The Black River forms near Pilot Knob in the Mark Twain National Forest of Iron County, then flows southward through Reynolds, Wayne and Butler Counties into Arkansas to its confluence with the Current River at Pocahontas. It is characterized by its lazy, slow-moving current on Class I flatwater surrounded by beautiful forests and the southeastern Missouri Ozarks. Its headwaters begin just a short distance north of Taum Sauk Mountain, the highest point of elevation in the State of Missouri, and then flow by Johnson's Shut-ins State Park above Lesterville down through Clearwater Lake and Poplar Bluff before entering Arkansas' far northeast corner. Nearby major waterways include the Big, St. Francis, Current, Jacks Fork and Eleven Point Rivers, all but the Jacks Fork eventually finding their ways into Arkansas.

Click the links below for information regarding the section of the Black River and its tributaries where you want to paddle.