N.E. Missouri paddling?

Hello all. My wife and I are considering a week of r&r in Northeast Missouri end of Sept. or first of Oct. We are looking for suggestions for areas with opportunities to do some hiking, some biking {easy, but scenic trails} and of course paddling. We prefer small, mainly calm water rivers with out lots of boat traffic. Again, the more scenic the better with views of wild life a plus. Also any info regarding shuttle services would be helpful. No camping will be involved so we are looking at day trips in the range of 12 to 20 miles. Any and all suggestions/information will be appreciated, so thanks in advance and good paddling. Michael

I don’t know where is
Missouri you are planning to go but Missouri has some very beautiful float streams. A good starting place is http://www.visitmo.com/rivers.cfm

Also if you can get a copy of this publication:

Missouri Ozark waterways: Detailed guide to 37 major float streams 2,200 miles of clear fast water in the Missouri Ozark Highlands by Oscar Hawksley (Author) it will give you a ton of good information on Missouri float streams.

The best…

– Last Updated: Mar-21-06 5:42 PM EST –

The best paddler's guide to Missouri now in print(personal opinion) is A Paddler's Guide to Missouri. It is an updated version(58 rivers & streams), based on Missouri Ozark Waterways by Oz Hawksley. It is published by the Missouri Department of Conservation & you can probably purchase(inexpensively) a copy from them if you can't get one through your local bookstore.

Contact: Missouri Department of Conservation
P.O. Box 180
Jefferson City, Missouri 65102
Phone 573-751-4115

BOB

northeast MO
Northeast Missouri is not as scenic as the Ozarks in southern MO, but does have a few floatable streams. The South Fabius is probably the best of them, although there are nice stretches of Salt River and Quivre River as well. They are all fairly slow, somewhat murky but not muddy, sand and gravel bottom, occasional bluffs and nice but not spectacular scenery. None of them are heavily floated, and as far as I know only the Quivre, closest to St. Louis, has a canoe rental. So getting a shuttle might be your biggest problem. I don’t know where in northeast MO you’ll be, but you might keep in mind that there are several excellent Ozark streams within an hour to an hour and a half southwest of St. Louis, and if you go during the week you won’t run into many people on them…and they’ll have plenty of canoe rental people to shuttle you.

Mark Twain Lake can be fun
There are lots of boat wakes when the weathers warm. There’s always the Mississippi. Caylyle lake in IL is great too. Kirksville has a nice but small lake. Let us know where you’ll be and we can offer suggestions.



Email me if your interested and I’ll send the yahoo site for St Louis County Canoe and Kayak Club (I’m the VP). You don’t have to be a club member to use the yahoo site. We’ve got 20 some trips between now and Nov, with a modest charge for non-members to attend, we also do unscheduled trips on the yahoo site no charge. Also several of us are always looking for an excuse to paddle.



Randy

Randy