Some rivers move slowly. Others pull you forward the moment the canoe touches the water. The Current River in Missouri feels like the latter.
Flowing through the Ozarks and the protected landscape of Ozark National Scenic Riverways, the Current River carries a deep emerald color that almost looks unreal against the limestone banks and thick forest canopy. Before we even started paddling, the trip had already taken on the familiar logistics of river travel: arranging the shuttle, loading gear, and squeezing ourselves—and the dog—into a van headed upstream.
It’s a strange ritual if you’re not used to it. You drive away from where you’ll finish so the river can bring you back.
A little while later, we slid the canoe into the river and let the water take hold.
Launching on the River
We launched from the Pulltite Campground off County Road EE-356. Having paddled 20 states up to this point, our crew had plenty of practice. Amanda navigated in the bow with Rigby while Tony steered from the stern. By then, we’d developed a rhythm, a sense of connection and reliability that was easy to take for granted.
The beauty of a day trip, as opposed to a multi-day adventure like the Boundary Waters, is that the gear is light. Aside from safety gear and water, we packed an easy lunch.
Meanwhile, the sky was grey, and a light mist rose from the river. Broadleaf trees crowded the banks, forming a dense canopy overhead. Most striking were the towering dolomite bluffs dotted with caves.
Paddling In Synch
This karst landscape is built largely from dolomite, a carbonate rock similar to limestone. Over time, water dissolving the rock has carved the Ozarks into a landscape of caves, springs, sinkholes and dramatic river bluffs.
For most of the paddle, the river carried us beneath those bluffs and through the deep green of the Ozarks. Before long, we were drifting in the best sense of the word. There wasn’t much need for communication as we settled into a familiar pattern. The scenery was the only real drama of the day. It was simply a beautiful stretch of river and the type of adventure we’d grown accustomed to—something the three of us had become very good at doing together.
We paddled. Rigby rode along. Eventually, as river trips are designed to do, the river brought us back to where we had begun.
