SO AMAZING SO FUN! Great team and great people…read moreMusic was 10/10 Definitely worth the money I want to live here!

Very pricey for what you get. After a big fee to get in everything costs. Tables are $55 minimum…read more You have to pay for life vests which are required in certain areas. Very rocky, very hilly. The bathrooms are porta-potties which is nasty. Just believe the price is steep for what you get.

Wilderness Ridge is a hidden gem of a campground about 2.5 hours from St. Louis. They offer float…read moretrips, camping, and cabins. Stop in Rolla, MO or another town off the highway to get any last minute items - this place is off the beaten path. For a full experience, pick up some Piney River Brewing Company beers (brewed nearby - try the Float Trip Ale) before you hit the back roads. Not too far into your float trip you will see a huge rock face bluff. Don't be afraid to stop here for a good long while and post up to enjoy the view. I wish I would have spent an hour here. It's the best view along the entire float. There are a few RV hookups with electric and water but not a ton. Call ahead to make sure you can get one if this is necessary. Enjoy your time away from city life! https://www.wildernessridgeresort.com/

I had the best time here! The owner was very warm, friendly, helpful and accommodating. The scenery…read morewas amazing! the fireplace and bb's are great. I love a good outdoor shower. Definitely worth the trip!

Beautiful place with wonderful accommodations. I was there…read morefor a family float trip and BBQ.. Fishing, hikes, river access and an outside chimney for a special campfire time. We all can't wait for a trip next year. Thank you Mary for everything you provide.

Always so nice going for a hike and enjoy the outdoors. My kids and dog have always enjoyed it…read morethere also. The natural arch is there if you go the right direction. Haha

This was a fun outing. We spent two or three hours here on this hike with kids 3-6, parents, and…read moregrandparents and we all were able to walk the trail. However, it is steep and narrow in places and you do go down quite a distance to the creek and you have to ascend back to the parking lot. It might be too much if you're not sure-footed. There no bathroom facilities, (at least in April) so stop at the gas station a few miles before. The bridge itself is large and we were able to walk under it to the other side. The creek was very low while we were there. The water was very clear, you could easily see the bottom of the river bed. Since the creek was low, there was a lot of exposed river rock that the kids thoroughly enjoyed picking up and throwing into the water. They had a fantastic time and slept all the way back home in the car.

Wonderful little gem hidden off the road. Great views from all camp sites. Landscaping is nice with…read moregrassy meadows, a nice old barn and picturesque pond for scenery. Host are awesome and genuinely nice. If you are looking for no city lights, a recess from traffic noise, I highly recommend Haven Hollow.

Meramec River access. Plenty of parking. Gravel bar boat launch. Beautiful and peaceful.read more

We arrived after a long day and found everything just as we expected. The host left a map and…read moreinstructions and the site and hookups were great. Very nice and clean restrooms and showers. We decided to stay an extra night and explore the local wineries. Host was a very nice man and lives on site in case you need help after hours. Highly recommend.

This is a new park that just opened in May 2022. I cant say enough about the…read morefriendliness/hospitality of the owners. Felt like Ive known them for years! The park itself has a nice set up and very clean. The sites are gravel, spacious and fairly level. We stayed overnight as we were just passing thru, but we got a pull thru site and didnt have to unhook our toad (about 42 total). Its next to the highway, but when youre just passing thru, its perfect. So expect some road noise! Although i have to say It didnt bother my sleep. I would definitely consider staying longer to explore the area.

On my first trip back home to St. Louis from Los Angeles in more than a decade, I went on a hunt…read morefor the summer home/hunting cabin that belonged to my grandparents. I had not been there since I was 13, one week after my mother died in 1989. The area was in a flood plain on the bank of the Big Piney River near the tiny town of Devil's Elbow, MO. I knew it was off Highway Z near I-44. I remembered along the way I used to look for a very high wooden railroad truss bridge, a Hillbilly General Store, the Bobber Cafe, some old, dilapidated buildings, a very old steel truss bridges, a tiny cemetery, a restaurant I used to call The Purple Cow (actually called Sirloin Stockade in Rolla) and the cabins and outbuildings where childhood friends of mine and old cronies of my grandfather lived. I had only the memories of a child guiding me. GPS was useless, both because I did not know the name of the road, nor could I get a GPS signal. This was one cool, melancholic adventure back in time. I found the steel truss bridge. It was closed. I was lost. I found Sheldon's Market and Post Office. The nice young woman inside skeptically listened to my story. I dropped some names of my grandparent's friends who had died more than 20 years ago. She did not recognize the names. She called her cousin. He did not recognize the names. As I was beginning to lose hope and started to think my grandparents' home had washed away in the floods so long ago that no one even remembered, a very nice woman drove up in her car. She asked us what we were looking for and we shared my story with her. She remembered my grandparents! She led us to the house (the long way because the bridge was closed.) She told us that her nephew (or cousin?) had started up a canoe rental business next door. We saw that the "neighborhood" (6 houses on concrete stilts) had been pretty beaten by time and harsh weather. We rented a canoe for $40. The proprietor drove us up the river 6 miles and we dropped in. The weather was gorgeous and we enjoyed a lazy float down the Big Piney River. There are sandbars in the middle where you can fish, look for crawdads, sunbathe, and enjoy the peace and tranquility. I remember my grandfather used to lose his mind when speedboats would fly down the river in the summertime because they chewed up the bottom, eroded the shores, and disrupted his silence. There was none of that on our Monday on the river. Just hawks soaring overhead, a cool breeze, the sound of our paddles, and calmness. We only saw one other couple in kayaks. So refreshing for a couple of Angelenos to spend an afternoon in rural Missouri just BREATHING clean air. There are some rope swings overhanging the water right before you dock again back at Route 66 Canoe Rental. Use them. So much fun. We pulled the canoes back onto the concrete boat launch and no one was there to receive us. We walked on a little bit, only slightly scared that we might get shot for trespassing (as this became a recent court battle on the Meramec or Missouri River, I guess.) A giant Saint Bernard mix ran toward us. We were not sure if that might be our demise instead, but it quickly became apparent that she was very friendly. (I flashed back to the pack of stray dogs, left by hunters or lost, that my grandparents and I used to feed on our deck when I was a kid. Papa and I used to pick the ticks off of them by the light of the bug zapper.) I looked up to see two men standing on a deck. I waved hello and explained what we were doing, tromping around on private property. The younger man told me he bought my grandparents' house and was rehabbing it. He invited us in. Although the deck had fallen off the front of the building during the most recent flood, the exterior of the house looked pretty much as I remembered it. The inside looked smaller, but I am bigger now. I remembered seeing the water marks around the walls as a child, preferring to think of it as wainscoting or crown molding, depending how high it the water rose each flood season. I remembered putting the baby bluegill, sunfish, frogs, and crawdads that I caught in the bathtub filled with our fresh well water, rocks and plants; my lovely terrarium prevented my family from bathing but they were so happy that I was happy. I remembered listening to Michael Jackson, Cindy Lauper, Eurythmics, and INXS on our porch swing under the house with my friends. I remembered long walks up the dirt road after supper, begging my grandfather to take the bass boat out the next day. I remembered the local trading post AM radio show each morning. So many memories. I understand that my experience with Route 66 Canoe Rental is very different than that of someone without history in the area. But please go make your own memories on the Big Piney. This is an area preserved in time, pushed aside by I-44. Go enjoy it.

My friend and I rented one canoe for a multiday trip in November 2014. Andy, the proprietor, was…read moreexceptionally friendly and accommodating. When the weather turned cold, he made several unscheduled pickups. He was also very personable and we chatted about local history to and from the river. Andy even brought us fresh venison burgers one day and shared his beer with us! Our experience was enhanced by his generosity.