PERRY COUNTY, Mo. — What was supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience has turned into a yearly occurrence. For the third year in a row, the path to Tower Rock in Perry County, Missouri, has emerged from a low Mississippi River.
On a brisk Monday afternoon, visitors from miles away came to hike to the island. The Millers drove the hour from Sikeston to see Tower Rock, also known as the Grand Tower.
"Oh my goodness that's big," Tucker Miller told 5 On Your Side. He brother Tyson said when he saw it, "I thought it was so cool and I was ready to go climb it."
Of course actual rock climbing is not allowed, but visitors can scramble over the island's rock skirt. "We went around the whole thing," beams Tucker Miller.
Low river levels make for a big adventure for the little kids, but also the big kids. Rolla and Jeannie Griggs drove from Potosi to hike the rock. "I think it's bigger, the river is wider, the rock is bigger than what I expected," Jeannie Griggs tells 5 On Your Side.
The Griggs had a two-hour drive to get there, making it four hours round trip. "Is it worth the two hour drive?" Jeannie Griggs asks her husband Rolla who shrugs. Undeterred she smiled and said, "On the way he said no, it wouldn't. But I think now that he's seen it, he likes it better."
When asked if he did, Rolla Griggs shrugged and smiled, "I suppose."
Usually, the path to Tower Rock is covered by the rushing waters of the Mississippi. For the past three years, levels have dropped enough for a big opportunity. "We had to make it out," Erin Geiser told 5 On Your Side, "We had missed our once in a chance twice so third time's the charm."
Erin Geiser and Aaron Kapfer drove from the St. Louis area to make the rare Mississippi crossing to the rock. Kapfer wonders why the river has exposed the path for the past three years, "Climate change maybe?"
American Rivers is a national nonprofit focused on the health of U.S. rivers and ecosystems. The organization's Central Region Senior Director Michael Sertle sheds light on why the river is low for a third year in a row, "there's no control of water level of the Mississippi River down there, so when we have drought years like we're experiencing now on on the Mississippi, we see things like this where the river exposes the the bedrock."
Sertle worries that big fluctuations along the river are becoming commonplace. "As we look to the future, we expect to have bigger floods," Sertle tells 5 On Your Side. "I think that it's realistic that we can expect that things like this, these low drought conditions are something that is not going to really be, that, that once every 10 years scenario, or once-in-a-lifetime, so to speak. We'll have these extreme swings either direction."