Day 72 and 73

The lower end of the river really lives up to the name Big River, everything about it super sized. The curves and bends go on for 4 to 6 miles, each one taking an hour or two pass through completely. The currents that ran along the edges are no longer a small swirls or pockets of slack water, they too have grown to a mass swirling, boiling, up stream running pockets a quarter of a mile or longer, the slack pools are now long runs of water with no current filled with trapped foam and the bodies of decaying Asian carp. Both are so large if you find yourself in them without being aware it can take half and hour to paddle out and get back into the main flow.  In St. Louis Mike told me most of the groups that make it past St Louis and end up quitting do so in Vicksburg. At the time I though that was strange but as the miles stretch on I can see where the wide open river and long miles could push someone to believe they will never reach the end. As for me I am fine with the new changes to the river and continue to paddle on river time, whatever the river gives I will take. As I approach Vicksburg in the next day I am excited I will be only 45 minutes from my home and look forward to spending the holiday weekend with friends and family I have not seen in 3 months. I was pushing myself hard today, no stopping to read or take my new favorite break activity, a swim in the nude. I found myself getting frustrated that I wasn't making the miles as fast as I wanted, I knew the strong south wind blowing across the big water was the reason but it did nothing to help me feel better. I took a short break about 4 to pick up some trash left by someone on a beautiful sandbar, I just happened to check the radar and noticed a storm was very near. I quickly jumped in the boat ans began to paddle determined not to get any further behind. Well only 20 minutes later the sky was filled with dark clouds and the wind spun the canoe and drove it towards the bank. With my frustration at a max I tied off the boat, grabbed my chair and climbed the bank. I watched as the rain moved across the river only a few hundred yards downstream, the wall of water completely blocked my view a willow topped island half a mile distant. I set up my chair behind a large willow so as to block the little bit of rain blowing my way. I placed my head against the tree in frustration and to my surprise took a wonderful 30 minute nap while the storm lashed the island downstream. When I woke again I was completely relaxed and took the beauty of my view in with eyes that had been blinded by my emotion only a short time before. I love the way nature finds ways to remind me that this trip is about more than my time frame and my perception of the world.

Days 70 and 71

The nice unseasonably cool spell has ended and I went from waking up cold to waking up hot but that is summer in Mississippi. I would say that the section of the river from below Tunica Ms and Greenville MS is the most wild and remote yet. Other than the few buildings and bridge at Helena I haven't seen much sign of human life. What I have seen are Asian carp by the millions, mile after mile of them swimming along under the surface eating the plankton. In addition to the live ones the river is also full of dead ones floating on the surface, washed up on beaches and generally rotting in, on and around everything. This morning I thought I would count all the dead ones I saw floating as I paddled but after counting over 50 in the first 30 minutes I gave up. Yesterday when I went to shore to grab a oil bottle I saw on the beach, I noticed a large carp eaten almost entirely. On closer inspection I discovered it was a black bear that had eaten the carp. I know there are bears in Mississippi but not many so I was excited to take a picture of the track and left hoping to see one walking along a sand bar. I haven't seen any gators yet but I have seen their tracks and tail drags on the sandbars. They like the bears and coons simply walk down the sand bar till they find a dead carp they like, eat it and go back to hiding.  One good thing I can report is that with no one around I finally landed at two separate sand bars and was not able to find even one piece of trash, only took 1600 plus miles and a few hundred trips to shore! I am happy to find so little trash in this area of the river. Another difference is the mosquitoes down in the southern delta, everywhere along the river has them but not like these. They aren't any bigger or itch any worse but they have a mean blood lust. They don't fly about bothering, you trying to decide if they want your blood, no they go straight for open skin and suck. Most mosquitoes will take some blood but fly at the first sign of danger but not these girls. They suck and suck, ignoring any attempts to dislodge them from the task. They greedily fill their body with blood until they can't even fly, they just buzz towards the ground and lay there like a fat tick. Outside this is no fun but in the tent at night it is a blessing. I get in and the 20 minute game of hide and seek for them is shortened to a minute. While I chase one down in the corner the other few are sucking up pints of blood and then fall to the floor where I am rewarded with a bloody smear when I smack them. The only other items of interest in the last few days have involved the barges that grow in number every day. I was entering a bend below Rosedale called Victoria Bend, that unknown to me had some strong side currents and a very narrow and sharp 90 plus degree turn. Coming into the turn with a barge behind me I saw a strong current running across the channel towards the opposite bank. Seeing the current would push me into the barge if I tried to stay on my side I let it quickly push me to the left hand shore. A short time later I saw how tight and narrow the turn was and got over within a foot of the bank to give the 7 barge wide by 7 barge deep fully loaded tug as much room as possible. I don't think the captain saw me till he was committed to the turn. Suddenly he stopped all three engines and started to blow his horn at me while being pushed ever closer to the bank by the same side current I had encountered. I simply stepped out of the canoe onto the bank because I was that close and threw my hands in the air. He continued to drift towards the shore and blow his horn. I grabbed my radio and told him to shut up and drive! He didn't like my advice and started to yell about he couldn't because I was in his way. I told him that if he hit me standing on the shore he had bigger problems than me. He continued to blow his horn and not dive so I told him in 10 seconds I will jump on your boat and drive it for you because you will be on shore, so you drive or I will. He responded by working all three motors at full power and completed the turn even when I thought it was too late to save it. I found out today that more tow boat captains get fired for wrecking there than anywhere on the river. The older river boat guy told me it is the only place he knows that rookie captains pull over to wait for an old timer to show them how it is done. The other pucker moment was coming into Greenville today. I have been to Warfield Point Park where I planned to camp for several blues festivals and know it is a high traffic tight turn area. I also knew I would have to cross the channel to reach the old river channel to access the park. As I entered the turn above Greenville I saw a line of 10 tug boats pushing upstream towards me. Most of the barges were less than 100 yards apart, strangely close together. I got completely out of the channel and drifted slowly through the turn. After clearing the bend I was presented with open river and then barge after barge stacked up clean through the Greenville turn 4 miles away. I decided I would need to cross now and ride the wrong side the entire way down if I was going to land at the park. I cut on the radio and listened to all the chatter as the captains tried to keep moving without a wreck. Making my way down I kept to the side and noticed 20 or more recreational boats on a sandbar above town with many more snaking in and out of barge traffic headed that direction. The radio chatter was almost at a panic now that the Sunday boating crowd was showing up in droves. I decided to float as close to shore as possible and stay off the radio unless it was an emergency. As I reached the last mile I came on a barge pushed into the bank letting other traffic pass, just as I reached him I saw him power up to move off the bank. I knew he didn't see me but I decided to stay close to shore and we would pass close to one another but safe. As his barges were swinging out and I was cutting in, the barge passing me saw me and radioed the captain to stop movement because of me. I heard him saying he couldn't see me and all smoke from his engine stopped. I tried to contact him on the radio but with all the boats talking I couldn't t get through. I tried an Army radio trick and yelled Break, Break, Break all unnecessary radio traffic stop transmitting time now! It worked the radio traffic stopped and I told him to continue as he had panned. He resumed his movement and I informed everyone why I was on the wrong side of the river and my intention to make land at Warfield point. I covered the last half mile to shore without issue. After I landed I meet an old river boat pilot who told me a barge had caught on fire downstream and blocked all traffic for the last several hours, hence the traffic jam. I tried to find the camp ground attendant but I guess he does not work Sunday. I was further disappointed to find the shower house required a key. I settled for a shower using the hose and decided the cool clean city water was better than a hot shower.

Day 69

Late into the night I woke up shivering in my silk sleeping bag liner. I quickly pulled out my sleeping bag that I haven't used in a month and wrapped up. When I woke again early this morning the river was covered in a blanket of thick cool fog so I went back to sleep. A few hours later I was awakened by the sound of a tractor brush hogging the levee behind me, I quickly packed up and hit the river. The river was starting to make more tight curves of over 90 degrees and I noticed the current becoming less organized with each one. About a dozen miles down river and just before the confluence of the St Francis river I paddled through a hard bend where the current created a large swirl 250 feet across with smaller whirlpools around the edges. This swirl represented the death of the wonderful current I had ridden the last 70 miles from above Memphis. Shortly after the St Francis river punches into the Mississippi at a right angle and the Mississippi boils and fights the muddy St Francis for the next several miles. At noon I could see the Highway 49 bridge about 6 miles down river at Helena. For the last several miles into Helena the river slows to a crawl and the water was filled with Asian carp, tens of thousand swam just under the surface of the water and splashed as I paddled towards the casino on the Mississippi side of the bridge. Having tied up the canoe and climbed the steep over grown bank I arrived at the casino doors. I made my way to the all you can eat buffet and ate way too much, fried catfish, turnip greens, ham, butter beans, fried okra, creamed corn, mac and cheese and a gallon of sweet tea. When I made it back to the canoe I was stuffed and paddled out into the lazy current trying to keep to the shaded west bank. The last few hours of the day I spent on the edge of the channel and out of the way of heavy barge traffic. Around 7:30 I made camp on one of several tiny sand islands on the upstream side of a long wing dam, south of a place in MS named Friars Point after the near by town. Still full from my large late lunch I took a long swim while watching the sun set.

Days 67 and 68

Yesterday I stayed in Memphis. I attended the Wolf River Conservancy River Guide Appreciation night, along with Jane, Dad and Dale Sanders. I was able to meet the other volunteers who help the WRC by guiding paddle trips, walking trips, and helping restore lands along the green way. The WRC leaders showed us several nice displays that showed how the multi use walking/biking trail is progressing.  After the event I transferred my gear from Dad's truck to Dales van because I was staying at his home. Dale has started a Paddlers Wall and I wanted to sign it. He has a spiral stair case leading from the basement to the first floor, all the paddlers who come to town are encouraged to sign the walls. Each paddler or paddlers writes something about why they are making the trip, where they started, where they will end, and everyone signs their name. This tradition is very common on the AT but the only other place I have encountered a paddler book or wall was in Palisade MN, over 1,500 miles ago. Early this morning Dave dropped me at the Memphis Yacht Club where I loaded the canoe and paddled out. Dave was headed to Helena AR to pick up a paddler and bring him back to the airport in Memphis. Dale is the real deal, 82 years young, always moving and helping anyway he can.
I paddled out of Memphis, passing under the iconic M shaped bridge escaping any real barge traffic in the harbor area. Starting many miles above Memphis the river is making a very long straight north to south run, With no wind the lines of straight clean currents were easy to read and I quickly found a good run. The first half of the day the river made long lazy turns and the current stayed well organized. I made good time and enjoyed watching as the many riverboat casinos in Tunic MS slipped by. At mid day I entered a bend to find a half dozen barges waiting to pass the turn and more coming from down river. I paddled in behind a wing dam near the center of the curve and beached the canoe on a sand bar. I spent lunch sitting in the shade eating and watching the barge traffic work themselves through the curve. After a quick swim I was paddling out without a barge in sight. Towards late afternoon I noticed Rivergator.org listed a camp ground at Mhoon Landing in Mississippi a few miles ahead. At the other end of a 4 mile run of river I could see the campground as a cleared section in the trees lining the river bluff. The river park featured a bathroom, concrete pads, pavilions, water and street lights. I set up the tent, and after dinner took a bird bath. Shortly after i got into the tent I was startled by a loud raspy, growling bark like noise. The animal was just out of the range of the street lights and called several times in manner that said I am upset with you being here. I fumbled for my headlamp and shined it into the night revealing nothing.  I thought I had heard and knew the call of every mammal and bird in the state of Mississippi but I have no idea what this was. After a bit or reading I called it a night.

Day 66

Day 66
I made it through most of the night without being woken up by storms. It did rain hard for a few hours but none of the high wind and hail that many of night time storms have brought. I set an alarm for this morning not something I normally do but I have to meet people at Mud Island in Memphis at a set time. I am glad I set the alarm because it was a cool and overcast morning and I could have slept away half the day. The wind was blowing like crazy and radar showed more storms headed my way as I packed up the canoe. I was glad I only had 4 miles to paddle to reach Memphis. The paddle to town was mostly uneventful other than a large crane loading a barge using his microphone to wish me a good morning and a safe trip down the river. I reached what Google maps showed was the boat ramp on Mud Island and was shocked to see a steep mud, clay and rock bank leading up to the parking lot. I wasn't sure I was in the right place so I spent the next 45 minutes picking up a full bags worth of trash. The first person to arrive was my childhood friend Chris who had driven over from Arkansas to meet me. We visited for a few minutes before more friends and family arrived to greet me. The boat ramp I was looking for was another 100 yards down the bank so I paddled on down while we waited on the Wolf Rive Conservancy group to show up. The next few minutes were a rush to unload the canoe and take a few pictures before the coming storm drenched us all. I was honored to have Dale Sanders show up to greet me. Dale holds the record for the oldest person to hike the entire Appalachian Trail and has paddled the entire river a couple of years ago as well. We did not have much time to talk before the rain began to pour but the WRC invited Dad, Jane and myself to a WRC river guide event tomorrow in Memphis. The rest of the day was spent enjoying a nice lunch, dropping the canoe at Memphis Yacht Club and heading to Dad's for a much needed nap without the worry of storms.

Day 64 and 65

Day 64 and 65
The last two days have been more of the same less than enjoyable weather. The wind has continued to blow hard from the south both day and night. The days and the nights have also been filled with small rain clouds and big organized thunderstorms. The winds have forced me to spend all day fighting for miles and the nights have been a series of naps interrupted by the never ending storms. This part of the river through the boot heel of Missouri is very rural area with almost no towns or businesses along the river. The wildlife and barges seem to have decided to take a week off because of the crappy weather pattern as well. I will be happy to reach Memphis were I will meet family, friends and some of the staff of the Wolf River Conservancy. I am looking forward to next week when the weather is set to change, temps and humidity are set to be lower than average for this time of year.

Day 63

Day 63
I woke this morning at sunrise to a strong storm slamming into my tent. I had to sit up and brace the tent poles before it was blown down on top of me. The game of me vs storms was getting old after two rounds of storms during the night, I just wanted to break camp and move along. I packed up best I could and laid wet gear out on the canoe to dry as I paddled into another stiff south wind and nasty sky. I found the current waves again and bounced up and down making slow but steady progress towards New Madrid MO. After noon the winds picked up again and I found that only by sitting cross legged in the bottom of the canoe and letting the current push the canoe along could I make any forward progress. To make matter worse I was fighting a series of small rain storms that were passing over every 30 to 45 minutes. Late afternoon I made New Madrid where I visited the museum and refilled my water jug. Like many old river towns it may bustled in its day but has fallen on harder times in the last 50 years. I pushed on past town making camp some hours later. I knew yet more storms were coming and went to sleep early confident I would have to wake up several times to battle mother nature. The weather the next few days is supposed to be more of the same. I have been joking with myself and saying Old Man River doesn't believe in credit, when I got off for family vacation my river ticket was erased so I am being force to earn a new one in order to access the beautiful days and nights. I am OK with that because I know the price is worth the show.

Day 62

I woke early to an increasing south wind, by the time the boat was loaded it had grown to a constant 10 mph wind with stronger gusts every 20 to 30 seconds. When the south wind gets up above about 7 mph it starts to blow the surface water back upstream, the deeper current fights the top water and lines of stationary waves build on the surface in the areas of higher current. I have only noticed this a handful of times on the river and if you can find the waves/current then you can make a slow but steady progress. So the first half of the day was spent working to keep the front of the canoe pointed into the waves and making slow progress. By around 1 the wind had picked up to a point that even with the current I was not able to make any noticeable headway so I put to shore. I spent several hours waiting for the wind to drop off and reading a book. About 4;30 the wind died down some and I back paddling. The barges had stopped running during the high winds but just like me they wanted to make up for lost time. I paddled along rocking on the current waves and barge rollers till close to dark. As I made camp and ate dinner I checked the radar and saw several lines of bad storms headed my way. I loaded my food buckets, water jug and backpack into the tent to give extra weight and stability during the storms. The first storms hit about 9, I spent an hour holding onto tent poles to prop the tent up against the wind and rain. After the storm passed I used my sponge to clean up the water and sand blow into the tent by the storm. Round two of storms hit just after midnight and I repeated the process a second time. Just after I finished cleaning up the tent I was jolted by the sound of tons of steel slamming into and grinding against rock. A looked towards the channel and saw a big tug trying to stop his barges from pushing further up on the underwater wing dam he had hit. The big tug spent an hour plus gunning his big engines working himself back off the rock before finally floating free. I settled in for another short nap before the sun came up.

Day 61

Day 61
I woke early to a river blanketed in fog and a overcast sky. I could hear a barge just off shore but could not see it in the dense fog so I went back to sleep. I woke again just before 8 and quickly packed up camp and pushed off into the remaining fog. I was excited because today would mark my departure from the middle Mississippi River into the lower Mississippi starting at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. The first few hours I made good progress in the steady current and no winds, but by noon a stiff wind was blowing directly at me slowing my pace considerably. The headwind was the product of a cold front that was moving over the area and was predicted to bring rain. Sure enough just after noon as I approached the Ohio River a slow steady warm rain began to fall. I had hoped to climb a tower at the confluence of the rivers but the low clouds and rain had visibility down to half a mile so I paddled on into the meeting place of the two rivers. The confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi is the worlds 4th largest confluence of rivers and created a large wide lake like area for 10 plus miles downstream. The waters fought against each other and current slowed down to a drag, the opposite of what I had hoped for. As I read the river mile sign showing mile 954 I had mixed feelings, the river mile makers had started at 1365 and had been counting down to zero for 60 days, now I was starting over at mile 954. 954 more miles till I reach pilot town and the Gulf of Mexico.  Just downstream I paddled out of Illinois and into Kentucky. The Kentucky bank was a high yellow bluff marking the entrance into a new state. The river here like many places has changed course over the years and a good sized chunk of Kentucky sits on the western bank of the river something I didn't know till today. There were barges and tow boats parked along both sides of the river for many miles downstream and I decided to tuck myself up next to the west bank and ride the good current created by the endless rows of parked barges. By this time my hands were really starting to bother me, the days of soft living and swimming on vacation had all but removed the calluses I had built up. The rain from before had made my skin wet and the days paddling was producing a new line of blisters on my palms. I decided to stop for a late lunch and pick up some liter while I was there. I found a huge variety of liter on this short sandbar, a soccer ball, a foot ball, a dodge ball, a flip flop, a hair brush, some rope, two medicine bottles, half a dozen unopened pack of butter and the normal selection of plastic drink bottles and Styrofoam. Adding all this to the 48 quart cooler and bag of other trash I picked up last night produced a large collection in the canoe. Back on the river  I switched from the double blade paddle to the traditional canoe paddle as I made my way along the line of barges. Several times I noticed barges I was approaching were starting their engines and preparing to move into the channel, so I informed them of my location using the radio to avoid any issues. Soon the wind picked up again and I could hear thunder in the distance, problem was the line of barges left me no place to reach the shore and make camp. The quick moving storm rolled across the river and darkened the sky just as I reached a floating dry dock and work camp along the bank. I pointed the canoe into a opening and was able to duck under a large catwalk leading from the bank just as the sky let loose. I waited under the catwalk for about an hour till the worst of the storm passed before paddling on in search of a campsite. I only had to travel a short distance before I found a decently flat spot of sand between two old barges. I quickly set up the tent and hauled everything into it as it started to rain again. I took a quick bath in the river as the rain beat down again, not the way I like to make camp but that's life on the river. Clean and dry in my tent I started a dinner of Knorr broccoli cheddar pasta and chicken meat. While the pasta soaked I thought about how much I really love being out here in the middle of nature, it has always brought me a peace and contentment I can find no where else. With only 937 miles remaining I guess I will start considering what my next long distance nature trip will be.

Day 60

Day 60
I enjoyed my family vacation but by 3 in the afternoon when I returned to the river I was ready to paddle. I pushed off from Cape G and headed downstream with a slight breeze blowing towards me. After 10 days off river I was mentally prepared to be back but I was unsure of how my body would react after the break. I had tweaked a muscle in my back a couple of days before and it was still very tight, I was hoping everything would work out for the best. I paddled downstream and after about a half a mile I crossed under the large bridge linking Missouri and Illinois. I picked up my phone to grab one last photo of Cape G back up river, as I twisted in my set my back popped from the bottom to the top releasing all the pent up tension. I felt great after wards and knew everything was going to be just fine. I paddled along at a slow pace, enjoying all the beauty the river had to offer. Around 7 I decided it was time to start looking for a camp site and notice a several mile long sandbar to my left. I decided to drift along the length of it taking in the start of the sunset and whatever else mother nature sent my direction. Midway down the sandbar I spotted a group of 30 to 40 white pelicans enjoying the sunset from the beautiful beach. It only took about 40 minutes to drift to the end of the sandbar and in addition to pelicans I saw eagles, several cranes, king fishers and wood ducks. After beaching the canoe I started a large fire and set up the tent. Next I started dinner and while it was finishing I put on my headlamp and went up the dark sandbar to gather more firewood. My headlamp quickly found the glowing eyes of a deer who had come out from the woods to drink. I quickly walked in her direction and with the light blinding her I was able to walk up within about 20 feet of her before she bolted into the short willows. Returning to camp I found the mosquitoes out in full force so I stood in the smoke from the fire and quickly ate my dinner of roast beef and mashed potatoes. After washing my cook pot I fled the smoke and mosquitoes for the safety of my tent. I made my bed and intended to read for a short time before going to sleep but sleep was the only thing my eyes found.

What do I eat?

The most common question I get asked is "What do you eat?". I am going to try an explain what I eat, how I prepare it and the tools in my camping kitchen. For a stove I use the MSR Pocket Rocket 2 stove. The stove burns Isobutane. a blended fuel that is designed to burn in a wide range of temperatures and elevations.  Fuel canisters come in several sizes and I prefer the large 15.5 oz size. My cooking pot is a MSR Titan Kettle. It is a titanium pot and lid that holds just a bit less than a litter.  A plastic teaspoon, can opener, fillet knife and a small grill grate are included in the kitchen as well. Additional I carry a spice bag that contains chicken broth cubes, red pepper flakes, sea salt, garlic powder, taco seasoning, garlic Parmesan base, olive oil, beef base and other rotating seasoning packets. I struggle to eat a good breakfast mainly because I don't have much of an appetite in the morning. My go to breakfast is Carnation instant breakfast drink. I mix two packages in a power aid bottle and try and drink it as I pack up my tent and store everything in the canoe. I will also try to force down a granola bar or a few chocolate coated mini donuts as well. When I get in the canoe to start paddling for the day I put 4 one quart power aid bottles refilled with water under my seat along with my snack bag. Having my water split into separate bottles helps me to monitor my water intake throughout the day. I also keep a bottle of Mio drink additive or sweet tea concentrate handy so drinking enough water for the day is a bit easier. I keep a snack bag under the seat as well. My snack bag contains Snickers bars, goldfish, cheez it crackers. Peanut butter crackers, granola bars, Cliff bars or other sports bars, and candy. I try to eat a snack about every hour or so while paddling. For lunch I prefer to stop at a town and grab a hot meal to help boost my calorie intake but more days than not it doesn't work out that way. A river lunch is normally a couple of flour tortillas filled with peanut butter or a couple of cans of sardines with some crackers washed down with at least a quart of liquids. For dinner I have a much wider range of options. Dinner is when I take in most of my calories and it is in general a two or three course event. I normally start with a small meal of one package of ramen noodles or a small serving of instant mashed potatoes, I will start cooking with a full quart bottle of water on hand and whatever I don't use to cook, I will drink.  For main dinner I will make a Knorr paste side with can of chicken added or a can of black beans, shredded beef,  rotel and taco seasonings rolled into a tortilla shell, or maybe mac and cheese with a slice of fried spam. Any canned item like beef stew, chili, chicken and dumplings, canned pasta, is a possible dinner item. I always drink a full quart of water with dinner. For desert I make a half quart of hot coco and eat a candy bar or  few donuts. I try and eat as much as possible in the evening and drink at least a gallon of water. The long days of paddling burn huge amounts of energy and keeping weight loss in check is a constant battle for me. I will add olive oil or butter to everything I cook so I can squeeze in a few more calories. I will check and see if a town I am passing has a store near shore so I can run in and grab a hot dog, ice cream or other snack all in the hunt for a few more calories. Before bed while I am reading or working on a blog post I will have a final snack and try and squeeze in a some more liquids.

Day 59

Day 59
I slept in a little later today, I may have had one too many sips of Jim Beam last night. The morning was cool and a heavy blanket of fog lay across the river. I struggled to make out my boat 40 feet away down the sand bar. I was in no rush today, I was camped just two miles above Cape Girardeau MO. Dad is driving up from Memphis to pick me up off the river. I will be going off river for the next 8 days or so for a family vacation. Each summer my Dad, sisters, brothers in laws, and my 6 nieces and nephews get together for a week of fun. I am excited to see everyone but know I will miss the river while I am gone. After the fog cleared I paddled across the river and down to the landing at the Cape. I was greeted by a nice mural painted on the flood wall by the old downtown as I paddled up. I pulled the canoe up the concrete ramp and started to unload. Using a Facebook group I found nice man who lives in town who is going to store my canoe and some gear at his house for me. I laid out my tent and rain fly to dry out from last nights heavy fog and dew and started to work cleaning mud and sand from the rest of my gear. After removing the sand from my tent I rolled it up happy knowing it would not be dirty or moldy when I returned to the river. Dad arrived shortly and we soon had the canoe and all gear loaded into the truck for transport to the storage location. I spotted a BBQ restaurant close by and we stepped inside for a bite of lunch. After a lunch of ribs and a rib eye sandwich we left to unload the canoe and gear. With my boat and gear tucked away it was time to start my vacation from my vacation. I am going to miss the river but it is not going anywhere while I am gone. While off river I hope to make a few posts about things I haven't talked much about so far like what I eat, load set up for the canoe, and other gear.

Day 58

Day 58
I climbed out of the tent and greeted a river heavy with fog and barge traffic. I took my time with my breakfast of granola and a carnation instant breakfast drink, hoping the barge traffic would die down. I packed the boat and shoved off just after 9. I have been using a website called Rivergator, it was developed by Muddy Mike and John Rusky. The site lists all the islands, bluffs, boat ramps and other major places of note along the river. In addition to listing each location by river mile number it also has a section to tell you some information about each site. I had been reading ahead the night before and knew several geographical locations of note lay ahead today. The first location of note is Fountain Bluff, it is a large bluff towering over the river, large boulders some as big as houses have fallen to the waters edge. I slowly paddled along amazed by the size and shape of the boulders and imagining the splash they must have made when it fell into the river. The river smashes into the bluff base and creates a huge eddy of swirling confused water from shore to shore. Just below Fountain Bluff stands Tower Rock. Tower Rock is a large semi round  tower of stone standing 100 feet out of the water. The top is covered in trees and would hold a small house nicely. As I get closer I can see the water is a massive eddy circling around the tower. I paddled into the eddy and am taken for a spin all the way around the massive pillar of stone. Tower Rock is the only rock like this in the river all the others have been removed. Between Fountain Bluff and Tower Rock I paddled over to a a boat landing to get some water and stretch my legs. I meet a tug boat crew preparing to start their two week rotation running the river. They asked me lots of questions and informed me they will go to New Orleans and back during their two weeks. I paddled the rest of the afternoon without incident. There were several large chutes on the river I would have liked to paddle but from reading Rivergator I knew I would run into problems  with rock dams trying to do so at the current water level. Towards early evening I made camp at the point where Picayune Chute reenters the main channel. I made a nice fire and enjoyed a bottle of Jim Beam I had tucked away for today, my birthday. I enjoyed yet another amazing sunset before crawling into bed.