It’s been awhile. If your summer has been anything like ours then you know how busy it can get. We needed a much needed day on the water to kayak. Wanted to keep it close and only wanted to take one car. The Pacific Palisades to Rt 66 Park fit that bill. The Missouri State Paddlers guide showed it as a 13.6 mile trip. Totally possible to do in one day. Also, I have never been on this stretch of the river before. With all the boxes checked, we set out for our 4th kayak trip of the season.
On our 28 mile kayak trip we pulled out at the Palisades. This would be our first time putting in there. The first mile of two the water is pretty sluggish. The scenery is absolutely gorgeous. The only draw back to this little section is the skeet club is in this area so the nature sounds are kind of canceled out by the constant gun shot sounds. Only in Pacific.
About mile 3, the water speeds up. Also the river starts to twist and turn in this section. When I looked at the guide and it said it was 8 miles to Allentown I was a bit surprised. Going by car it doesn’t seem that long. After going through this section I understand why it’s so much further. A lot of twist and turns.
As I said before, this section at the 3-4 mile point was a lot faster. I also came the closest I have ever been to flipping my kayak. I was in a fast section. A group of 3 kayaks had just passed me. I was watching them and not paying as much attention as I should have been. At the last second I saw a submerged root section of a tree. I literally saw it the hit it hard. My kayak just about flipped. Somehow I kept my balance and kept it right side up. My kayak did get stuck on it and after my heartrate slowed down a bit I wiggled and pried myself off it. A very valuable lesson was learned, always look at what’s ahead, especially in faster moving areas of the river.
We also brought our fishing poles for the first time on the trip. We used a plastic culprit worm. I have fished out of the kayak on a lake before but never a river. It took awhile to get used to fishing in the current and maneuvering the kayak. Lea caught a largemouth bass. I caught a tree. The final count for fish for the day, Lea 1, Michael 0. We had fun fishing out of the kayaks and will definitely do it again.
The scenery in this section is just amazing. And about mile 3 the skeet club is well behind us and there really is no civilization in sight. That and the lack of boats we saw in this section really just let us completely immerse ourselves into nature.
About at the 8 mile mark is the Allentown Access. There is a boat ramp here and would be a good spot to pull out. We had already planned to go to Rt 66 but the Palisades to Allentown is a great stretch of river. I also didn’t realize there was any outfitters that far downstream but apparently there is. They put in at Allentown and pull out at the confluence of the Big River and Meramec. It’s about a 4 mile stretch with plenty of gravel/sand bars to stop at. Lea and I will definitely be checking it out the next float trip we do with the kids.
As I stated before, about 4 miles past the Allentown ramp is the confluence of the Big River and Meramec River. I am always fascinated by these areas. It just cool to think about where a river starts and how far it has twist and turn to get to its final destination. Also, it’s just very neat visually when two different water types meet.
I‘m not sure if the Paddlers Guide is a bit off on milage or if it’s just the GPS. This trip was supposed to be 13.6 from start to finish. However, when we got to the Rt 66 Boat Ramp it was saying we went 15 miles. Not a huge deal normally but we called our ride at mile 13 so she had to wait on us a bit.
This was my favorite kayak on the Meramec. While I enjoyed the Huzzah to Meramec, a majority of that was on the Huzzah. This was all Meramec. The varying speeds of the water, the twist and turns made this a very fun trip. The river is wide enough to stay out of the boats way and the scenery is great. Definitely my favorite section that we have explored so far.