Harbor Patrol or the Coast Guard for a boat inspection. And for good reason. Many an expedition has met its demise in the St. Louis Harbor. Keep reading into the Rivergator for chilling real life stories about a couple of those that didn’t make it, and why they failed. Don’t lead your adventure to disaster. Especially if you have others on board with you.

If you have any doubts about your ability, portage around the industrial stretch. Better yet, hire expert guiding services such as those provided by “Big Muddy” Mike of Big Muddy Adventures. NOTE TO PADDLERS: The Rivergator is for your free use! Please print or access from your smart phone. (Presented here in roughly 100 miles sections from St. Louis to the Gulf of Mexico). Best case scenario: 1) print up section of Rivergator that you will be canoeing or kayaking. 2) Print up accompanying USACE river maps.

3) Print up NOAA River Stage Forecasts the day before you embark on your adventure for latest river gage readings and forecast. 4) Lastly, listen to and print the latest weather forecast. Secure the above by inserting pages into 8.5x11 page protectors and bundle into a 3-ring notebook or waterproof map casing (available at most water outfitters such as Outdoors Inc. Memphis or online at REI or NRS). If using smart phone protect with water-proof casing! The river is hungry for electronic devices and equipment that doesn’t float!

(I have personally left several marine radios, a half dozen knives and one camera with the sturgeon and catfish at the bottom of the river!) The Rivergator is a public service brought to you compliments of the Lower Mississippi River Foundation with support from dozens of river experts and partner organizations Who is the Rivergator written for? The Rivergator is written by paddlers for paddlers. It will open the river for local experienced canoeists who have always wanted to paddle the Mississippi but didn’t know how or when or where to start.

Canoe clubs, kayak clubs and outdoor clubs. Outdoor leadership schools. Friends and families. Church groups and youth groups. It could be used by the Girl Scouts for a week-long summer expedition to Cape Girardeau, or a group of Boy Scouts working on their canoe badge in the St. Louis area -- or a group of middle schoolers from Chester who want to get on the river at the mouth of the Kaskaskia for an easy daytrip. Paddlers seek out new places to explore. You could read the Rivergator during the winter months from your home and by spring snowmelt you could be making your first paddle strokes on a life-changing adventure down the Mississippi!

Rivergator will help you get there if you’re a long-distance canoeist who started at Lake Itasca, or a kayaker who is coming through south after paddling the length of the Missouri River from Montana’s Bitterroot Mountains. You could be a stand-up-paddleboarder who put in at the Great River Confluence of the Upper Mississippi and Big Muddy Missouri in St. Louis. We paddlers are all the same: canoeists, kayakers, stand-up-paddleboarders, rafters. We look for the same kinds of currents on the river, and enjoy the same kinds of remote islands.

We are slow, but efficient. We know the river better than any other river pilots, at least the pieces of river we have paddled on. We have more in common with towboats than motorboats. Regardless of what you paddle, the Rivergator will you help you find the essential landings and the obscure back channels that you would otherwise miss. It will help you safely paddle around towboats, and choose the best line of travel to follow around the head-turning bends and intimidating dikes, wing dams, and other rock structures.

It will identify which islands to camp and which to avoid, and where the best picnic spots are found and where blue holes form. It will lead you to places of prolific wildlife and mind-blowing beauty. It will help explain some of the mysterious motions of the biggest river in North America. It’s written for canoeists and kayakers, but is readable enough to be enjoyed by any arm-chair adventurers including landowners, hunters, fishermen, communities along the route, historians, biologists, geologists, and other river-lovers.

The river is the key to understanding the history, the geography and the culture of the Mid-America. It’s the first high speed “router.” It connected our ancestors much like internet does today. It’s the original American highway, migration route, freight route, newspaper route, and trade route. But it’s also a church, a sanctuary, a playground, a classroom. The river is the rock star, The Rivergator is merely a guide to help you interpret and enjoy the songs of the river!

Reading the Rivergator : The Rivergator reads like a big river expedition, starting above St. Louis at the confluence of the Missouri and following the Middle and then Lower Mississippi downstream mile-by-mile. (Note: we are currently in the third year of a four year project: ultimate start place will be St. Louis, with end place in the Gulf of Mexico, almost 1200 miles of free-flowing river). The descriptions are factual and the information is the most up-to-date available, but I have tried to enliven the writing with “the feel” whenever possible.

Each piece is titled with headings in bold that include 1) the name of the important features along the way, 2) which side of the river it’s on, and 3) its mileage. For example, “736 LBD Memphis, Tennessee, Mud Island Harbor.” 736 is the mileage above the head of passes near the Gulf of Mexico. RBD=right bank descending and LBD=left bank descending. Paddlers are offered many route choices beyond the main channel in the plethora of sluices, back channels, secret passages, and tributaries along the way, using Google maps for illustration.

On your laptop or home computer you could open two pages, one for the text and one for Google maps. On the river you can switch back and forth on your smart phone. Or you can print the text and use the US Army Corps Lower Mississippi Maps hard copy or online. The Rivergator is three guides wrapped up into one, because every island, landing and riverbank has to be described in three different water levels, low, medium and high. It provides paddling routes, as well as history, geography and culture.

The Mississippi fluctuates 40-50 vertical feet in any given year, with enormous changes as result, whole islands disappear in high water, while some good landings become fields of mud at low water. Panel of Experts: All writing is reviewed by a panel of paddlers, naturalists and other river experts including (for this section) Dean Klinkenberg, author of the Mississippi Valley Traveler series; Dave Herzog, Missouri Dept of Conservation; Kimberly Rea, USACE Riverlands project director, Janet Moreland, big river kayaker; Amy Lauterbach, big river paddler; John Sullivan, canoe/kayaker, retired WDNR water quality specialist; Scott Mandrell, voyageur, teacher, historian; Betsy Tribble, big river paddler; Chad Pregracke, Living Lands & Waters; Janet Meredith, National Great Rivers Museum, David Hardesty, big river paddler; Cliff Ochs, big river researcher, University of Mississippi; John L.

Hartleb, Wildlife Refuge Specialist, Middle Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge; Bryan Hopkins, Water Resources Center, Missouri Department of Natural Resources; Ethan Engerski, Natural Resource Specialist USACE, Tom Uhlenbrock, Missouri Department of Natural Resources; Steve Schnarr and Melanie Cheney, Missouri River Relief; Greg Poleski, Greenway Network, Layne Logue, kayaker; Norman Miller, big river kayaker; Ernest Herndon, author of Canoeing Mississipp i , Paul Hartfield, USFW endangered species biologist; Michael Clark, St.

Louis river guide, owner of Big Muddy Adventures; Mark River Peoples, St. Louis native and big river guide; Braxton Barden, big river guide. I, John Ruskey, am primary author. I first descended the Mississippi in 1982 on a 12x24 foot raft, and have been taking notes, photographs and documenting the river ever since. St. Louis area Rivergator contributor Mike Clark has been exploring the Confluence and the Middle Miss for over a decade. He is considered the expert on running the Chain of Rocks. In 2002 and in 2006 Mike Clark and I spent 5 months exploring the entire Missouri River in dugout canoes, the second time as engages in Scott Mandrell’s “Then & Now” Lewis & Clark Re-enactment.

Our experiences paddling dugouts to the confluence and over the Chain of Rocks are here in the Rivergator . In 2009 Mike Clark and I guided German film-makers from St. Louis to Caruthersville (and on down to the Gulf of Mexico) on a giant raft (actually a “canoe-ma-raft,” a 16 x 30 platform supported by 2 voyageur canoes as pontoons). Big Muddy Mike has made dozens of other Middle Miss voyages after the 2001 formation of his Big Muddy Adventures, which is based near North Riverfront Park in St. Louis (including a “Huck ‘n’ Jim expedition” where he paddled it all after dark just like Huck and Jim did -- this is not recommended).

Rivergator contributor Mark River Peoples was born and raised along the Mississippi River in St. Louis and East St. Louis. Mark River is now a full-time guide on the Lower Mississippi River, and writes a blog, appropriately called the “Mark River Blog.” Contributors Mark River and Braxton Barden explored St. Louis to Cairo one last time in the low water of Nov 2014 to verify everything. Braxton Barden is a full time guide and photographer on the Lower Mississippi River with Quapaw Canoe Company.

And so the Rivergator is the culmination of over 30 years of personal exploration and the experiences of other hardened river rats. I have paddled the Mississippi on anything that floats (including a log!). To verify all information I have been making refresher “exploratory expeditions,” (We last paddled this section with a team of explorers during the June rise, 2014 and then a second time in low water Nov 2014). I’ll try to keep myself out of it as much as possible, and let the river speak for herself.

But I’ll also spice the journey with stories and vignettes from my adventures along the way, and others who have first-hand experience. Other important Rivergator sources include the National Weather Service “Lower Mississippi River Gauge and Week Forecast,” the 2011 Upper Mississippi River Navigation Charts (Middle Miss), and 2007 Flood Control and Navigation Maps: Mississippi River (Lower Miss), Google Maps Satellite View, Marion Braggs’ Historic Names and Places on the Lower Mississippi River , Mark Twain’s Life on the Mississippi , Great River Road website, Built St.

Louis website, Charles Dee Sharp’s The Mississippi River in 1953 , John James Audubon Birds of America , Parkman’s LaSalle , DeSoto’s Narrative , the Middle Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge website, the National Wildlife Refuge Website, Eve Beglarian River Project Blog, The Riverlorian , Wikipedia , Quapaw Canoe Company and Wild Miles. See “Sources” for complete listing, links, and suggestions for further reading. Partners: The Rivergator was born in 2011 and is coordinated by the Lower Mississippi River Foundation.

The Rivergator is made possible by many partners, in this stretch including Joan Twillman, Mississippi River Trail Association; Charlene Waggoner, Greenway Network; Annette Anderson, 1 Mississippi; Terry Eastin, Mississippi River Trail, Thomas Malkowicz, Washington University Videographer, the Missouri Division of Tourism, National Great Rivers Museum, Missouri Dept of Conservation; USACE Riverlands Project Office, Middle Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge, Water Resources Center, Missouri Dept.

of Natural Resources, Missouri River Relief and the Walton Family Foundation, which believes in "conservationomics": lasting solutions that make sense for the economy and the environment.

Wild Miles: The wonderful thing about the Middle and Lower Miss is that they are still wild! You will see some industry and agriculture between St. Louis and Baton Rouge, but for the most part your experience will be big water, big forests, big sandbars, big bluffs and big skies. Does this sound like Alaska? Or Lake Superior? Or Puget Sound? Yes -- but it’s not. It’s nothing but the muddy big river, the biggest river in North America, and the longest stretch of free-flowing waters in the Lower 48.

Wild Miles

between St. Louis and Caruthersville: In this stretch if river between St. Louis and Caruthersville wild places include: Mile 136 to 130, 6 Wild Miles Above St. Genevieve, including historic Fort DeChartres. The lights of St. Louis can be seen dimly above the northern horizon Mile 121 to 110, 11 Wild Miles, below St. Genevieve to above Chester, including Middle Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge-Kaskaskia Island and other protected public-use islands. Mile 105 to 82, 23 Wild Miles, below Chester to above Grand Tower, including Middle Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge-Rockwood Island and Wilkinson Island as well as other protected public-use islands, parks & campgrounds.

Mile 80 to 54, 26 Wild Miles Note: below Grand Tower to above Cape Girardeau with protected public-use islands and Trail of Tears State Park. Mile 45 to 8, 37 Wild Miles, below Cape Girardeau to above Cairo. Mile 935 to 925, 10 Wild Miles, below Columbus to above Hickman Mile 920 to 890, 30 Wild Miles, below Hickman to above New Madrid Note: Near Reelfoot Lake State Park -- frequent bald eagle sightings. Mile 867 to 850, 17 Wild Miles, below Tiptonville to above Caruthersville Harbor Note: unbroken forests - very wild feeling.

What are the Wild Miles? According to www.wildmiles.org there are 515 Wild Miles on the Lower Mississippi River between Cairo, Illinois, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which means that 71% of the scenery viewed from canoes or kayaks paddling down that stretch of river looks & feels “wild.” Wild Miles are the places along the river where nature predominates and nothing is seen of mankind save passing tows (and other river traffic) and maybe a tiny hunting camp or a single fisherman buzzing by in a johnboat.

These are places where the landscape is filled with giant islands bounded by endless mud banks & sandbars, where the river is overseen by big skies and where the sun sets uninterrupted by buildings or wires and where big river predominates with creative wild beauty, each high water results in shifting sand dunes and re-made sandbars. This is a floodplain valley where only deer & coyote tracks are seen along the sandbars and enormous flocks of shy birds like the white pelican and double breasted cormorant are comfortable enough to make landing for the night.

These are places where it's dark & quiet at night, where the stars fill the skies like brightly shining jewels poured out on a dark purple velvet blanket, almost as thick & vibrant as the night skies of the Great Plains or Rocky Mountains. America has an opportunity to find the "wilderness within" by recognizing and preserving the below Wild Miles in the center of the country, and it just so happens that the gigantic floodplain of the Mississippi creates these Wild Miles. These places have been preserved mostly by neglect, by the power of the river, by its catastrophic rises & falls, and the danger of building anything within its floodplain.

Moreover, in light of recent flood cycles and the declining population of the lower floodplain, this area is receiving attention as one of the best places to restore native bottomland hardwood forests. Restored forest creates habitat for wildlife, improved water quality, a buffer to flooding, and is an important means of reducing the Gulf of Mexico's "dead zone," caused by nutrient runoff into the river. For this reason the recent efforts to reopen the New Madrid Birdspoint floodway would have a detrimental effect on the entire Lower Miss, at the very least in flood control.

Developers: Instead of building any new sites within these Wild Miles, please consider placing new industry and agriculture construction outside the Wild Miles -- and stay within those places already industrialized such as within one of the many harbors along the way, or building it far enough behind the levee that it won't be seen or heard or be directly connected to the river. Big Trees and Floodplain: The Middle/Lower Mississippi River Valley was historically a vast expanse of bottomland and adjacent upland hardwood forests with scattered openings primarily created by fire, beaver, or large flood events by the Mississippi River and its tributaries.

These openings were generally comprised of herbaceous moist-soil areas that created excellent waterfowl and other wetland wildlife habitat or giant switchcane that was almost impenetrable and an extremely important habitat component for a variety of wildlife species. Once covering 22 million acres in the Mississippi River Alluvial Plain, bottomland hardwood forests have decreased in extent to only 4.9 million acres. Extensive c