“Don’t be disappointed if we don’t see any eagles,” I warned my two young daughters as we drove round the last curve before we reached the river. A frigid January had tamed the top of the Mighty Mississippi. Only the … Read More
The Confluence
It was a cool day. As we paddled down the Missouri River into the Mighty Mississippi, a flock of pelicans took flight from the far shore.
A winter float to the Irish Wilderness
The Eleven Point River was running full and fast. From Greer Access, floating downriver through Stair Step Hole, whistling past Graveyard Hollow, I crossed Mary Decker Shoal, passed Hurricane Creek, the Turner Mill wheel and Stinking Pond, rounded Horseshoe Bend, … Read More
Good Water Gone Bad
It’s the greatest water park in the world. A summer afternoon at Johnson’s Shut-Ins will make you forget about manmade water parks. That’s because it pushes humans through some of the most hair-raising chutes a body can stand without drowning. … Read More
Pegleg Shannon’s County
Shannon County is a synonym for wilderness, with a few small settlements scattered across the deep woods. It’s a great place to hide, or get lost. From border to border, as the Jacks Fork River slices across its face, Shannon … Read More
Winter Water
The air was cold, a few degrees above freezing. Three of us pushed one long canoe away from shore and paddled out of a swirling eddy into the main stream, thus surviving the most dangerous phase of the trip: the … Read More
I’ll Never Go
Johnnie’s Bar has been serving whiskey in downtown St. James since the Irish laborers built the railroad through here. Even from the outside, Johnnie’s looks foreboding, with its big neon Stag Beer sign over a doorway into cold, smoky darkness. … Read More
Alone in the Wilderness with coyotes
Downriver, I found a suitable gravel bar where I beached my canoe to climb the riverbank and set up camp deep in the Irish Wilderness. Because the wilderness deserves a “leave no trace” campsite, I packed light: a tent, sleeping … Read More
Surprise, Missouri
As I paddled down the Eleven Point River, I knew that within the better part of a county in every direction, I was a population of one. This is the Irish Wilderness. Along the river there used to be a … Read More