River Log section: St. Louis to Caruthersville
St. Louis to Caruthersville
Preamble: I first explored this stretch of river on a 5-month raft trip that began after my high school graduation in 1982. My best friend and I decided that we had enough of traditional schooling, and much to the dismay of our guidance counselors we scuttled all college plans and
St. Louis to Caruthersville
Table of Contents Appendix I - The Lower Missouri River Water Trail Appendix II - Upper Mississippi River Water Trails Appendix III - Mike Clark: Chain of Rocks Appendix IV - Mike Clark: Alton to Arch Appendix V - Over the Chain of Rocks with the Lewis & Clark Appendix
St. Louis to Caruthersville
7.5 Interstate 57 Bridge Vertical Clearance: 107.3 feet minus Cairo Gage. As with all bridges, avoid getting too close to pylons supporting the bridge structure. Water pushes strongly against pylons on top end, and turbulent waters swirl below. 5 - 1.8 LBD Angelo Towhead Angelo Towhead is
St. Louis to Caruthersville
10.2 - 7.7 LBD Boston Bar Boston Bar hugs the left bank descending and creates a moody scene, partly due to the massive piles of driftwood that get mashed deep into its woods. Good low and medium campsites are found at the top end of Boston Bar on
St. Louis to Caruthersville
10.2 - 7.7 LBD Boston Chute You can enjoy a three mile passage through the bottomland forests lining Boston Chute, but be wary of a cross channel dike at bottom end which causes 3 foot whitewater waves in medium water levels.
St. Louis to Caruthersville
13 LBD Cache River Diversion Canal The Cache River used to enter the Ohio River in between Mounds City and Urbandale, both upstream of Cairo, but now it enters the Mississippi 13 miles above Cairo, and about 20 miles from its old mouth. Go figure. Such is the nature of
St. Louis to Caruthersville
13.5 - 11.8 RBD Island No. 29 Island 29 is an active hunting Camp, and accessible by land in low water. As stated above, paddlers should avoid this inhospitable landscape due to steep muddy banks in low water, and claustrophobic forests in high water, except for back channel
St. Louis to Caruthersville
14.3 - 13.5 RBD Island No. 28 Islands 28 and 29 present inhospitable landscapes for paddle weary travelers (due to steep muddy banks in low water, and claustrophobic forests in high), but they make for great off-channel exploration in medium water or higher. Opens up around 15 CGG,
St. Louis to Caruthersville
14.5 - 11.8 Sister Chute Warning: low water dam at bottom end of Sister Chute, at the last dike near mile 12.2. No flow in low water, dangerous drop in medium water, disappears under the flow in high water.
St. Louis to Caruthersville
16.8 LBD Scudder Bar Steep Sandbar below high bank in dismal location at the edge of extensive fields. This would be a good emergency camp for extreme north winds, but otherwise you would be best served by the beauty of the Middle Miss to camp elsewhere, such as Angelo
St. Louis to Caruthersville
18 - 17 RBD Thompson Towhead There never seem to be good landings along the steep muddy rip-rap banks right bank descending from mile 20 to mile 18, maybe a few sandy bluff purchases in high water, and at low and medium water a lot of slimy muddy flats seem
St. Louis to Caruthersville
20.2 Thompson Boat Ramp Thompson Boat Ramp is a narrow concrete ramp in remote location. No services. Limited use. Bottoms out around 25CGG.