Circum Louis Attempt – 9/12/2025

I read about “Big Muddy” Mike Clark circumnavigating the city of St. Louis by river around 2010. He did this as an educational activity over a two week period in the spring. He would teach his classes during the day remotely and paddling in the evenings. It took him approximately two weeks to go around the approximately 192 mile route. When I pressed Mike about his multiple times doing this, we was humble and downplayed his efforts. Mike also encouraged me to do it and set a fast record. That stuck with me since July of this year when I talked to him about it.

I should stop and mention what the Circum Louis route is. Its a circular route by river going around the city of St. Louis. I was starting at the southern end of the St. Louis Riverfront near the arch. From there, the route goes 18 miles south to the mouth of the Meramec River. There, it goes upstream approximately 65 miles to the mouth of the Bourbeuse River for 17 miles of upstream paddling. In the town of Union, MO, its a nearly 10 mile portage of the boat on highway shoulders to Washington Missouri. On the Missouri River downstream about 62 miles to the confluence with the Mississippi River. A 20 mile downstream paddle with a small portage for the Chain of Rocks and you’re back at the St. Louis riverfront where you started. This route can be done clockwise or counter clockwise adding different challenges. I’m only aware of it being completed in the spring when the rivers are generally more full.

A few weeks ago, my wife asked me to help out at her office and asked me to take the day off work. I decided to take an extra day (Monday) for myself to go paddling somewhere I don’t normally go. Through the magic of Google Maps and exploring, I found several places I wanted to go. Then I looked closer at the potential of completing a Circum[navigation of St.] Louis. It seemed possible but I need to wait and see if Danelle was supportive as I would need her help to carry out this plan. As usual, she was fully supportive, this was happening.

I nervously submitted a FKP [Fastest Known Paddle] route request and then went out of town on a trip. I brought my laptop and nervously checked every few hours to see if my route would be approved. When I received an encouraging response from Scott Miller saying it was approved, my weekend was made! I probably should have spent more time planning, but I was now 2 weeks from my attempt. Pending the weather turning bad, this attempt was going to happen. A week out the weather said dry and warm. Two things that I was excited about. This was happening!

The week before, I spent a decent amount of time thinking about the gear I was going to take. I had to borrow portage wheels as I had accidentally sent mine to another city in my daughter’s car. My river community was quick to lend me a set of wheels. My attempt was going to be in my Epic V7 kayak. The V7 is a surf ski design. It has a small hatch that won’t hold enough gear. My plan is to put things I don’t need to access until camping for the evening or for the portage (like my shoes and socks). Above the hatch, I would bungee my borrowed portage wheels and a dry bag. I would then have a second smaller dry bag to handle quick access things, mostly food.

To assist my packing, I laid everything out in an organized fashion and photographed it. I don’t normally do this for trips, but found it entertaining. It also helped me see everything I had. If I can offer any advice to people preparing for a trip like this, is to pack early! Monday leading up, I relaxed because I had plenty of time. Tuesday, I took the boat to the lake for our weekly 5K. I didn’t race, but paced one of the newer people chatting and offering encouragement for him to gain a PR. Wednesday was my big packing day. However, I checked the mail and received a letter that required my full attention that same night night. Very little packing happened. Thursday night I had a monthly paddle that I lead. So I rushed to pack and still made it out to run my event.

Friday came and I was nervous. I didn’t take the day off work. This means that I needed to get through a work day before I could leave. At lunch, I spent my time fully packing the car for after work. Boat and supplies loaded, I was as ready as I would ever be to start this paddle. Shortly after 2pm I had a quick meeting with a coworker and was encouraged to get going on the trip as they knew what I was planning on doing after work. Danelle was good enough to quickly stop her work and we were on the road for the 25 minute drive down to the arch to launch the boat.

We arrived to an empty boat ramp. The boat was put near the water and supplies were brought down. There, I re-packed the bags to put everything just where I wanted it. At 3:22 pm, Danelle took some photos and I was off on the water. I’ve done a few solo trips before, but mostly on a motorcycle. I’m always nervous about what the future holds until I get an hour or so into the trip.

I started the Circum Louis at the south end of the arch because I believe the next 18 miles are the most dangerous of the trip. Called the port of St. Louis, there is massive barge traffic in this area. Barges are parked on both sides of the river causing lots of wave reflection. Many times, there are limited places to get off the river safely. Were I to flip, I need to make fast decisions about remounting and being visible for the larger vessels. I was less than a mile into the trip when I pulled off the river to shore. I’ve never practice paddled with this setup before. Unfortunately for me, the portage wheels were getting in the waves. It felt like a paddler behind me was just constantly splashing me.I had to adjust the wheels to be higher up to keep them out of the water.

Back on the river, things were calming down. I’m constantly scanning the tow boats ahead of me looking for plumes of diesel exhaust or spinning radars. Those are indicators that a tow is or could be moving soon. Since I’m not very visible, I need to be on alert. I was offered a VHF radio and turned it down due to space constraints. Maybe I made the wrong decision here. Now I’m about 3 miles down from the start moving around 7mph when I hear via a loud speaker the song “Eye of the Tiger”. It was coming from the Gateway Express Tug. After about 30 seconds I hear “Go Hogan” and it went silent. Less than a mile later, I hear somebody else shout my name. I’ve gone from nervous to excited at this point, how fantastic.

Its hard to see behind me in the narrow kayak. If I really want to see, I have to turn a bit and then look over my shoulder. There are enough large waves that I just need to be defensive and stay upright and safe. I heard a loud horn in the distance behind me but thought nothing of it. Continuing on, I see two tow boats basically side by side on my side of the river. I stopped paddling and floated trying to figure out what they were doing. I don’t want to be in their way and want plenty of time to react. As I got closer, a guy came out on deck and yelled for me to go aside, that a “big boy” wanted to pass. Okay, it took about 2 tries to hear all the information. I provided a thumbs up to him and turned to go to the side and wait. It turns out the horn in the background was this guy coming up on me. I figure he was about .5 mph faster than I was traveling, but coming up on me. After he passed, I resumed down the river chasing but not catching up.

Time on the Mississippi was closing in as I passed the JB (I-270 south) bridge.

I had a few miles to go before the Meramec. I opened up my phone to Google Maps as I have only been this way once before and didn’t want to miss it. Not surprisingly, it wasn’t as I remembered and I’m thankful for the technology to get me where I need to be. Its now a two mile paddle upstream to Flamm City Access to meet Danelle for a quick break. I was warned this section would be horrible and the portage worse. I didn’t have to portage once and it was easy paddling all the way. As I sighted in Flamm, got excited that I had lots of friends waiting to greet me. This hope came from the barges cheering me own early. As I got close, I realized that it was “just” fishermen. Right as I approached the ramp Danelle walked down.

I had a nice stop eating dinner and discussing the trip so far. We heard honking on the bridge and I looked up and said, its Bernie. Sure enough, a few moments later Bernie came by to wish me well. He was just coming back from a trip and thought he could see me off. Its always nice to be cheered on by friends!

Up until now, things has been easy and I was thinking that the trip was going to be easy. Why do I think these things? Not long after leaving Flamm, dusk hit. It was just between light and dark and I hit a shallow spot. Out of the boat I came to start walking. Of course, its my first time jumping out in the fast moving water and almost tip right over. Then I didn’t get the boat straight on and it started to turn and nearly flipped over with me out of the boat! I should mention that I tend to talk to myself in the third person when I’m alone and concerned. Lets just say that Hogan got a stern talking to and not the last of the night! As I got back in the boat at the top of the fast moving section, I sat down too fast and nearly flipped over again. More lectures from Hogan before I was on my way again.

This getting in and out of the boat continued in the darkness repeatedly. I learned that Asian Carp like to sit in carp deep water at night swimming in place. When the headlamp hits them and they hear the splashing of feet, they dart away super fast. Lucky for me the water is too shallow for them to jump, but it still causes me to occasionally make manly noises (think scream but I’ll never admit to it). While portaging a shallow spot, I noticed what I figured was a motor boat out at night. I saw occasional flashes of a spot light. When I finally got close, I realized it was people on the shore. Too late I realized I was going under their fishing lines. We had a short pleasant chat. They were surprised about what I was doing, but encouraging. I was also warned about one more line to go under shortly ahead.

Night was fully on tap and the moon was just coming up. I was feeling tired. I didn’t prepare for this trip like other large races. I usually taper my caffeine intake and get better sleep leading up to an event. Not this time. I was feeling the night. I cracked open the smallest of 3 Red Bull cans I brought for the trip. One for each night I planned to be out. It fits nicely in the front pocket of my PFD as I sip on it to keep awake and aware. I checked Google Maps on my phone to see where I was. I was nearly to a familiar section of the river and wanted be sure. I was also on a high from the congrats online. So I checked Facebook. I was originally planning to stop around midnight and resume at 4am. But there on Facebook was an offer of a fire and donuts. I would continue paddling.

Not long after considering to continue on past midnight, the boat felt strange. I had a sense that it was taking on water. I found a spot to pull over and check it out. There on the shore, I opened the back hatch and found something horrible. My hatch had filled with water. The stuff in the hatch was replaceable or able to get wet, but more concerning was that it filled with water. I had a wool sock that I used as a sponge to get the water out of the hatch. With it mostly dry, I went a few miles further to Greentree ramp. This ramp is where I have started literally hundreds of paddling trips over nearly twenty years. It felt safe. There I could empty out the boat and look for anything that could be fixable.

Unfortunately for me, I didn’t’ see any cracks when I rolled the boat on its side. I shined the headlamp all over the bottom to no avail. There was nothing to fix. The water ingress was a mystery that I wasn’t going to solve. My option at this point was to forge ahead to meet Dan with his fire and donuts. Then I could again reassess my options. Maybe I would stop there for the night. I received a few messages from Dan and Scott asking if I needed them to come out and bring supplies to repair the boat. Getting offers of help in the 1 am hour is deeply moving. I wish there was something that could have been done. Just knowing that my friends were following and willing to help was enough to keep me moving.

Around 3:30am, I received a call from Dan. I promptly called him back and found out it was a butt dial. Dan was off the river and heading home. I was sad that I missed him, but happy that I forged on. I stopped around 5am just short of Sherman Beach where I set up camp. I shook out my tarp and set it down hoping it would dry. Next was the inflatable pillow. A few shakes and some breath into it and it was ready to go. I fumbled a few times with the air mattress. I breathed a lot into the intake only to realize the other vent was open. Catching my breath, I put another multiple set of breaths into it. When I felt like I would pass out, I figured it was enough and laid it down. The boat was empty of water and I could rest with an alarm set for 7am. I woke up at 6:30am and slowly got up. This trip wasn’t going to finish itself if I didn’t paddle.

Saturday started of decent. I felt surprisingly rested for having less than 2 hours of total sleep. You could argue thought that it showed in my speed. I was averaging about 2.2 mph upstream. As much as the day was new, the water in the rear of the boat was on my mind. Today also had many times I had to get out and pull the boat through fast water. I remember specifically having 3 sets of shelves just downstream of Route 66 access where I-44 crosses over. It took me about 20 minutes to walk through it. Even during the walk, I had to get back in the boat and ferry across deep water to get back to shallow fast water to continue pulling the boat up. Having the back full of water meant that even empty, it was dragging on the bottom where other boats without the extra load would not have.

Upstream of Route 66, I started seeing weekend users of the river. Some were curious about what I was doing and others I just passed right by. Many were shocked at what I was doing and encouraged me on. This day became a blur as it was very warm and I was not performing well. Its hard to describe how discouraging the back hatch being full of water is. What I do know is that the dynamics of the boat changed as it filled up. At one point, I was leaning over to the left. The V7 has good initial stability. When leaning over, the boat pushes back as it doesn’t want to flip over. Eventually, you’ll reach the point of no return and flip over, but its takes a lot for an experienced paddler of this boat. During this lean to the left, I felt about 10% of the expected push back that the boat should have provided. It felt like it wanted to continue rolling all the way over.

When I stopped, I found that the water was at the top of the hatch. I spent the time to bail out the boat as it was getting difficult to paddle. Once empty, it was fine again. What I wasn’t confident on was when it would fill up again. I was starting to realize my trip was almost over.  I met Danelle at Allenton access for lunch. I expressed my concerns with her. She encouraged me to eat lunch and continue on to the next ramp nearly 10 miles down and reassess there. I took her advice and continued on. Side note, while there, a bus dropped off people to float from this ramp with inflatables. Part of my died inside as a family of 4 dragged their inflatable down the concrete ramp. I hope it didn’t get a hole before they finished wherever they were going.

The day went on and I don’t remember much. But near dusk, I had a moment of clarity. I decided my Circum Louis attempt was over. I stopped on the banks of Shaw Nature Preserve and called Danelle to tell her. She said that based on where I was, the next ramp would be closed until the next morning. I agreed and decided to camp for the night and finish the last few miles in the morning. Why did I decide to stop? I still didn’t understand where or why my boat was sinking. I didn’t know how fast it was sinking. While I could continue on, what I didn’t want to do was sink on the Missouri or Mississippi river where the shores were much farther away. While it would be embarrassing to get rescued, it also means that I and/or rescuers could be at risk. I was surprisingly satisfied with my decision. I didn’t feel any regret not going further.

Now I stood on the shore and pitched camp. Again a wet tarp was laid out on the shore and my wet air mattress blown up along with the pillow. Then I stripped naked, don’t worry it was darn and nobody was around for the now double moon. Once I air dried a bit, I put on my dry tights, wool socks, and two dry long sleeve shirts. Then I laid down and soaked up the rest of the water on the air mattress. I talked to my daughter for a few minutes and was sleeping by 8:30pm. I woke up shivering a few times. Each time, I cursed my wife and added the piece of dry clothes she said I should take with me. If I had just put it all on at first, it would have been much nicer. The only benefit of sleeping on a tarp is being to roll over and pee without getting up in the night. I made sure to move all my stuff over in the morning before packing!

Sunday morning, I was at peace. The trip was almost over pending a short paddle to Robertsville State Park to get picked up. I packed up the boat after mostly sleeping for almost 11 hours! I started going upriver to the park. Then in the distance, I see a kayak. I was going to walk up the riffle to save energy, but pride had me pulling hard to get up. There, Curt from my Creve Coeur 5K group was waiting for me. He took a chance and put in at Robertsville to come paddle with me. He didn’t know I was quitting and was planning to paddle several miles with me.

Curt was great company and I went much faster with him nearby. We both noticed that my boat/rudder would drag on the bottom on the river while he was gliding by with no issues while we paddled near each other. When we got to Robertsville, we had to wait for Danelle to show up and slowly moved all our gear and boats up the ramp. He commented how heavy my boat was for both of us to move it up the ramp. We estimate that over 6 gallons of water came out of the hatch and from behind the bulkheads in the boat. When Danelle arrived, he helped load the boat before we headed out. I was ready to go home and get a shower!

GPS shows that I traveled a  total of 80.7 miles.
I got out of the boat for shallow water 41 times to manually pull the boat.
My legs were not happy sliding in and out of the boat that many times. Its not muscles you normally use.

Let me know in the comments if you have questions I didn’t answer. I’ll likely do it again another time when the water is higher!

Hogan Haake