Phenomenal Formation

Wikipedia says that "Tower Rock, also known as Grand Tower, is a rock formation and landmark island in the Mississippi River, in Brazeau Township, Perry County, Missouri". It normally looks like this: 

Wikimedia

However, thanks to drought the river is at near record low water levels. This is what Hubby Tony and I saw when we visited it today:

Right now the island is more like a peninsula, with a land bridge connecting it to the shore. The phenomenon has had mentions on just about every news media outlet in the past week, and Tony and I decided to see the rare occurrence while we could.

Tower Rock is approximately two hours south from our house. Google Maps gave us two suggestions to get there. The more scenic route only took fifteen minutes more, so we chose that. We took the Jefferson Barracks bridge over the Mississippi River and went south on Route 3 (a beautiful scenic drive which is part of the Great River Road, although the river isn't visible) to Chester. There we crossed back over into Missouri and took a series of state and county roads until we got to the gravel road leading to the conservation area.

Halfway down the approximately one-mile gravel road traffic ground to a halt. Cars were parking wherever they could. Tony found a place and we joined the stream of people walking towards the river.

The Tower Rock Natural Area is run by the Conservation Department. Other than a very basic parking lot that looked like it would hold about a dozen cars, an identification sign, and a set of railroad tracks running along the river, the area is very natural. A woman who was leaving the area announced to no one in particular that if we went down to the far end the climb down was easier, so we did that. The limestone rock was eroded into layers, and moving from one to another was easy. Even though there were signs telling people not to climb the rock, some people were doing it anyway. I was content to walk around from one side of the land bridge to the other, and get within a couple of feet of the river. 

Getting back to the car was easy, but getting back to the main road wasn't. Too many cars had parked along the road, but one motivated driver played traffic cop until a path opened up and we followed a slow line of cars up the gravel. That same drought that dropped the river level also made for a lot of gravel dust, and eventually the car was covered in gray.

We chose to take the more direct Interstate route home The one stop was at a McDonald's for a bathroom break and coffee. 

Five years ago today: More Than Just Fried