Mile 16.0 - below 16 SLG: Portage LBD

John Ruskey

20 Apr 2026 � 2 min read

below 16 SLG: Portage LBD

At 4-10 feet SLG the Chain is a deadly ten to fifteen foot drop over rock, concrete wreckage and steel reinforcement. Keepers follow your capsize. If you ran it and capsized you would be recirculated in the rotating turbulence at the base of the waterfall, and even if rescuers were on hand, a rescue would be impossible. Go to shore at the fish access bank left and portage. The shortest portage is found bank left along Chouteau Island, but be very careful not to overshoot the pull-out. Make landing at the top end of the rip-rap. (Warning: The falls bank left are keepers. Capsize means rolling over and over in a tumbling vortex of re-circulating water that wouldn’t let you go). Make landing on the rip-rap at the top end of the Chouteau Island Fishing Area. Secure your vessel and start portage. If you’ve never done this before, it’s simple: carry all your gear to the landing below the rip-rap below the waterfalls. Carry your canoe or kayak to the same. Re-pack your vessel and push off downstream. It’s a 200 foot portage across the parking lot, but carry your vessel well beyond the bottom of the waterfall to avoid being pulled back into the falls by the strong eddies below Chain. Medium sized waves roll into shore. Repack your vessel as it sits in the sand, or be sure to securely tie to a sand anchor (such as your paddle buried deep into the sand) or run a line up to the bankside trees).

As the water rises 10-16SLG the falls become shorter but are still very dangerous. The LBD keepers are still active. (Keeper means you won’t be able to swim out if you capsize). The few possible lines of passage become an obstacle course of boulder-sized rocks and industrial waste, and are followed by an imposing series of 10-foot-tall trains of giant haystacking waves that local paddlers have colorfully named “The Humbacks” or “The Trolls.” Many a boat has been swamped here, and at least one paddler lost. You are strongly advised to portage at any level below 16SLG.

Expert paddlers only: you might find a route far bank right, directly below the Missouri shoreline, far to the right of the water intake structures, and revolving around a large eddy. Best practice is to stop and scout first and determine your best line of progress and assess your personal ability to make the run. (Long-distance paddlers: you can always portage gear first to lighten your load). If you are unsure of this deadly challenge, by all means stay LBD and make the Chouteau Island portage. For more reading about running the Chain at this deadly level, go the Rivergator Appendix II and read the informative essay by that grizzled sage of the Middle Miss, Big Muddy Mike Clark, or Rivergator Appendix XVII: Water Ram Dugout Canoe Journal 2002.

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