It's a bit of a trek from St. Louis, but well worth it for the awesome experience - the river has crawdads and fish and amazingly cool rocks (including geodes) for kids to explore, and frequent banks perfect for picnics. There are some shallower areas that require a bit of portage, and rope swings set up along deeper stretches as well as calm tree-covered tunnels- I like the size of the river before it joins up with the Meramec, it seems easier to get in&out of the vehicle (raft, canoe, kayak or tube) and a lot of the others were long-standing repeat floaters from our conversations.

For someone who typically isn't a fan of technology, their updated online paperwork made it SO MUCH EASIER to get to the fun part - especially when you have small kids who want to be there and in the water already.