Shoal Creek Falls in Joplin, MO

[ebell]

Has anyone ever ran these falls? they are river wide and 10-15 ft tall it looked like. they looked runable for sure to me. Is it illegal?

my sister just moved to joplin so i was looking around. shoal creek looks like fun class II with the class III falls. I didn't bring my boat this time, but I am next time for sure

eric

[GutIt]

That would be Grand Falls and it is definitely runnable. Just not river wide.

Just make sure you have a good line. There are some big boulders in the landing in some places that reside just below the surface. Other than that, the landing is nice, deep, and very little consequences below that.

As far as legality, I have never had any problem there. People jump off Grand Falls all the time. Its a big swimming hole gathering spot in the summer when they are running Never seen anyone have any run ins either by boat or otherwise.

[GutIt]

Grand Falls Resized.jpg (255.12 KiB) Viewed 4700 times

Grand Falls2 Resized.jpg (129.28 KiB) Viewed 4700 times

As you can see, no big deal really, just be aware it is not a clean landing river wide.

I am editing this because I neglected to give credit where credit is due!

Photos by Nicole Thomas. Bad-A Shooter/All-Around Good Boater/Friend.

[Regud]

I never thought of paddling the falls when I lived there. I will have to take my boat with me the next time I go to visit my parents.

[JTarver]

That looks like biiig fun..but how often does it run?

Does it run often during summer?

Thanks,
Joe

[ebell]

I don't know how often it runs. Pretty often is my guess. It was lower this weekend than it is in the pics. but still runnable. I am going to keep an eye on the weather in that area in the future. It seems that weather typically goes along the I 44 corrider so it should get its fair share of rain.

thanks for the pics

eric

[GutIt]

Shoal Creek doesn't run 365 days a year, but it does run a lot.

Grand Falls dropped over 30' through this spot before they built the dam.

The problem is that the approach to the falls gets kind of shallow. The lip also gets shallow. Natrally, it is more fun to have a good approach rather than grinding up to the lip, getting hung on the lip, and just falling off!

The day these shots were taken, the gauge reading was 3.6. It has enough water to make a good approach, and enough to clear the lip with no problems, really. And there were quite a few choices as to where to make your drop. This is the gauge:

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/mo/nwis/uv/?s ... 0065,00060

I really don't know what would be the minimum level for the Falls.

[JTarver]

Awesome..thanks for the info Gutit!
So, if it's got a dam....do they release on some sort of schedule? And if so, how could one obtain that schedule. Does the rest of the run start below the falls and dam, or above it making it rain dependant? I assume there is some sort of lake/pond feature above the dam.

Am I way off base here, or what? I would consider a road trip out for a weekend for a huckfest and just to get out of town for a couple days if there was going to be water.

Thanks,
Joe

[Regud]

If you look at the left central part of the picture you will see the falls.

Here is some more info on it http://www.ruralmissouri.org/05pages/05 ... Falls.html

[GutIt]

Well, you can see the dam in the background of the photos. And by the way, I wouldn’t recommend running it. Its only a couple of feet deep at the base.

It’s not really a “release” scenario, though I believe they do have a sort of “spillway” off to river right, and I’m pretty sure they would have to release under certain conditions. But that wouldn’t be a release that would water the falls and I am not aware of anything scheduled or exactly what they use the dam for. I don’t think it is a hydro thing, really. The best place to drop the falls is river left. It gets a little congested at the bottom the further right you go. No idea how far up the dam backs up, but as you can see in the photos, that day it was running over the dam so there would be at least a little current in that area.

There are some people who may know a little more about this than I do that I have seen post on here. Also, I know a couple of people who live over that way and I’ll see if I can get a hold of them and see if they can offer any more insight.

The day I ran the falls in those pictures, we had completed a “cooler canoe” run on Shoal further up. Which featured Redings Mill falls. A little Class II over some ledges. My wifey-poo had her Mamba 7.5 that day (while I, of course, paddled the Chuckwagon full of lunch and frosty cold beverages!) & I tossed in my brain bucket to run the falls a couple of times after our float in her boat. The date those photos were taken was 7/5/08, so you can see that the river runs a lot of the year. We did have a little precip prior to that day, but hey! Its August!

Just above Redings Mill there is an almost river-wide surfing hole (ledge) with enough water, and I have been told that there are some nice playspots down from Grand Falls. Haven’t seen them for myself yet but I am told that it is a pretty short section that features these spots. So if you came under the right conditions, you could have a little more than just the Falls. Also there are bedrock ledges all along the left bank at Grand Falls. Excellent vantage point for shooting footage or stills. Grand Falls is Park & Huck so you can bring your different machines and have your shuttle machine right there with you. And this is also why it gets a little crowded in the summer with the locals coming to swim. You will definitely get some looks of wonder as you drop Grand Falls in your boat!

No matter what anyone does here, one word of warning. Don’t paddle Shoal Creek into Kansas. There is a lot of private property on Shoal and when you get into Kansas on the water, apparently you are illegal. A buddy of mine almost got himself arrested just for existing!

Well, so much for one of the best kept secrets in MO!

[GutIt]

If you follow Reguds link, you can see the right side is going to cause you to need Fixodent for the rest of your life.

From left of center to about 20' off the far left bank is clean. Drop it there!

Thats a nice shot of the falls, Regud!

Guess we can expect some good company this year?

[JTarver]

Hell yea! Count me in. I just want to make sure it's running before I head out..and I'd love to get some surf time in while there too..that would be fantastic. I will definately make it a stop for this summer hopefully. I'm sure I can convince some others to join me for a road trip. Thanks for the info guys, you rock! Great shots of dropping the falls too. it looks like FUUUN!

Joe

[perspective7]

Sweet! Been looking at those falls for a while. We just started running the dam at the Finley River in Ozark after years of over-looking it (about 8'). If anyone plans a trip to the Shoal falls, let me know -- I'm in Springfield. Is the upper damn runnable, or is it to shallow? Just answered my own question about the dam by reading the posts--imagine that!?

[JTarver]

I wanna plan one soon perspective, I talked to Jack H. today and he is game. I figure if we can time it where we get some playtime along with the hucking, that would be ideal. It'll probably be a few weeks, but I def. am up for the trip. I was thinking leave on a friday morning, 3-4 of us splitting gas, and we could just hang out the whole weekend in Joplin and hit the bars, see the sights, etc.

Sound like a plan?

Like I said, it'll be a couple weeks before I can go due to class, but after that..if the flows are there..which we will have to determine through some reliable locals...then I say we road trip it.

Anyone else like the sound of it?

Joe

[GutIt]

perspective7?

You are in Spfld?

Have we met yet?