Mile 187.8 - RBD Big Muddy Adventures (Primitive Mud Ramp)

John Ruskey

20 Apr 2026 � 2 min read

187.8 RBD Big Muddy Adventures (Primitive Mud Ramp)

Big Muddy Adventures is located at 539 Scranton, just a short walk over Riverside Park and up the bluff behind the sprawling (and abandoned) cement factory. Call Big Muddy Mike in advance if you need expert guiding, shuttling, food & water resupply, equipment, or any other needs in the St. Louis area. Big Muddy is the go-to and can-do guy. If he can’t provide it, he will know someone who can.

Owner Big Muddy Mike Clark has become something of a gatekeeper at the Chain of Rocks for long distance expeditions coming down the Missouri and Upper Mississippi to or through St. Louis. He will give your vessel a pre-Coast Guard inspection, and will provide valuable assistance as to what you will need from here on downstream, and what you should leave behind. If he takes a liking to you he might accompany you over the waterfall. Otherwise, you would do well to hire him for the service, or expert advice as to where and when to run.

Big Muddy Adventures is an insured professional river guiding and outfitting company, located in St. Louis MO just downstream of the Confluence of the Mississippi River and the Missouri River. BMA offers custom guided river trips by canoe and kayak, including St. Louis area daytrips, full moon floats, and multi day canoe camping trips. BMA's guiding and outfitting territory extends from Hannibal, MO to Cairo, IL on the Mississippi River, from Jefferson City, MO to the Confluence on the Missouri River, and from Hardin, IL to the Illinois River and Mississippi River Confluence. BMA is affiliated with Quapaw Canoe Company of Clarksdale, MS, Helena, AR, and Natchez, MS, extending the guiding territory all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.

BMA was founded by Michael Clark, a veteran urban educator from Chicago, who moved to St. Louis in 2001 and began the business as an alternative way of teaching, from the river. Clark and two other educators began a learning adventure project connecting a live expedition by canoe with virtual elementary and middle school student partners. They paddled the entire length of the Mississippi River and engaged nearly 10,000 students.

A fateful meeting occurred on this inaugural learning adventure expedition. Clark met John Ruskey of Quapaw Canoe Company in the middle of the Lower Mississippi River. Ruskey and Clark quickly forged a friendship and partnership. The following year, 2002, they completed the second BMA learning adventure project, a complete navigation of the Missouri River, again engaging thousands of students as virtual partners. During this expedition, it became clear that the virtual access to the river was great, but there needed to be opportunity for true hands-on experiences too. Ruskey was already established with his Quapaw Canoe Company and he assisted Clark in opening up the guiding and outfitting business in St. Louis. Today Big Muddy Adventures is the preeminent if not only outfitting and guiding operation on the Middle Mississippi River and the Lower Missouri River.

BMA founder, Mike Clark, is on the board of the Mississippi River Water Trail Association, the Lower Mississippi River Foundation, and a professional member of the American Canoe Association, the St. Louis Canoe and Kayak Club, and Missouri Floaters Association. All BMA staff have first aid training and certificates.

Contact: Michael F. Clark, Big Muddy Adventures, 539 Scranton Ave, Riverview MO 63137, 314-610-4241, website: http://www.2muddy.com, email: mike@2muddy.com

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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

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