River Log section: St. Louis to Caruthersville
St. Louis to Caruthersville
45.8 - 45.5 LBD Rock Island This small island staunchly blocks the mouth of Miller Creek (also Sexton Creek and Clear Creek) at Gale, IL. Excellent winter forest camping, but you’d want to avoid in the summer for lack of sandy landings and profusion of mosquitoes.
St. Louis to Caruthersville
46.2 RBD Gray’s Point The Pawnee Hills crosses the Missouri River at Gray’s Point forcing the river eastward and a little north before it finds a break and cuts south and across Clear Creek.
St. Louis to Caruthersville
48 RBD Southeast Missouri Port Authority/Cape Girardeau Slackwater Harbor Small but sometimes busy slackwater harbor located LBD opposite the base of Marquette Island. Watch for tows steaming in and out of harbor.
St. Louis to Caruthersville
48.8 RBD Castor River Diversion Channel Historically the Castor River ran free across the Missouri Bootheel into the Arkansas Delta, to join the beautiful St. Francis, and parallel the Mississippi for hundreds of miles past Caruthersville, Osceola, West Memphis and Marianna, all the way down to the end of
St. Louis to Caruthersville
51 - 47 Cape Bend Chute (Marquette Island Back Channel) In low water the back channel of Marquette Island (Cape Bend Chute) can be accessed through a break in the dike LBD near mile 51. You will avoid a lot of industry and busy traffic located in this short stretch
St. Louis to Caruthersville
51 LBD Giboney Island Giboney Island hugs the Illinois side of the river LBD downstream of the Cape Bridge. You could find narrow sandy camps here in all but the highest of water levels, but you would hear traffic, and better sites are found not far downstream on Marquette Island.
St. Louis to Caruthersville
51 - 47 LBD Marquette Island Marquette island offers one of the most reliable highwater campsites on the entire Middle Miss (along with Ste. Genevieve’s Moro Island, Rockwood island, Brown’s Bar, and a few others). Great spot but surrounded by industry on the top end. Plenty of other
St. Louis to Caruthersville
51.5 Cape Girardeau (Bill Emerson) Memorial Bridge This elegant cable-stay bridge heralds your arrival into the Cape City. The towers and the slicing geometry of cables become visible far upstream and can still be seen far downstream. Cape Girardeau was once known as the “City of Roses” for the
St. Louis to Caruthersville
LBD 52.2 Cape Girardeau Flood Wall Classy entrance into the City of Cape Girardeau at the foot of Broadway. Pull in and make your landing here if you’re ready for lunch, and stretch your legs, and see the beautiful sea wall murals. Broussard's Cajun Cuisine is
St. Louis to Caruthersville
52.7 Red Star Boat Ramp Double wide boat ramp located at the mouth and a little upstream of Sloan Creek. Good parking, and a nearby pavilion to get out of the sun or rain. This would be the easiest access point if you are starting or ending an adventure
St. Louis to Caruthersville
54.1 RBD Cape Rock The Mississippi River route gets very interesting paddling into Cape Girardeau, as it gets squeezed between Cape Rock and the cross channel underwater dikes at Minton Point. These dikes were placed deep under the river to slow down river flow and make it easier for
St. Louis to Caruthersville
54.5 RBD Juden Creek Juden Creek is one of the last Ozark streams that you will see on the Middle Mississippi. This is a bittersweet goodbye to the end of the Missouri Hills and the beginnings of the Missouri Bootheel. The bitterness comes from having to bid farewell to