Mile 164.5 - LBD Pulltight Landing Blue Hole

John Ruskey

20 Apr 2026 � 1 min read

164.5 LBD Pulltight Landing Blue Hole

Just below and opposite Pulltight Landing is a large blue hole carved out of the riverbank parallel to the outside of the bend here by the Flood of 1993. As you’re paddling by you probably won’t notice the slight variation in treeline where the river runs in and out at highwater. A blue hole typically gets carved during highwater, or in this case a flood. An obstruction of some sort sets the blue hole digging mechanism into action. When fast water hits a solid mass like a sinker log, or a wrecked barge (or here the rip-rap alongside the riverbank), it boils upwards. Everyone knows for every action and equal and opposite reaction. As it billows upwards in boils, reactionary currents suck downwards filling the vacuum of the upward motion. As the reactionary waters suck downwards they strike and gouged-out holes in the river bottom, sometimes in sand, sometimes gravel, sometimes mud. Here at Pulltight it’s that rich American Bottom mud. The results are seen in various isolated lakes and holes scattered throughout the floodplain. For years people wondered where blue holes came from, and what caused them. We used to wonder the same about “kettle holes,” those lakes that are created when giant chunks of ice melt (left behind by the retreating ice cap).

More from this section

Preamble:

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

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

Mile 57.0 - Interstate 57 Bridge

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

Mile 10.2 - 10.2 - 7.7 LBD Boston Bar

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

Mile 10.2 - 10.2 - 7.7 LBD Boston Chute

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.

Mile 13.0 - LBD Cache River Diversion Canal

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