Mile 34.0 - RBD Goose Island Blue Hole/Old River/Horseshoe Lake

John Ruskey

20 Apr 2026 � 1 min read

34 RBD Goose Island Blue Hole/Old River/Horseshoe Lake

A giant blue hole is contained bhind the wall of rip rap at mle 34 left bank descending. It is open to the paddler at all water levels, you can point your canoe or kayak into the opening in the rock wall at low water (or paddle over the turbulence n med or high water) and make landing on the sandbars against the bank. A short hike over the levee will bring you to an old river channel now completely isolated as a lake.

Over the levee behind Goose Island Blue Hole, and the Old River, an ancient channel of the Mississippi River plowed through the flat landscape and cmpleted a tight 180 degree bend in a shape reminiscent of present day Dogtooth Bend or Greenleaf Bend. The river changed course, and left the giant lake with a 20 mile shoreline deep in the woods. The 10,200 acres of shallow lake and extensive forests comprised of bald cypress, tupelo gum, swamp cottonwood trees and wild lotus make you feel like you’ve reached Louisiana! Well not quite, but you’ve almost reached the Lower Mississippi River and the flora and fauna is changing. Fall and winter paddlers will see large populations of waterfowl and bald eagles. Spring and summer guests will enjoy the vibrant colors of the foliage. Some of the most beautiful blooms are found on red buckeye shrubs in April and wild lotus in June. Native southern hardwood forests are abundant, and two large, undisturbed tracts have been dedicated as Illinois Nature Preserves. These preserves are open to visitors, but also are used for scientific research and education.

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