Wife, Jake and I went canoing on the Big River in Bonne Terre MO Sunday, we were looking for someplace close so we didn't have to spend an arm and a leg to get there, Bonne Terre is just a little over an hour from my house. I used to fish the Big River years ago but it was way down river near House Springs.
We got on the river at about 1 pm for a 6 mile trip, there were about 8 canoes in our 1pm group, we were the last to get off but soon passed most everyone up.
The river was a little slow, and shallow in spots, so we ended up dragging the canoe through a few areas. Definitely not as crowded as the Current river area, once we got ahead of our group we didn't see another canoe for about 4 miles, the river goes right through St. Francois Park and there were a bunch of people there that we had to try and maneuver around. By about 5 miles we were wishing this trip was through, it was wearin' us out, we had to paddle the whole way. But still cool, something a little different. It took us 4 1/2 hours to do 6 miles, which sounds long, but I think we made good time. We passed some people at about 4 miles that took rafts out on the 10 am drop, and they were bummin', rafts aren't any good in a slow river like this, heck, they might still be out there.
here's a few pics...

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Great pics and story. It looked like a great time.

Except for the dragging part. LOL

The Big River is nice. I'm more familiar with the area at Washington State Park. A good friend of mine owned the trailer park across from the entrance. We would stay there and float the river from above to the park.

lovely photos and story.. Huntrz did you realize that the pink/lilac flower you shot was an Obiendence Plant? You can bend the stem and it will stay like that a good while.. they are great to photograph because you can "pose " them LOL

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g125/huntrz_2006/DSCN0409lo.jpg

Kewl story H....When I first seen this pic it reminded me of the Wizard of Oz!

Dorothy, TOTO with the little wicker tote and all....Mrs. Huntrz was prolly saying there's no place like home too! ROFL!

I know the last time I went WW rafting I was ready for a NAP!!!

Looks like a nce trip waas had. We made it back down to the current in July, but always float the middle of the week to avoid the crowds:)

Looks like a great trip all around...

Can't the lil gremlin swim? The dog will live in a dumping, but no life jackets on you guys... :p

Can't the lil gremlin swim?


Of course Jake can swim, but the boy never learned how to do the DawgPaddle, he can only do the Breaststroke...:eek: and not very well. actually he likes swimming more than he likes riding in that noisy canoe, it freaked him out everytime the bottom scraped the rocks.
the jacket is mainly to pick him up by the handle and put him in the boat, and/or just in case he would get carried away in a rapids.

Cool, looks like a good time was had by one and all.