Missouri’s Big Sugar Creek and Elk River
The Elk River and its scenic tributary, Big Sugar Creek, have become a favorite float with canoeists in the western part of the state. Big Sugar provides good camping and fishing, and is an unusually clear stream. In the Pineville and Noel areas, summer cottages are numerous, but the Elk below Noel again has a more isolated quality.
Difficulty: mostly II, seldom over.
Gradients: general – 6.5; Big Sugar from Hwy. 90 to Powell – 8.9; to Cyclone – 6.5; to Pineville – 7.2; (Elk River) to Shadow Lake – 4.
County: McDonald.
Big Sugar Creek Mile-By-Mile Description
0.0 In high water, a put-in may be made on Big Sugar at the Roller Bridge. Hwy. 90 and KK. A county road parallels much of the creek from here to Powell.
5.5 Powell. Road is close to the creek and several bridges make this a good put-in area.
6.0 Bentonville Hollow (creek) and Hwy. E Bridge.
6.8 Low-water bridge on creek road. Mikes Creek on right. Creek road (south bank) shortest route to Cyclone. A few poor places in the road.
7.8 Kings Valley (creek) on right.
12.3 End of Hwy. V at Little Cedar Hollow on right.
14.6 Cyclone low-water bridge. Camping, swimming and good access. Many floats start here. Best put-in for normal water. Creek road on north side from here to Pineville.
20.4 MDC Deep Ford Access (public).
20.9 Low-water bridge at “Crag O Lea.” Good access.
22.4 “Sugar Beach” (cottages).
23.9 Creek divides. Left channel flows into Little Sugar Creek and bypasses Pineville. Right channel is the old channel and shorter.
24.3 Little Sugar Creek joins to form Elk River. The lower part of Little Sugar has a gradient of 9 and is floatable in good normal water.
Cyclone Low Water Bridge is surrounded by private property guarded by dipshit, inbred, retards of McDonald County. You can’t park there anywhere…and therefore is a terrible place to start a float.