Day 56

Day 56
The Chain of Rocks rapids in North St Louis provide a navigational hazard so traffic uses a canal to by pass this section. At the end of the 11 miles lies the second biggest port on the river by tonnage. The river becomes a super highway of marine commerce. Barges are anchored in the center of the river dividing the canal into north and south bound lanes with gaps for small tugs and work boats to dash from side to side. It is recommended to keep a marine radio while passing through. You can hear the working craft informing each other of your progress removing some stress. The river has a strong current below St Louis and that makes for  quick progress. Around 4 I found myself downriver and out of the heavy barge traffic. The barges still pass at a rate of 3 to 4 an hour but the wide, long stretches of the river make navigating easy enough. The rolling Missouri hills line the banks with white limestone bluffs looking down over the waters. The bluffs are honey combed with caves of various shapes and sizes, I enjoyd scanning the caves for any sign of life. The large numbers of Bald Eagles have given way to large flocks of buzzards. They line the bluffs above the river or swirl in lazy circles on the thermal drafts to great heights above the river. Along some stretches of the river sit huge industrial mines were the limestone is quarried from the hills and processed into large boulders down or fine crushed. Lines of barges a half mile long hug the banks above the mine waiting to be filled or pushed along the river. The loaded barges sit ten feet deep in the water forcing the current to run faster along the curve. Paddling a safe distance away from the barges I was able to make upwards of 6 mph through the mile plus curves. Around 7 I found a nice beach just in front of a wing dam and put the canoe to shore. The sun is setting beautifully and the water is softly trickling over the wing dam, life is rough on the river!