River Log section: St. Louis to Caruthersville
St. Louis to Caruthersville
109.9 Chester Bridge The shiny steel Chester Bridge glistens in the sunlight as you come around Beaver and Kaskaskia Islands from upstream. It is advantageously placed in a natural narrows where the Missouri bottomland comes close to the Pawnee Hills at Chester. It is the first highway crossing below
St. Louis to Caruthersville
110.5 - 109.7 RBD Horse Island Opposite the town of Chester at RBD 110.5 Saline Creek enters the Mississippi at the top end of Horse Island through an old channel of the Mississippi. This creek channel is worthy of exploration. There is a landing 6 miles upstream
St. Louis to Caruthersville
110.5 RBD Access to St. Mary’s Boat Ramp via Old River Channel/Saline Creek Six miles up the Old River Channel/Saline Creek found above Horse Island will bring you to a good boat ramp in heart of the town of St. Mary, Missouri. This access makes for
St. Louis to Caruthersville
116-111 LBD Opposite Cherokee Dikes During low water good camping could be found in along most of the length of the Dike Field Opposite Cherokee, a floodplain stretch, which starts at the base of the Pawnee Hills, Illinois side, and runs down to Menard Corrections Facility, the Illinois State Pen.
St. Louis to Caruthersville
117 LBD Ellis Grove Landing Several hundred yards downstream of the mouth of the Kaskaskia there are a couple of beautiful landings created by creeks spilling off the Pawnee Hills that might be useful camps in strong winds or storms out of the north, or just a good picnic site.
St. Louis to Caruthersville
117.4 LBD Kaskaskia River The Middle Mississippi River Wildlife Refuge headquarters is now located at Kaskaskia Lock and Dam. There are good boat ramps both above and below the Lock and Dam that provide adequate access, parking, and camping opportunities. The one below the dam is the best one,
St. Louis to Caruthersville
117.8 - 115.8 RBD Beaver Island Beaver Island is a 245- acre division of the Middle Mississippi National Wildlife Refuge, which was added in 2004 through a donation from Ducks Unlimited. It has a mature cottonwood forest, an active side channel, and several secondary channels near the main
St. Louis to Caruthersville
120.4 RBD New Bourbon Port Authority Like many economic incentive projects on the Middle and Lower Mississippi Rivers, the New Bourbon Port Authority has yet to realize its potential and remains as vacant as they day it was carved out of the mud. This is kind of sad given
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