Fallspots

Johnson Shut-Ins

Missouri · height not recorded · Last verified 2026-05-15

Flow at Johnson Shut-Ins is light today (4 cfs) — visit for the geology, not the volume.

Right now

Streamflow

3.64 cfs

East Fork Black River · 53m ago

Overnight

45°F

Clear

Sunday

78°F

Sunny

Today's daylight

Sunrise 7:20 AM · Sunset 6:13 PM · 10h 53m

AQI: 38 (Good) · PM2.5 1.7 µg/m³

Snapshot built 12m ago. Sources: USGS · NWS LSX.

Johnson Shut-Ins, a waterfall in Missouri
Photo: Wikimedia Commons (see image page for full attribution)

Johnson Shut-Ins is a waterfall in Missouri. Height has not been officially recorded. Access details and conditions have not yet been verified in person by Fallspots — the data on this page comes from OpenStreetMap and USGS GNIS.

Johnson Shut-Ins is in Missouri. It drops along East Fork. The base sits at roughly 863 feet of elevation. Drive time is about 17 minutes from Arcadia. OpenStreetMap shows a trail within 0 meters of the marked location, though the name isn't recorded. No public parking is recorded within 2 km, so a longer approach is likely. This is one of the more frequently visited falls in the state by our popularity model. Source records come from OpenStreetMap.

Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park is a public recreation area covering 9,432 acres (3,817 ha) on the East Fork Black River in Reynolds County, Missouri. The state park is jointly administered with adjoining Taum Sauk Mountain State Park, and together the two parks cover more than sixteen thousand acres in the St. Francois Mountains region of the Missouri Ozarks.

Is the water flowing right now?

Most waterfall sites don't tell you this. The waterfall itself is almost never gauged, but a USGS streamgage in the same watershed can tell you whether snowmelt has started, peaked, or run dry.

30-day streamflow

Near 30-day average
2026-09-25 · low 2.4 cfstoday 3.64 cfs · avg 3.2 cfs

↻ Same date last year: 5.7 cfs · 63% of last year — significantly drier

When to go (from the climate data, not our opinion)

Monthly averages from Open-Meteo's reanalysis dataset (2020–2024). Highlighted months are when we think the waterfall is at its best — but the numbers are the numbers regardless.

MonthHigh °FLow °FPrecip (in)Snow days
Jan43264.36.6
Feb49283.25.4
Mar59396.10.4
Apr66454.90.4
May74564.30
Jun85642.70
Jul88694.70
Aug85673.20
Sep80612.60
Oct69493.10
Nov57382.61
Dec50323.12.2

Source: Open-Meteo Historical Weather API · ERA5 reanalysis 2020–2024.

Compare to nearby falls

If this one isn't the right fit, here's how it stacks up against the closest documented falls. Every column is filterable on the site — not buried in 13,000 reviews.

WaterfallDistanceHeightTrailDogsFee
Johnson Shut-Ins (this page)—————
Mina Sauk Falls6 mi————
Wolf Pen Hollow Waterfall13 mi————
Big Drop21 mi——YFree
Cats Paw21 mi——YFree
Waterfall (seasonal)29 mi10 ft—YFree

Questions visitors ask about Johnson Shut-Ins

Answers built from our structured data. If a question isn't here, the fact is unverified — we'd rather omit than guess.

How far is Johnson Shut-Ins from a major city?

Johnson Shut-Ins is 12 miles from Arcadia (about 17 minutes' drive).

More waterfalls in Missouri

Where it is

37.5393, -90.8380

Sources and live status

Where we got the data, and where to check current conditions before you drive.

Last verified by Fallspots: 2026-05-15

Been there?

Marina and Theo verify pages one road trip at a time. If you've been to Johnson Shut-Ins recently, your local knowledge improves the page for everyone. Pick the kind of contribution that fits — every email lands in our inbox and gets read (and credited when we publish).

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