Conor

I haven't done this yet but plan to scope it out if I am in the area for another reason first. It is a far drive just to look around to find it isn't practical. This isn't at the absolute top of my list for new things to see just yet but I did just do the Roubidoux Creek from Hwy M to Hwy 17 above Ft. Leonard Wood, or about 20 miles. Many say this one cannot be done either but it was great. Conor

I have been curious about floating this and it looks like the float guide says there are about 8 miles of floatable water. Is this a nice float and what is a good put-in spot? I would plan to go down to the James and take out at HL Kerr. I see "Wire Road Conservation Area" mentioned and was wondering if that would be a good starting point. Is this a high water float only and what is a good gauge to correlate it with if so? For example, is there a good level on the James at Galena to look for? Thanks, Conor

Here are some pictures of the dam and powerhouse. I like the art deco industrial architecture of the powerhouse.

Yes, the gate is likely at the intake for the tunnel. I could see there was little water coming out at the powerhouse and that was likely leaking around the gate a bit. The dam is an ungated spillway which allows water to continually flow but the gate for the tunnel/powerhouse is at a lower elevation and can take all the water. Bagnell Dam has a gated spillway section to control the lake levels and the powerhouse is basically part of the dam which is more typical. The Lake was low. You couldn't even get into Onyx Cave and I hear that they are letting water out at the dam to meet power generation and water quotas downstream. From what I understand, no power will be generated at Lake Niangua/Tunnel Dam again. Conor

I think this is wrong. Note the mention of a "dry channel" at mile 66. https://missouricanoe.org/niangua-river/ We just floated this section and it is nice. There was no water coming out at the powerhouse and signs warn of unpredictable water flows when generating and to stay away. Signs say to move away if a horn blows because power generation is starting and a dangerous surge of water will follow. It also looks like there will be no more power generation here but the dam and lake will remain intact. https://ruralmissouri.org/tunnel-dam/ Conor

Interesting... I guess enough water flows over the spillway most of the time but I saw mention of it being a "dry channel" between the dam and powerhouse at certain times. Maybe only during seriously low flows which I would think might apply right now? Conor

I just found this. https://ruralmissouri.org/tunnel-dam/ Maybe they are no longer generating??? Conor

I did down to Lake Niangua/Tunnel Dam yesterday from Leadmine and really liked this section, even with several miles of slackwater paddling leading into and on to the lake. This whole area is super cool and I was wanting to do it from below the dam to Lake of the Ozarks/Ha Ha Tonka. I understand that is about 12-13 miles but that if they are generating power at the dam, the 6-7 miles below the dam will be too low to float since that section is being bypassed by the powerhouse. Water was spilling over the dam yesterday and the section below would have been easily floatable. I drove in this way and it looks like a super nice section of river that people likely don't float. This is a rugged and remote location for sure and you have to want to get there. Is there a standard power generating schedule or site that tells you when they will be generating or not? I understand little to no water will be spilling over the dam when they are generating. Conor

Also, we didn't fish but it looks like any part of this below Hutchins Creek would be good fishing with some nice holes and pools. For trash, it wasn't terrible but unfortunately most of what we saw were large trash items like tires and the white plastic wraps from round bales. These wraps are large and become a nightmare to remove with any water or sediment trapped in them. We picked up a few bottles, beer cans, airplane bottles, etc. but that type of trash wasn't terrible. It was just some of the bigger stuff and we didn't try to get that with this trip being a complete unknown. Conor

Thanks. We were about to do this and decided to do something on the far upper Meramec above Short Bend instead. I posted that here under the Meramec. Either way, this one is on our list. Conor

We recently put in at the slab on CR 4280 which is 2 miles upstream from the confluence of Hutchins Creek and ended at Short Bend. A guy with a smart watch measured it at 13 miles or a tad more. We were dropped off at the slab as it didn't look like a good place to leave a car. The Cook Station gauge was at around 300cfs. The trip was scenic but nothing spectacular as many parts were rather pastoral, especially the first 7 miles or so.. Many minor springs pour in along the route which are pleasant. The first two miles was pretty low and scrapy. Parts are barely wide enough for a kayak. It is true creek at this point. At 2 miles in, Hutchins Creek tripled the flow or more and it became A LOT easier. I plan to scope slabs at CR 4270 and CR 4280 on that one which one looks like easy access off Hwy MM from the maps and maybe try that again next time as it looked more floatable at the confluence. Another slab at the end of Hwy W 4 miles into the trip must be portaged. This would make for a good access to avoid the upper slow parts with little water. Also, the scenery and sportiness of the river increase after getting 7 miles into the trip and just gets better until the end. You get many technical turns and such during the last 4-5 miles of this trip. Bluffs also increase in size and become more impressive. A steep sporty drop exists just before the Short Bend Bridge. You have time to react and decide to run or portage this bridge after the drop. The right bay was mostly open so I ran it without trouble. The others decided to portage. Hwy 19 and the public access come shortly after this. Overall it was a worthwhile trip but wouldn't be in a huge hurry to go back considering the logistics of being dropped off and such. I would definitely either try Hutchins Creek down or likely cut off the top and put in 4 miles down at the slab near Hwy W. You can get better scenery and similar or better sportiness from Short Bend to Wesco. Log jams were also pretty much a non-issue. There were snags to avoid but nothing crazy. The section below Short Bend has more logs all the way across than this part. I was concerned this section might be worse but it wasn't. Conor

Nice. It sounds like this is going to be a good one and I plan to do it soon. How does it compare to slow sections of the Bourbeuse? The standing waves sound fun. Sometimes these slow rivers surprise you with really fast sections. The upper Bourbeuse is like that as well. Conor

I am interested in the 19 or so mile stretch from St. Francois to Washington State Park. I understand it has some long pools and that we will need to be going much of the time to make it in a day. Also, I was wondering about any obstructions to worry about? Are there any lead catchment structures like the Newberry Riffle below Desloge? I seem to recall hearing about some collapsed slab that might need to be portaged around as well somewhere. We plan to do this soon before the heat and sun turn this section into a slimy mess as described by Al Agnew. We did the stretch above earlier in the year and were pleasantly surprised it wasn't nasty and the scenery was pretty nice. We only had an "off" odor from Flat River to the lead containment structure which was a raging rapid in high water. Conor

Yep! Your description of this in lower water summer months told me I wanted to do it in the spring with less heat, sun, and higher flows and seems to have made it a much better float. I might have seen a few accumulations of greenish-yellow slime I usually don't see so guess I only got a mild preview of the summertime nasty. I would me most worried about lead in the fish. Are spotted bass not a concern? I figured eating anything out of this river would be a bad idea but I guess now. I think other low dams are being used for this. Someone told me that the dam at Rockford Beach had washed out a while back and that it was reconstructed to capture sediments but do not know if it is true. That is the last intact dam before the Meramec. Byrnes Mill is pretty much a fast riffle at this time and Morse Mill is washed out as well. Either way, based on what you say, I should probably plan on the part from St. Francois to Washington State Park sooner rather than later for water quality reasons. Conor

We did this not long ago on a warm day during a high water time. The river was at several thousand cfs on the Irondale gauge. We planned it this way as there is plenty of talk about this section getting pretty nasty when the water is low and the sun/heat are really out due to the sewage and lead tailings combining. Overall I was very pleasantly surprised by this section and thought it was well worth it. Disturbance from mining and some urbanization was obvious but not nearly as bad as some parts of the lower river. There was also not too much trash until the Flat River which appears to carry the bulk of the trash into this section of river. There was also an off smell, likely from the sewage, that started at the confluence and continued for a short bit. This seemed to stop after the Big River Lead Catchment Structure or whatever it is called which had turned into a Grand Canyon class whitewater rapid at this water level. Only one guy ran this. The rest of of portaged around it. Unfortunately the trash continued on down to the end and likely farther. The Big River is unfortunately known for trash. This section has nice bluffs and pleasant scenery. It definitely far exceeded my expectations but probably wouldn't attempt it in lower water when it is hot and sunny based on the description I read about this section at those times. The water was brown and muddy but not nearly as bad as most of the streams I drove across on the way there. I was worried about it being a death wish as well but the Big River was at thousands of cfs, not TENS of thousands of cfs like many I drove across that day. Conor