Eleven Point River adventure

Our friend, Micah, invited us to spend a few days fishing and floating the Eleven Point River in the Missouri Ozarks during spring break.  The original plan was to camp along the river, but overnight lows were forecasted to drop below freezing and rain was possible.  While we could camp in those conditions, we weren't after a "roughing it" experience.  I found very reasonably priced cottages for rent in nearby Alton; these were really more "houses" than cottages, with up to 4 bedrooms.  Because it was low season, Brian rented us the largest cottage for our group of 4.  This proved to be a great setup; we used the cottage as base camp and did day floats on the river.

There were so many hawks along the highway as we drove between Sikeston and Poplar Bluff!  Micah, Beth, and Beulah (Micah's wonder dog) toured through Mingo NWR.  Laura and I stopped along the way to photograph some snow geese that were in a canal and then on to Big Spring, MO.  It was late afternoon, so the light was getting low.  This proved to be a great opportunity to play with long exposures on our new camera (and some toying around with HDR when we got home).  We spent a while adjusting the settings to try and learn how to improve our photographs of the flowing water.  Laura also did some rockhounding, as would be expected, and discovered that the rocks of this karst landscape were made of dolomite.  It was quiet at the park, with only a couple other people making short stops to look at the spring.

A small spring that was part of Big Spring

Trying to master the art of holding still during long-exposure photographs

Micah and some friends had previously floated from Greer to Riverton, but we wanted to take it slow.  We decided to float from Boom Hole to Greer the first day and then float from Greer to Turner Mill access on day 2.  Each of those floats was short enough to allow us to really take our time (3 miles and 5.5 miles, respectively).  Because we had 2 trucks with sufficient racks to carry the 2 canoes, we didn't require any shuttling, but it is available.  We just staged an empty truck at our take-out and rode together down to the day's put-in.  

"Tux" loaded up and ready for the river

Photo credit: Micah Miller

Photo credit: Elizabeth Oswald

On day 1, we slept in and enjoyed Micah's pancakes and sausages for breakfast.  The forecast called for rain, so we didn't make haste.  Once it was clear that the rain wouldn't come or wouldn't amount to much, we loaded up and headed out.  After dropping Micah's truck off at Greer landing, we made our way up 413 through the forest to Boom Hole access, spooking deer and a coyote along the way.  The access is not much more than a dead end at the river with some room to turn around.  To avoid possibly getting the truck stuck, we carried our gear down to the water for the last 50 yards.  A few canoeists drifted by, as we were loading our gear.  They proved to be the only people that we saw on the water either day!

The first day of paddling was warm enough to warrant a light fleece for most of the day.  The first few rapids reminded Laura that she had not paddled much since living in Canada.  Her instincts to get out of trouble fast were keen, but she was not used to following directions from the driver.  We ironed out these kinks throughout the day, and soon were working as a well-tuned machine.  The riffles were exciting, a bit bumpy, and occasionally involved rocks scraping the bottom of the canoe.  We soon got used to this possibility and were able to read the river more and more as we went.  We admired Micah's skills as a former whitewater guide, as he frequently stood up in the back of his canoe to scout the next rapid.  We took many breaks on gravel bars, to fish the pools in between rapids.  In a very narrow pool, Laura caught the first fish of the day-- a rainbow trout!--and the fishing fervor intensified.

Exposed roots of trees that had been torn up during floods showed how the roots had encased pebbles as they grew.

Stromatolite fossils abound! Photo credit: Micah Miller

Because we were so engrossed in the float itself and so determined to catch some fish, we hardly took out the camera during the float.  Despite the overwhelming consensus that deep-diving crawdad crankbaits were the best bet, we fared best with spinners.  I did get a follow on a crankbait, but Laura caught her trout on a Little Cleo spoon, Micah caught all of his fish -- 1 largemouth bass and 3 smallies -- on a purple and pink Rooster Tail spinner , and I caught my smallmouth on a spinnerbait.

Micah's first smallmouth at the hotspot. Photo credit: Elizabeth Oswald

Micah seeking every angle to fish this pool

Beulah is not sure about that bass

Photo credit: Micah Miller

On day 2, we enjoyed another hot breakfast while we waited for the frost to melt.  Then, we dropped a truck off at Turner Mill south access.  The last stretch of road as we dropped into the river valley was spectacular as we essentially came down a bluff to get to the floodplain.  We headed over to Greer Landing and began our float.  I caught a goggle-eye (rock bass) right away on a spinner and then we continued our journey.  

It was as if we were on a different river for day 2.  Greer Spring abruptly changes the volume and velocity of the Eleven Point, doubling the amount of water.  The runs were longer, the pools were deeper, and the water moved faster.  We had a few close calls with trees in the river as we went through rough water, but managed to keep the canoes upright and ourselves dry.  We put our trust in Micah as our river guide and he led us well.  Because the water ran so much more quickly and there were fewer bars to stop on, we covered a large portion of the float in short order.  After we realized that we were blazing down the river, we stopped more often and for longer bouts.  Each stop had a bit of fishing, some photography, some rockhounding, and some napping.  Shelly fossils proved elusive, as the dolomites and cherts of the area are mainly from the earliest Ordovician and Late Cambrian, before life had diversified. The chert came in many colors, however, and sometimes encased spectacular microbial fossils called stromatolites, the Earth's first reef builders, proof that this area had once been under a shallow ocean.

Photo credit: Micah Miller

Finally, some sunshine!

Sunshine leads to naptime.

Through intensive rockhounding, Laura came across several of these.  Micah convinced us that the first one was a duck egg, but we grew skeptical later when we found 3 together on a gravel bar. 

We cracked open one of these "eggs" to discover fibrous material and what looked like dozens of pumpkin seeds--they were some sort of wild gourds!  Turns out that they are a variety of Ozark nest egg gourds and legend has it that they were once used to trick hens on nests.

Catching me (the photographer) in action

A great group of friends for a river adventure

  The fishing was slower overall on day 2; Micah caught a pickerel and a few trout, I caught a goggle-eye and had a nice trout follow, and Laura had a few hits.  We tried crankbaits, spinners, and spoons.  At one of the breaks, Micah gave us some instruction on fly casting to help us prepare for our summer trip to Montana.  Beth also kept us abreast of the birding report, as we went (see list at end of post).

Laura showing off a fly cast, during a lesson with Micah.  Photo credit: Elizabeth Oswald

This fly fishing teacher is very serious.

We chose to forego a short float on the last day, instead going on a couple of hikes to Greer Spring and Rocky Falls Shut-ins.  The hike to Greer Spring was about 1 mile each way and lead to the 2nd largest spring in Missouri.  Along the way, Laura saw her first pine warblers, thanks to Beth's keen eye.  Water could be seen gushing out of a rock face and boiling up from under the stream.

Micah proved he is from Maine when he exclaimed that the 55-degree spring water felt "balmy".

Photo credit: Micah Miller

Micah and Beth headed for home, but Laura and I drove up to Rocky Falls Shut-ins.  "Shut-in" is an Ozarks term for a narrows in a river.  The river that normally eroded a wide channel through the softer limestone rock, is not able to cut through the rhyolite -- an igneous rock -- that is present in spots at the surface.  A fairly tame creek is constricted and results in a gushing waterfall at the particular shut-in.  Laura flipped rocks in the creek and pool below, and found hellgrammites, her dad's fabled best fishing bait.  Then, we climbed to the top of the falls.  The view of the crystal-clear pool below framed by the pink rhyolite was incredible.  I'll warn any visitors that the rocks are very slippery if you have any water on your shoes.  

View from the top of the falls

Two creepy crawly hellgrammites

On the way home, Laura made a wrong turn thanks to our new Garmin GPS.  We found ourselves headed toward Ferne Clyffe State Park in Illinois, and Laura was inspired by the spontaneous detour.  We stretched our legs and snapped a few more pictures for a bit at Big Buck Creek before heading home.

--John

Almost home again, home again

Beth's Birding report:

Boom Hole- Greer, 3/11/18 12:45 pm

3 Great Blue Heron
64 Turkey vulture
2 Osprey
2 Bald Eagle
2 Red-shouldered Hawk
1 Red-tailed Hawk
6 Belted Kingfisher
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
4 Downy Woodpecker
1 Pileated Woodpecker
13 American Crow
2 Fish Crow
11 Carolina Chickadee
3 Tufted Titmouse
2 White-breasted Nuthatch
1 Brown Creeper
12 Carolina Wren
2 Golden-crowned Kinglet
7 American Robin
1 Fox Sparrow
21 Dark-eyed Junco
25 White-throated Sparrow
7 Song Sparrow
4 Eastern Towhee
3 Northern Cardinal

Greer Landing - Turner Mill, 3/12/18 10:51 am

9 Wood Duck
1 Great Blue Heron
26 Turkey Vulture
1 Bald Eagle
1 Red-tailed Hawk
9 Belted Kingfisher
4 Red-bellied Woodpecker
3 Downy Woodpecker
3 Pileated Woodpecker
1 Eastern Phoebe
3 Blue Jay
5 American Crow
2 Fish Crow
4 Carolina Chickadee
2 Carolina Chickadee/Black-capped Chickadee
2 Tufted Titmouse
2 White-breasted Nuthatch
1 Brown Creeper
4 Winter Wren
12 Carolina Wren
10 Yellow-rumped Warbler
1 Dark-eyed Junco
3 White-throated Sparrow
4 Song Sparrow
3 Swamp Sparrow
1 Northern Cardinal

Also seen by Micah:

1 Barred Owl
1 White-crowned Sparrow


Greer Spring, 3/13/18 10:04 am

1 Turkey vulture
2 Red-bellied Woodpecker
2 American Crow
1 Fish Crow
5 chickadees
2 White-breasted Nutchatch
1 Winter Wren
1 Carolina Wren
3 Golden-crowned Kinglet
4 Pine Warbler
2 Yellow-rumped Warbler