After squeezing through Coot Chute and rounding Owl’s Bend, the Current River joins the Ozark Trail for about five miles. Along that stretch, many floaters miss the stunning blue water of Blue Spring, even though it’s only a quarter mile … Read More
River Art
Sycamores mostly, some a hundred years old, peeled off the banks and sent like torpedoes downriver to collect together as Mother Nature’s art.
Thank you, river stewards
Today a passing kayaker complained about a few downed trees over the upper Current River. He should have seen the river six weeks ago. Thank you, river stewards. Your work is amazing.
Seven Wonders of Shannon County: Devil’s Well
Paraphrasing Jerry Vineyard, Missouri’s preeminent geologist-explorer, Devil’s Well is a big stomach. It’s mother nature’s idea of an indoor pool, except that it’s cold and dark and scary as hell, hence the name. It is perhaps the world’s most dramatic … Read More
Seven Wonders of Shannon County: Welch Spring
Upriver from Akers Ferry, which connects the wilderness north of the Current River to the wilderness on the south, Welch Spring is home to an abandoned country hospital. Nearly a century ago, a physician built a stone sanitarium at the … Read More
Seven Wonders of Shannon County: Round Spring
Highway 19 crosses the Current at Round Spring, another wonder to the eyes, but also a wonder down under. That’s because geologists believe the spring crosses under the Current before it empties into the river. Just north, two towns named … Read More
Seven Wonders of Shannon County: Blue Spring
Most of these half million floaters miss Blue Spring, even though it’s only a quarter mile from the Current, an easy hike beside the spring’s gushing stream. Called Spring of the Summer Sky by native inhabitants, the water charges from … Read More
The Wild Horses of Shannon County
Downstream a bit, a feud has brewed for decades. At the heart of the fights are horses along the Jacks Fork and Current rivers. Back during the Great Depression, a farmer turned his herd of 30 or so horses loose … Read More
A Dickens of a Heist
Boarding a railroad car at Gads Hill, Missouri, Frank James quoted Shakespeare, announcing to startled passengers his gang’s intent to rob them. Just the rich, mind you. Not the working poor, with calloused hands. No women. No children. The Bard … Read More