We
started the day at mile 248, just 13 miles outside of Baton Rouge. The weather of the previous days had us
worried about fog and rain.
Paddling through cities was always a nervewracking experience and we
didn’t want to head through Baton Rouge with low visibility. Fortunately, however, the day held off
the worst of the fog. It was still
overcast and threatened rain, but we could see fine and decided to try to get
through. The several miles leading
up to the city proper were filled with barge and construction traffic. As we rounded the final bend at 235, we
could see the length of the city; we had a roughly ten mile stretch straight
south to get to the other side.
Baton
Rouge marks a critical change in the river. At this point, the nine-foot channel deepens to forty feet
to allow large, ocean-going vessels to use the river. From Baton Rouge south, there are no low bridges and we knew
we would have to share the river with the huge, fast moving ships for the rest
of the trip. While we didn’t see
any moving on the water that day, there was one moored on the east bank. Huge doesn’t begin to describe it. Several of the largest barges we had
already passed could easily have fit inside the behemoth.
Other
than being catcalled with shouts of “Stroke! Stroke!” from the barge workers,
the city passage went smoothly.
Fine, light rain began as we left the city, but sunshine was struggling
to break through. We stopped
briefly on a sandbar at 222 for lunch and to celebrate getting to the last leg
of the journey before finishing for the night. We stopped at 216, having gone 35 miles for the day. We were finally able to have a real
fire and a hot dinner and were satisfied with the day!
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