How many rivers have you floated the whole thing?

[Al Agnew]

I got back to Missouri yesterday, and if the thunderstorms will ever give me a three day window where I'm not gonna get electrocuted, I'm going to do a solo three day float on one of the relatively few stretches of rivers in the Ozarks that I haven't already done--Kings River.  I was doing some preliminary planning, and got to thinking about all the streams I've done in their entirety at one time or another.  

I've done my home river, Big River, multiple times from all the way up at Belgrade, far above what's usually considered floatable, to the mouth.  That's somewhere around 120 miles of river.  

I've been on the Meramec from Short Bend to the mouth...195 miles.

I've floated the Bourbeuse from where the paddling guide says is the highest possible put-in to the mouth, plus another stretch above there...about 118 miles.

Mineral Fork from above where it starts (put in on one of the two tributaries that come together to form it) to where it ends, about 17 miles.

Indian Creek (Franklin County), but not as high up as I think I could put in.

Huzzah from Dillard Mill down, 30 miles.

Courtois from above where the paddling guide says is the highest put-in, 28 miles.

Haven't done all the Gasconade yet.

Have done all the Big Piney, 85 miles.

All the Little Piney, 20 miles.

Not quite all the Osage Fork.

Not quite all the Niangua.

Missing a few sections of the James.

Missing all of Flat Creek.  Gotta get down there and do it one of these days.

Have done all of Beaver Creek.

Not quite all of the North Fork and Bryant Creek.

Missing the last short stretch of the Eleven Point in Missouri.

Have done the entire Current River in MO, 138 miles, and Jacks Fork from the Prongs, 45 miles.

All of Black River to Poplar Bluff, starting at Sutton Bluff on the West Fork, 42 miles above Clearwater, 45 miles.

All the St. Francis above Wappapello, including a stretch that nobody hardly floats on the upper upper end, 86 miles.  And all the Little St. Francis and Big Creek, 15 miles and 20 miles.

All the floatable water on Castor River and Whitewater River, and since they aren't in the paddling guide I don't know how many miles that is offhand.

In Arkansas, I've done the Buffalo from Ponca down, pretty much all the Strawberry...but not the entirety of any other river.

Just those alone add up to something like 1500 different miles of Ozark stream.  When you add in all the other streams, including several that are not in the guidebooks, that I've floated, it probably comes to close to 1700 miles.  

On a related note, I once tried to count the total number of miles I've put in paddling a canoe or other non-motorized watercraft since my first float trip at about age 7 or 8, nearly 60 years ago.  At the time, it came to 15,000 miles.  And that was many years ago.  I suspect it's well over 25,000 miles by now.

And I never get tired of it!

[Mitch f]

Well I know for sure you and I did the furthest up the Big River and the confluence at the Meramec

[fishinwrench]

That's impressive.  

I've floated every inch of the Salt River and 3 of it's tributaries, and about 1/2 of the Mississippi. 

All the other rivers I fish have stretches that I haven't seen yet.  Even the Niangua.....which I'm almost ashamed to admit.

[Mitch f]

10 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

That's impressive.  

I've floated every inch of the Salt River and 3 of it's tributaries, and about 1/2 of the Mississippi. 

All the other rivers I fish have stretches that I haven't seen yet.  Even the Niangua.....which I'm almost ashamed to admit.

When Al floats, he can stay at a constant distance from the bank, making casting much more efficient than me. So on any given stream, I can log many more miles that him on the same stretch because I zig zag down the river!😂 

[Devan S.]

The Kings river is the one I'm closest to finishing complete. I lack from Marble up stream and between Marshall ford to Rockhouse.  Marble up is difficult for me to commit to because of water levels. The only gauge is at Berryville and therefore isn't representative of the river level that far up stream. I'm always hesitant to drive all the way down there just to have to drag through every thing.

Marshall ford to Rockhouse involves a long shuttle ride. To the point I would rather do Marble to Rockhouse in a multi day. I tell myself every year I'm gonna take a week off and do the whole thing or just finish up the sections I'm missing but I haven't done it yet. 

Flat creek is another one I need to check off. For its relative proximity to me I haven't floated a single section....Maybe someday. 

[ColdWaterFshr]

Wow, that is impressive, Al.  There are only a handful that I can think that I've done the entire length:  Jacks Fork, Huzzah, Courtouis, Mineral Fork, Finley, Little Piney . . .

Probably floated only 20% of the Meremac.  And only 10% of the Gasconade.  And only the upper 1/3rd of the Current.

You're talking canoe and not jet-boat, right?

[lobina grande]

My buddy just finished kayaking the entire Missouri river.  It took him 3 months to paddle 2500 miles.

https://paddlestlouis.com/?fbclid=IwAR1MMfvzAbOggXAySd61u0YcasYurlf7Eas_VTpIoffs0QMgZ64i4PuOqRM

 

 

 

 

[Flysmallie]

Oh this is easy. ZERO

@Chief Grey Bear and I were going to do the James from Springfield Lake to Table Rock but we have never got around to it. But That still wouldn't be all of it. I'm close on a bunch but most of that is water that I would just be floating to say I've done it so I'd say it will probably always be zero. 

[Gavin]

That is impressive...Have completed a few small streams, but none of the long rivers. Have the Big Piney almost complete, but still gotta do the FLW section.

 

 

 

[TroutRinger]

Al,

Send me all your unlisted streams and I can use a GIS mapping software to calculate the distance for you 🤫