Big Muddy Adventure
Betsy Tribble, of St. Louis, Manager of Big Muddy Adventures, and Mike Clark, owner of Big Muddy Adventures paddles the Mississippi River during a full moon float at the Confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers.
Warm drops of rain were still falling as Mike Clark and his friends set out for a full-moon float trip at the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers.
Neither the passing storm nor high water could dampen the hopes of this high-spirited group.
“The full moon is going to be out regardless,” Clark said.
They set off from the Columbia Bottom Conservation Area on Wednesday night, ready to wind about 10 miles on quiet, calm waters.
As the crew launched its 24-foot canoe just before sunset, the familiar edges of the St. Louis skyline faded into the lines of cottonwood trees and the calm of the river.
Two bald eagles took flight as they watched the canoe float by. And as night fell, the bright full moon allowed Clark to leave his lights on the shore and glide through the dark waters, with the ripples from the canoe reflecting the moonlight.
A teacher at St. Ann of Normandy Catholic School and a self-proclaimed “river rat,” Clark, 50, is also the owner of Big Muddy Adventures. He has guided canoe tours along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers for the past eight years. Among other float trips, he and his crew have full moon trips planned every month for the rest of the year.
The crew includes Betsy Tribble and Chris Sullivan, both of St. Louis, and Scott Mandrell of St. Louis County.
For Clark, there is a spiritual nature to the night trips — a way to connect to the river, its history and the forces that shaped it.
“Life,” he said, “begins and ends on the river.”