The Route - Segment #2 - St Louis to Paducah, KY

Segment #2 St Louis to Paducah, KY

After exiting the Chain of Rocks Canal it’s a short distance to St Louis’ downtown and here I’ll have entered an area that’s strictly business.  This in no longer a sportsmen’s river and the tows with their barges can crowd the river to an uncomfortable level.  There are times when the Coast Guard will not allow a small recreational boat to continue on past the Chain of Rocks canal if the water levels are too high. If that happens my trip could be cut short.

I hope to be able to pull up to the Jefferson Memorial Arch for a brief picture stop by beaching the boat onto the concrete pad that lines the St Louis downtown waterfront.  This will depend on the river level and my comfort with doing so. A little secret about the Blue Fin is the bottom didn't get painted.  It’s has 32 years of scraping shorelines and hitting bottoms so I’m more than happy to add my share of dings by beaching it here.

St Louis' Riverfront

I've been to the St Louis riverfront before and I know people launch their boats from there but I don’t think it’s a real prime place to go pleasure boating. The obvious attraction is the arch but the Morgan Street Brewery a few blocks off the water could easily overpower my interests. If I miss the chance to stop then the best plan is to move on and make it about 35 miles downstream where things settle down and the river is big and open and the barges are mostly in route to further destinations and not crowding my passage as much.

Of course, at about this same point one must make the necessary stop at Hoppie’s Marina, the last marina with dock and gas facilities until I'm past Paducah, KY and into Kentucky Lake over 250 miles away. There is much written about Hoppie's on the Internet and it was fun to learn about it and the owner, Fern, who I hope to meet.  If I can make it work I’ll try to arrange transient dockage for a night over and see if I can take a day to visit family in St Louis. My brother Nick lives about 10 miles from here so it would be a nice break to get off the river and visit for a while.

Hoppie's Marina
Last Chance for Gas

When departing from Hoppie’s I head downstream for about 180 miles to the intersection of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers at Cairo, IL. This is the dividing point where one would choose the Mississippi route to New Orleans or the Tenn-Tom route to Mobile, AL. My course is already set with my choice of the Tenn-Tom route so now will begin the upstream navigation on the Ohio River.  It’s about 55 miles to Paducah from here and then 25 more into Kentucky Lake

Before I go on, I need to explain there are a number of difficulties that might arise on this segment of the trip. I've already mentioned that in periods of high water the Coast Guard could close the river to small craft. That’s problem number one.

The second problem is that I cannot make the complete distance from Hoppie’s, all the way to the next marina 250 miles away at Kentucky Lake on the Tennessee River, in one day.  I’ll need to find a stop over point somewhere about halfway and a quick look at a map says it's logically Cape Girardeau. A significant enough city but unfortunately there is no marina with docking facilities on the river there. I’ll have to arrange for someone to pull my boat from the river and get me to a place where I can stay overnight. I’m still working on this so stay tuned to see if some arrangement can be made.

The third problem is due to two old Wicket dams #52 and #53 on the Ohio River. If the water levels are high then you just boat on over the dam like nothing’s there. The Corp of Engineers de-constructs the hinged Wicket panels so they lay on the bottom of the river and are submerged underneath you.   (See the picture of the Wickets here in this “on land” exhibit.) If the water is low then the Wickets are stood upright impounding the water upstream and thus they create a waterfall on the river. Boats now must use the adjacent locks to pass.

Exhibit of a Wicket Dam 

So why, after already passing through 27 locks on the Mississippi, would I think these two dams are a problem?  The answer is in the amount of barge traffic passing through them. A one-day wait for a lock through is not unusual.  What I have read, and I’m not sure if it’s true, is a wait for up to three days can occur.  Two people in a small boat cannot survive on the river that long so a contingency plan has to be in place. What that is I haven’t the foggiest idea. 

See the picture of the dam when the Wickets are up and impounding the river. That's roughly a 10 foot wall of water so I don’t think I could jump it, especially since I’ll be going upstream against it.

Water Flowing over a Wicket Dam

Because of these three potential problems it would be tempting to just skip the river in this segment of my trip altogether. But short of putting the boat on a trailer and driving to Kentucky Lake on the Tennessee River near Paducah, KY there is no other alternative.  I have some work to do in making plans for this segment of the trip and I’m determined to not give up too easily.

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Photo of St Louis' Riverfront