Day #20, St. Francis (MO)

Wow! What a pleasant surprise! We were 50/50 on stopping in MO, but now we are very glad we did! Here is why...................

The day started off nice and early. We wanted to break camp and get on the river (and to CO) as soon as possible. We were able to get help from the camp manager setting shuttle and we were off.............................

The river started out very slow and we thought we might have made a mistake (also is was on the low side). After a couple of turns we realized that we had not made a mistake. The river turned into beautiful boulder gardens. It reminded me of the Watagua a bit (a much smaller, younger brother maybe). The run didn't have any push, but there were some cool slot moves and more than a few good boofs. I really had a great time. I can't get over how nice of a view we had. I am REALLY glad we stopped and paddled it. I would like to paddle it with more water. I think a lot more stuff would open up and make the rapids very interesting. :)

I am posting a few pictures Edgar took today. Towards the end of the slide show you will see an old dam. The camp manager told me about it during our shuttle ride. It is made out of nothing but rock/boulders from the river. He told me it was constructed back in the 1930s and that there was a big argument about it. Well, the argument was settled when someone went down and blew the left part of the dam out! You'll see the blown left side in the pictures.

Overall a great time. I could have gone without some of the pig farm smell, but still the river was absolutely beautiful.

Very happy.


Jason