Mile 80.0 - Tower Rock

John Ruskey

20 Apr 2026 � 2 min read

RBD 80 Tower Rock

As you come around Fountain Bluff, and then past Wittenburg, a hulking fang of Tower Rocks juts out of the right hand side of the channel big and dark and brooding, not far off the right bank, rising alarmingly like the biggest snag you have ever seen. Paddler’s beware! This sight causes distress to your heart for a reason. Many a good steamboat has met its demise Tower Rock or the other rock prominences found around it. At low water it is a minefield of rocky ledges. At high water giant whirlpools form around the base of the rock which caused trouble to steamboats, so imagine what it would do to you in a canoe! River levels for access to RBD Missouri shore: 5 SLG completely dry, standing water at 10SLG, turbulent water at 15 SLG, wild water at 20SLG, extremely chaotic at 25SLG and above.

Tower Rock stands around one hundred feet high above river level at low water (and of course less at high water), Tower Rock is one the most striking landmarks along the Middle Mississippi, and yet very few paddlers come near it, and so have little appreciation of its size and unusual nature. There are no other cliffs like this one anywhere along the Mississippi. There used to be, but they were all blown out or the river shifted and left them dry. When the river is between 10 and 20 ChG confident paddlers can sneak into interesting rock harbors and find a campsite on a rock ledge. Above 20 this area turns into a maelstrom of thrashing currents and canoe flipping currents and cross-currents. At 30 you can dive in well above or well below the rock and gain a sandbar against the right riverbank, about 300 yards below the rock.

Large blue holes form in low below Tower Rock, the largest of which is an old abandoned limestone quarry, probably some enterprising contractor for the USACE wing dam project. Rusting iron tracks and wheels and other artifacts of the industrial age can be found scattered around. Excellent swimming in the blue holes at low water, but don’t be tempted to dive unless you first very carefully plumb the bottoms for unseen rocks or ledges. A stand of persimmons grow on the Missouri river bank closest to Grand Tower. It is considered a Missouri Natural Area, and protected by the Dept of Conservation, which extends to the woods surrounding. You can follow a footpath up the bluff to a lookout platform above the rock for a unique view through the hickory-oak woods.

If you have made landing at Devil’s Backbone Campground and want to get to Tower Rock, you will have to wait for the right opening between towboats and then paddle hard! Your best route would be to jump in the eddy below Devil’s Bake Oven (Grand Tower) and follow it upstream as far as you can and use its circulatory motion to sling shot you into the current. Maintain a ferry line angle for the crossing until you are well across the main channel and confident you will reach the far side without losing too much ground. Downstream towboats tend to go mid channel here, and and upstreamers tend to stick to the left bank (Illinois).

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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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