Jordan Neeley, a junior studying environmental earth science at Washington University in St. Louis, once asked the same question that many visitors ask: What is a shut-in?
Rock formations called shut-ins confine a section of a river, forcing water to flow between the steep walls of a canyon or gorge. Shut-ins are found in streams and rivers across the Ozarks. But some of the most outstanding shut-ins in the state are located at Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park, where Neeley is studying bedrock river erosion.