We provide the transportation, paddles, canoes, and life jackets. You float in the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. The Jacks Fork and Current rivers are two of the most beautiful rivers in the U.S. You may prefer to take your trip Monday through Thursday in order to avoid the weekend crowds.

Especially in the Spring, these Class I rivers are sometimes closed due to flooding.

We do offer multi-day trips to other areas--for example our Boundry Waters trip. These require permiting and a few months lead time to get all the ducks in a row for a trip. We are willing to lead a trip anywhere we are able to get a permit!

We have a special use permit from the ONSR to provide canoe rental and livery service within the boundary of ONSR only to guest that participate in other activities or programs at Discovery Ministries. Camping counts as another program or activity.

Your ONSR trip can last 3 hours to 5 days depending on your chosen put-in and take-out points.

Due to concern over White Nose Syndrom (a fungus called Geomyces destructans which seems to be leading to the death of bats), closing of caves within the National Park boundaries by the NPS, and closing of Missouri Department of Conservation caves, Discovery Ministries is no longer accepting reservations for caving at this time. You may find out more information about white nose syndrom at this MDC webpage or the National Speleological Society page on WNS.

Missouri has over 6300 caves. Shannon County alone has over 300. We try to design a caving trip at the challenge level your group wants. From a cave that allows access to most people to a cave that has 2 rappels, climbing, and lots of tight squeezes inside.

• You provide the flashlights and batteries, we provide all the other necessary equipment.
• Will you get muddy? It depends on whether you walk, crawl, or fall down.
• What clothing do you need? Caves are 55 degrees, dark, and very humid all year long. Dress according to how comfortable you want to be in that atmosphere
• It is never easy to get to a cave. You have to drive a while, walk through the woods a while, and then go in the cave. Most people are tired at the end of a caving trip.

Regardless of which cave we take you to, we have an ethical responsibility to be good stewards of God's earth and want to foster in our participants an appreciation of taking care of what God has made. Therefore, we promote and teach low impact caving principles. For those groups interested we are happy to set up cave renewal projects in cooperation with cave owners.

Rock Climbing & Rappelling (single day trip)

Climbing real rock is like taking the training wheels off a climbing wall. The beauty and challenge of natural rock cannot be imitated. A 120 percent mental, physical, and spiritual challenge, there is no way words can describe the feeling of accomplishment participants enjoy when they conquer a climb that is at the far reaches of their abilities. Add to the climbing experience a 70 foot rappel, and most participants sleep during the drive back to camp. In the summer time, we can stop at Rocky Falls on the way home to take a cooling swim.

For an in-depth description of our Rock Week, see the articleWhat is a Rock Week?

This activity will take half to all day depending on the group size. Includes 40 minute drive to site, 10 minute walk up hill to rock.

Orienteering

This is a group initiative with real life consequences--Getting Lost.  We teach the group to read a map and compass, then drop in the middle of nowhere (or so they think) and give them destinations.  Wherever they lead, we go.  The final destination is the transportation back to the camp.  Be sure to bring creek crossing shoes!

The time for this activity is highly unpredictable.  Orienteering takes anywhere from 2 to 8 hours depending on how the group works together, stays focused, encourages, etc.