Mark Twain Lake, Missouri

[Bryden24shp]

We just sold our place in Osage Beach, that 6 hour drive is just getting to be a killer. Mark Twain Lake is about 1/2 the distance. Does anyone here boat on Mark Twain? I am really interested in it.

[kryptonite]

Been there a couple times, but not with the toon.

One weekend it rained the whole trip. The other trip was during the week, so not sure how the party crowd is. I know it's popular for fishing.

Typical army corps of engineers lake, they vary the lake levels to control flooding.

A few marinas, but no on the water houses or condos that I know of.

[curtiscapk]

Bryan,

bummer on LOZ but sure understand. I know there is someone on PS's forum that boats there I will try and get his info.

[STEVEBRENDA]

We used to go there a lot until we bought our place a Table Rock. It is an okay lake, but quit small in relation to Lake of the Ozarks and some others. With your boat, you can go from one end to the other in about 30-45 minutes. The water can be quit murky as it is run off for a lot of farm ground (most a large portion of NE Missouri drains into the lake).

With that said, there are a lot of spots to just anchor and hang out. During heavy floods the Corp holds back a lot of water rather than letting into flow down the Salt River and into the Mississippi. By doing such it has killed trees up above the normal pool by about 20 feet in elevation. This leaves not much to look at.

It is a weekend lake, but never really is too crowded. I would avoid Ray Beherens boat launch as that is the closest one to St. Louis and therfore has the most traffic.

There are not places to stay on the lake, but some local motels/cabins are adequate.

If you are just going to be driving the boat, I really like the Mississippi above Hannibal. The water is relatively slow and never is crowded.

[Bryden24shp]

Thanks Steve, we are looking for something a little closer to home. I think we are going to do some local exploring, this summer. I loved taking the Baja out on Lake Michigan. Thats still 3 hours closer than LotO. So we may give that a shot, later. Gonna miss having a place at LotO, but if we get the hankering to head back down, we have plenty of places to rent. Denise still wants to head down in July. Thats fine by me!

[STEVEBRENDA]

Sometimes renting is better than owning.