Well here it finally is, the Bad Boy of Missouri – Taum Sauk. This creek loses more vertical feet than any other in Missouri, an estimated 1200′ in 7 miles with two of those miles @ 400 fpm!
Taum Sauk was first ran by Chuck McHenry, John Tansil, and myself on July 26, 1998. The put-in is just a short distance from the parking lot of Taum Sauk Mountain State Park. Just follow the nice trail and the creek will come up on the left.
This run is extremely difficult to catch. If you don’t already know, this creek comes off the highest point in Missouri and, well, there just isn’t much of a watershed up there. Chuck had been waiting on this run for years. This was his first opportunity and he lives next door to it. When we ran it, the creek began to drop almost as soon as the rain began to let up. The point is don’t make the drive for this one, if you’re here and its up then great. If you’re at home and thinking “Hey, the weatherman says its raining in Ironton, I think I’ll go run Taum Sauk!” you’re kidding yourself. You’re just going to have to think “Damn! I bet Chuck and Chris are running Taum Sauk without me!” 🙂
Read Chuck’s account of our first descent. It’s a great tale of boating from a past era.
Difficulty
Class V-VI
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