Archipelago of Islands strung along the Illinois shoreline with possible camping throughout, the best being found on the last and biggest (see below for more about Betsy’s Bar).
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
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
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
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.
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