Bourbeuse & Meramec, 25 Mile Kayak

The first trip I took with Lea was to New Orleans. One of the first things we did was kayak through the bayou. It was my first time kayaking and I was hooked. There is something about being on the open water in a small vessel powered by just a paddle that is very liberating. Needless to say I loved it. We ended up buying two kayaks and have been hitting local rivers and lakes ever since.

In the past the longest trip we did was a 9 mile trip from Rt 66 Park (I still call it Times Beach) to Castlewood. The only river we had kayaked on was the Meramec. Having grown up in the Pacific, MO area I was familiar with the boat ramps on the Bourbeuse but had never actually been on the river. I had also never seen where the Bourbeuse meets the Meramec. I have always been intrigued with the starting points of major water ways and where they end. So when Lea looked at the weather and said we need to go kayak this one was an easy choice.

This ended up being our longest trip to date. We decided to put in at The Dr Henry A. and Amalia Uhlemeyer Public Fishing Access on the Bourbeuse. This area is located in Villa Ridge off Hwy O near Red Barn Mobile Home Trailer Park. There is a concrete boat ramp that makes it easy to launch from.

One thing we learned the hard way about kayaking on a river was that where we put in isn’t where we end up. It sounds simple but not something we really thought about. We have 1 vehicle that can transport the kayaks. There are 2 of us. The first time we kayaked we drove to where we put in and I dropped Lea off with the kayaks. I then drove to the park we were going to finish at and left the car. I then hitched a ride back to Lea and the kayak. A huge pain and very time consuming. This time we asked my mom to come with us to our put in spot. We unloaded our gear and she took our car with racks back to her house. We then called her when we finished and she drove the car to us. This saved time and the hassle of driving back an forth. I am sharing this because this is a huge part of kayaking that we really didn’t consider or plan for when we first started.

Enough with logistics, let’s get back to the river. The distance from the boat ramp to the confluence of the Bourbeuse and the Meramec is 6.8 miles. The current in most places isn’t very fast so it’s a lot of paddle. During this section of the kayak we were averaging about a 19 minute mile, the current doesn’t help out at all. Around the 4 mile mark, the river splits around a small island. I picked right, Lea went left. The current is pretty swift here and it’s pretty shallow. I bottomed out and got stuck. Luckly I was able to rock the kayak back and forth and was able to free it without having to get out.

The last mile and a half the water is completely stagnant. With very little current it’s all paddling here, no breathers. Overall, I liked this section of the Bourbeuse. It is a very winding river and does get quite shallow in areas. As far as kayaking it offered a bit of challenge that we hadn’t encountered yet. The scenery was great and we had the river too ourselves. We saw 3 people on this 6.8 mile stretch of the river and no boats at all.

There is a boat ramp at the confluence of the Bourbeuse and Meramec. It is called Chouteau Claim Access. This is where we also saw our first of many boats on this trip. The first thing I noticed was the speed of the current. We went from stagnate water on the Bourbeuse to fast moving water on the Meramec. Our mile time changed from 19 minutes to under 15 at times. Also, the Meramec water color was more green whereas the Bourbeuse was a brownish color. This area is very busy with boats so it’s important to keep an eye out. There are also several sandbars and we stopped at one to have our lunch.

After lunch we continued on. The first landmark we hit was the Highway O Bridge in Robertsville. Shortly after that is the Robertsville State Park boat ramp. The river is pretty swift through this area and we maintained our 15 minute mile time. This is where we also saw our first bald eagle. Through this area there were a lot of boats, some move pretty fast and most are pretty loud. We usually try to move to the side anytime we hear a boat approaching. After they pass going fast, we usually get rocked by the waves they leave.

The sun was beating down on us all day and even though we applied a lot of sunscreen we could feel our thighs and shoulders starting to get red. Got the first (and hopefully last) good sunburn of the season.

Once you pass the Robertsville State Park boat ramp, the next one is at the Pacific Palisades which is about 11.5 miles away. Along this stretch of the river you will see some neat houses up on the bluffs, a lot of sand bars that you can stop at, a lot of boat traffic and some very pretty scenery. This picture below is of an old houseboat that someone has turned in to a house on the River. The current of the Meramec in this part is pretty steady and we kept up with a 15 minute/mile pace and in some spots hit a 13 minute/mile.

Overall, it took 7 hours to complete this 25 mile paddle and we did stop a few times to take a break, get in the water and eat lunch. At about mile 23 we were starting to feel tired but we pushed through the last two miles. We were definitely glad to see the boat ramp at the Pacific Palisades.

Would we do this same route again? Maybe. Next time we want to explore more of the Bourbeuse River and start further upstream, possibly ending at the ramp right before it merges with the Meramec. We’ve also done most of our trips since we’be bought the kayaks on the Meramec so we are ready to explore some new rivers. What are your favorite spots to kayak between 15-20 miles? We’d love to hear some suggestions! Here is the beautiful view that we saw towards the end of of our trip!

This is the first time we used the Map My Run App. We set it to kayak. While I doubt we burnt 3k in calories, it did a good job tracking our times and kept us on a good pace. The distance appears to be accurate as well.