Meramec River
The Meramec River is the longest free-flowing waterway in Missouri -- it wanders some 350 kilometers (220 miles) through six Missouri Ozark Highland counties: Dent, Phelps, Crawford, Franklin, Jefferson, and St. Louis, before it empties into the Mississippi River at Arnold, Missouri. Between the mouth and its source, it falls 313 meters (1,025 feet). The Meramec watershed covers portions of eight additional counties -- Maries, Gasconade, Iron, Washington, Reynolds, St. Francois, Ste. Genevieve, and Texas -- totaling approximately 10,300 square kilometers (3,980 square miles). Year-round navigability begins at the confluence of Dry Fork and the Maramec Spring branch just south of St. James, and continues until the river enters the Mississippi at Arnold, Missouri.Numerous trails travel along the river and up over the bluffs giving the hiker a glimpse of ducks, herons, beavers and other species of wildlife that may be seen along the river.
The river was listed at one time as one of the most polluted rivers in Missouri. Local and state government along the river have taken tremendous steps in cleaning it up. Today the river is one of the most diverse waters in Missouri. The river is plentiful in; black crappie, channel catfish, flathead catfish, largemouth bass, paddlefish, rainbow trout, rock bass, smallmouth bass, walleye, white crappie, and some of the richest mussel beds in the state. The endagered ozark hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis bishopi) also lives in the river.
