St. Louis to Caruthersville

Mile 94.5 - RBD Cinque L’Homme Creek

John Ruskey

20 Apr 2026 � 1 min read

94.5 RBD Cinque L’Homme Creek

Below Cinque L’Homme Creek the river makes one of my favorite runs down the dancing ridge line of the Missouri Ozarks on the right, and flood plain on the left, running eastward toward Fountain Bluff. The right bank bluffs are a roller coaster ridge capped by maples, catalpas, oaks, ashes, beeches & sycamores of the woodlands region, a band of white limestone cliffs with caves crevasses and cracks, jumbles of boulders, deep ravines with steep rocky sides, springs & seeps & waterfalls, meanwhile down below the big belly of mother Mississippi flowing proudly, serenely & strongly down hallways of bluffs & ridges, striking mounds & mountains of rock & forest somehow sub-tropical in shape, subtly feeling more southern in the columns of ridges. A German poet I once guided through this section excitedly exclaimed “its starting to look like the Amazon!”

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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

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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