Mile 195.6 - RBD The Great Confluence!
195.6 RBD The Great Confluence!
Now you can enjoy the incomparable feeling of bliss floating into the meeting of big rivers, here at the confluence of two of the biggest and longest rivers in North America, the Upper Mississippi and the Missouri River. There is an elegance in the experience, which can only be fully enjoyed at river speed. Us paddlers think this is best done in a canoe or kayak, but some people swim into this confluence and swear that swimming is the only way to fully feel the waters. Viewed from the air, the rivers curve inwards and outwards around Portage de Sioux, and then at last curve together around Mobile Island, and in the tenderest last double swoop their concurrent trajectories of slightly different angularity bring them gently together at one of the sharpest angles possible, like two dancers spinning and spiraling around each other on stage, to finally join hands as their individual orbits and gracefully come in contact. Like dancers, the two rivers join hands, bow, and then exit downstage now joined together as one.
The experience can be spiritual. Paddlers are often awed by the power of these two big rivers meeting each other. Acclaimed classical composer Eve Beglarian kayaked into the confluence as “a wave materialized before me, deep down in the water, a real breaker like you see on the ocean shore, and that breaker somehow transformed into a spiral, and it circled first down and then rose up and pulled me into it and I lifted my paddle above my head to let it take me around, amazed, and after it had let me feel it, let me know its power, it released me downstream and I soared into the meeting of these two great streams, exultant beyond anything I have ever experienced before. I think this must all sound pretty over the top, I wish I could fully articulate the ferocious beauty of this water, this complex and ravenous flow. I had always thought real power resided in the circular, but this river, with its braids, both horizontal (in its sloughs and meanders and coursings) and the invisible multiply braided currents and knots that flow vertically, beneath the surface, creates an unbelievably complex directed line, made up of all these uncountable curves and circles that knit together to make this inexorable directed flow. It is counterpoint on a vast, overpowering scale — counterpoint that you can’t subdue or resist, can’t even comprehend or encompass.”
But sometimes the meeting is not so friendly and equitable. After big snowmelt and heavy rainfall the Upper Mississippi might charge into the confluence and put the plug on the Missouri, succumbing the surly brash muddy mess of its Western brother. Sometimes it seems to consume the Missouri in a all encompassing embrace as it pushes it back upstream into muted stillness all the way up to the 365 bridge (7 miles upstream, as witnessed by Michael F. Clark). Big Muddy Mike says he has seen the Upper Miss do this to the Missouri, but he has never seen the Missouri do the opposite to the Upper Miss.
Another way of looking at from the air is in the shape of a bird’s beak. Some say it reminds them of an eagle for all of the bald eagles in the area. Others say it’s a red tailed hawk. To me it looks more like the beak of a turkey or a vulture.
What Color is the Mississippi River?
In 1721, French explorer Father Pierre Francois de Charlevoix wrote of the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, “I believe this is the finest confluence in the world. The two rivers are much the same breadth, each about half a league; but the Missouri is by far the most rapid, and seems to enter the Mississippi like a conqueror, through which it carries its white waters to the opposite shore without mixing them, after wards, it gives its color to the Mississippi which it never loses again but carries quite down to the sea....”
What Color is the Mississippi River? Paddlers can entertain this question as they approach the Missouri/Mississippi River confluence because the changes are so noticeable. Writers, painters, poets, and us paddlers are more sensitive to the changes than land dwellers whose experience of the river is from a bridge through the windows of the cars.
The Missouri is called the “Big Muddy,” and it seems like the Middle Miss takes on similar muddiness, and later the Lower Miss. But what is the color of the mud? Its muddiness is of course most often associated with the most basic earth tone --brown. But which brown? TS Elliott found the river to be a "strange brown god" in his Dry Salvages, and did not offer any further elaboration. William Faulkner saw darker brown tones in the river "rippling placidly towards the sea, brown and rich as chocolate between the levees who inner faces were wrinkled as though in frozen and aghast amazement…” (Old Man). Poet Langston Hughes saw the river from a train window crossing the St. Louis Ead’s Bridge and wrote "I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln/ went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy/ bosom turn all golden in the sunset."
Any confluence renders an interesting contrast which can be seen on the face of the water where the two rivers meet. With a little preparation paddlers can approach one of the many confluences on the Middle/Lower Miss and enjoy the constellation of patterns which erupt at these meeting places, spirals and boils and eddies of varying water colors, the colors often stay to the side of the river they came from and swirl alongside the other river for a long ways downstream until one color finally predominates. The collision of colors can be seen at the mouth of the Missouri, the Meramec, and of course the Ohio. For some reason the winning color is always the muddy color. And not just because of volume. This muddy truism comes from the original Big Muddy. If you hear someone call the Mississippi "the big muddy," this is only because its color derives from the Missouri. The true Big Muddy is the Missouri River. Its nickname is due to its rich silt laden waters which carry the sediments of the western and midwestern deserts, prairies and mountains.
In fact the power of mud is first expressed here at St. Louis where the normally smaller Missouri joins the Upper Mississippi and together they flow downstream through St. Louis to Cairo as the Middle Mississippi. Even though the Missouri is the smaller volume river, its muddy water colors overwhelm the darker & clearer tannin-rich colors of the bigger volume Upper Mississippi, and together they finally combine as a muddy brown river, in essence an expression of the colors of the Missouri. 180 miles further downstream the Ohio flows in from the East to join the muddy Mississippi. The Ohio normally carries twice the volume of the Mississippi. And yet its greenish waters become muddied by the Mississippi. It requires several dozen miles of side-by-side flow. The Greenish waters hug the Kentucky shoreline and the muddy brown waters hug the Missouri shoreline. But eventually they collide and revolve around each other and get stirred up into one homogenous mix. And which color predominates? Muddy brown of course!
For more discussion of this topic, go to: https://www.rivergator.org/paddlers-guide/how-to-paddle-the-big-river/what-color-mississippi
The Lower Missouri is its own water trail, which can be explored online including great photos and a very useful interactive map. Go to the Missouri River Trail Website: www.missouririverwatertrail.org
Many safety aspects of the Lower Missouri are relevant to the Mississippi, as shared here by Missouri River paddler Bryan Hopkins: “The Missouri River is one of the largest rivers in North America. This statement may seem kind of obvious, but from a safety standpoint this is an important consideration. Unlike a trip on a smaller river or stream, if you capsize in the middle of the Missouri River, you may find yourself quite some distance from shore. Wearing a life jacket is recommended for any kind of boating activity and doubly so for paddling on the Missouri River. The Missouri River is sometimes described as like paddling on a big moving lake. This analogy is valuable, as many of the typical safety issues associated with paddling on a lake are especially relevant for the Missouri River. Wind can be a major factor on the wide-open Missouri River, resulting in waves that can make paddling a challenge. Cold water is also a factor that should be considered on the Missouri River. If you capsize, you may not be able to get to shore easily. During a significant portion of winter and early spring the water is cold. A wet suit is a good idea when paddling on any open body of water in the state of Missouri during these times. More boaters are killed by cold water, than any other cause, often despite wearing a life jacket.
“Large barges travel the river corridor and these large vessels have no ability to steer around small craft such as a canoe or kayak. However, if you learn to recognize the location of the river channel that is indicated by the navigation marker system on the river, then you know exactly where a barge must travel. More information on reading the navigation markers can be found in the river tools section. When encountering a barge, a paddler should move to the side of the river and wait for the barge to pass and the waves to settle down. By pointing your boat towards the waves you should be able to let the barge and its waves pass with little trouble. It is worth repeating that barges have legal right-of-way and do not have the maneuverability to avoid your small craft. You must move aside and let them pass.
“Another consideration is the hazard posed by barges moored on the river. Stay well clear of these, as the river is rushing under the front of the vessel and could pull a small craft under. The lower Missouri River is a channelized river system. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has constructed rock-reinforced structures along the entire lower river, used to direct the current into a central channel. These “wing dams” or “L-dikes” can create turbulence and strong currents that are best avoided by small craft.
The current averages between 3-5 miles per hour with a flow that can range between 30,000 -100,000 cubic feet per second. This gives the Missouri River immense power. Paddlers should keep alert and avoid logs, wing dams and other structures in the river, including navigation buoys. Currents are often strong around these objects and can create an entrapment hazard. When the river is rising, a significant amount of debris can end up in the water, such as logs, trash and even entire trees. It is advised to consider waiting until the river level begins to drop again, as much of the debris will hang up on shore or wing dams, making travel much better. When camping on a sandbar, it is a good idea to know what you would do if the river rises. A good local rainfall can bring the river up several feet in a matter of hours.
“The Missouri River presents a special attraction for those who wish to get away from the crowds. However, the distances between access points can be 10 miles or more. It is important to plan your trip accordingly and understand that paddling down the Missouri River often involves an element of commitment. The surrounding bottomlands are largely agricultural or undeveloped and one can paddle miles without seeing signs of human habitation.”
By Bryan Hopkins, Water Resources Center, Missouri Department of Natural Resources. For more maps, photos and more description for the Missouri River Trail, please go visit: www.missouririverwatertrail.org.