The Current River

Miranda and I just got back (or should I say parted ways) from two weeks of camping and floating in southeast Missouri. We also went to one of her best friend's weddings. We had a wonderful time hanging out in the earthy, lush greenery of the ancient eroded Ozark Mountains. Camping along the river here was refreshingly therapeutic, and a good portion of our time was spent mellowly lazing around, swimming, observing fireflies, and generally not having much of "a plan". 

TheRiverLife from Andrew Payton on Vimeo.

 The road leading to a campground that is part of the National Scenic Waterways.

 The first night, a soothing fog settled into camp as it had rained a few inches that afternoon. It was in the 70's and 80's the whole time....mid 50's at night....definitely NOT the "Misery" that one can anticipate in the later summer months.

 The water in this river is spring fed from caves, is crystal clear, and pretty cold also. Very refreshing. This year water levels in this part of Missouri are at historic lows...it has been an exceedingly dry spring here. At least no wild fires, poor Colorado.

 We saw some of the best lightning bug action ever - it was magical.

 Although extremely shallow in some places, other parts of the river are >10' deep, and make for excellent swimming holes/cliff jumping. Due to drunken stupidity by the masses during weekends, the NPS has banned all cliff jumping on this river, and if caught you could face a $500 fine. Sometimes they hide in the bushes. The place was pretty empty in the middle of the week though.

 This is one outlet of Greer Spring, near the Missouri-Arkansas border, and is Missouri's 2nd largest spring. It pumps out 220 million gallons of water per day.

 Miranda checking out the cave entrance the spring originates from.

 Nice form...

 Oh so cold! Not really though....much warmer than any Mongolian or Alaskan river I'm sure....or probably most rivers in CO.

Miranda has this odd habit of picking up poor little crawdads and eating them....I think it explains a lot about her personality. Okay, I'm joking, you can punch me for that later.

 We are rule breakers! But rope swings are so fun!

Most people come to this river to float down on canoes. We did a bit of that, but were just as happy to float down parts of it on our $2 blow-up pads, and take pictures of leaves like this one.

Miranda's nephew, Kody. This little bundle of energy comes action packed. Miranda's dad brought him along with us for a couple nights. It was his first time camping, seeing fireflies, being on the river, etc. He loved it....until it was naptime and his chocolate milk wasn't readily accessible.

 He enjoyed the kayak ride. We also had a nice chair strapped into the canoe for him to ponder the world from.

 Our last few nights we switched to a new campground, and had it to ourselves, right next to the river.

 Mmmm... baked beans.

 A crucial piece of equipment for any camping trip.

 We also visited a few wineries during out trip, including this one, Adam Puchta.

 Sampling different wines, and listening to some live music. Life is good.

 This winery has all sorts of random cats. We watched one of the cats stalk and catch a squirrel. Good entertainment.

 A view from the nearest town, Hermann.

Sometimes maybe we have a little bit too much time:)