Day 86: F 12/7- Plaquemine, LA

   We had not been able to find a spot in Baton Rouge to get water and resupply, so we stopped at Plaquemine the next day.  When we woke up, however, there was a dense blanket of fog and we couldn’t have left if we wanted to.  Instead, we read a paper, hung out and waited until 10:30 to push off.  When it finally cleared, in a quick burn off by the sun, it was sunny and warm and we were feeling much better after days of dreary weather.  As we approached the small town, we got our first glimpse of one of the large ocean ships in action.  Honestly, the ship was so large, towering over the trees and buildings along the banks, that it looked ridiculous.  For the first time since Minneapolis, the Mississippi River looked small in comparison.  After the ship passed us, heading south to sea, we crossed to the Plaquemine landing, dogging construction and barges and walked into town.

   It was a tiny place and it took a few tries to find supplies, but we managed to get cereal, eggs, bread, some snacks and some much needed adult refreshments.  There was a small church just on the other side of the levy where a nice man, one of the pastors, let us fill up our water.  We pushed off into the sunshine and finished the day at the Bayou Goula Towhead around 196.  We paddled into a lagoon-ish area on the bank side of the island and climbed out onto a broad shelf of sand.  The vegetation was thick and creepy farther inland and the cove was filled with dead trees that made the camp look even more unsettling.

   We had a pleasant evening, until Aaron spotted something swimming back and forth just in front of our fire.  We tried to convince ourselves it was just a curious beaver, but its persistence had us thinking scary alligator thoughts all evening.  We kept a close eye on Lilly and Aaron even through a few burning branches at our assailant.  Whenever he did, it would dive under water with a splash and disappear for a while.  Just as we’d begin to relax, one of us would spot the dark bump in the water trailing a wake as it swam back and forth.  I finally made a break for the tent with images of man-eating monsters clawing their way in to get at us and the dog and slept fitfully, to say the least.

Day 85: R 12/6- Baton Rouge!

   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!

Day 84: W 12/5- Animal Control

   Unfortunately, when we woke up early the next morning there was no message from the owner and the dogs were still hanging around.  They had apparently spent the night in some brush not far from the tent.  They seemed no worse for the wear, so we gave them some breakfast; Aaron got the fire going and made our breakfast while I looked up numbers for the local sheriff and animal control guys.  I talked to a few different people, they all seemed to think it would be too hard to collect the dogs on the river and I had some difficulty explaining that we would paddle them back across to the shore and we’d walk them to the nearest road.

   We finally made our arrangements, planning to meet the animal control officer on highway 420, which the map showed was close to the river.  We tried to get all three dogs in the canoe, but Jack and the black lab did not seem to understand how to sit in a boat.  After they jumped out for the second or third time, I waded back to the island and walked them to the other side while Aaron rowed the canoe.  Once we were opposite the landing, I climbed back in and we paddled across to the mainland while the dogs swum along after us.  Once there, we walked up the broad cow path to a fire pit and some benches, someone’s riverside hangout.  We walked through the wooded pasture, scaring a herd of confused cows coming to drink and found a locked gate just along the highway.  I called the officer and told him where we were; he picked up the dogs just a few minutes later and we were on our way.

   Later, the owner called back and left us a message.  He was a young man working on the oil rigs offshore and had left Captain Jack to stay with his dad.  The dog had run off and found his black lab friend along the way.  The guy seemed very grateful that we had taken the time to return Jack, but we never did find out what happened to the black lab.  We felt happy about helping out, but the ordeal had put us behind schedule and we were eager to get going.

   The rest of the day was warm, but foggy and raining all day.  By the time we stopped, at mile 248, we were soaked through and ready to climb in the tent.  We didn’t bother with a fire, just made some sandwiches in the tent and called it a day.

Day 83: T 12/4- Dogs in the Fog

    We fought fog throughout the day.  Around 3 pm a dense fog rolled in as we made a crossing around mile 275.  We knew there was a barge headed upriver, but had enough room to get across before it passed us.  We got about half way across when the fog became so dense we could hardly see either side of the river.  It had come in so fast we weren’t sure where the barge was, so we hugged as tightly as possible to the opposite shore once we found it.  Even so, we could hear the giant engines of the barge pass close by, but couldn’t see it; it was an intimidating experience.

    After we got across, we decided it would be wise to stop on a beach, at least until the fog thinned.  It was close enough to dark that we considered camping where we stopped.  As we climbed out, Lilly went off to explore and quickly came running back with two dog friends.  One, a male mutt, had a collar that said his name was Captain Jack.  The other was a male black lab with collar but no tags.  We watched the three play for a while then decided the fog was thin enough to continue. 

    After we pushed off, we realized the two strange dogs were following us along the shore.  We thought we had glimpsed a cabin back from the river and figured they lived there, but as we paddled along, the dogs seemed more interested in coming with us than going home.  Finally, as we passed a cleared area that looked like a cattle watering spot, the dogs took to the water and tried swimming to us.  We paddled to shore and checked Jack’s collar for a number.  We called several times, but only got the voicemail of his owner.  Finally, we shouted for them to leave and chased them off a ways before continuing. 

   There was an island, the St. Maurice Towhead right off of the landing we had stopped.  It was getting dark and threatening to storm, so we made for the far side of the island to make camp.  Just as we were coming along the far side of the towhead, we saw the two dogs running down the beach towards us, they had swum the narrow channel to follow!  We tried calling the number again, with no luck, so settled in to make camp with our new canine friends.  It started raining lightly and it took a long while to get a fire going.  With no word from the dogs’ owner, we gave them some food, had our dinner and went to bed, soggy and worried about what to do.  We felt a little guilty about leaving the dogs outside in the storm, but one large, wet dog in the tent was enough.  We hoped they would decide to head home in the night if we left them alone.

Day 82: M 12/3- Rough Paddling

   The wind was mild as we started out, but picked up significantly as we rounded the bend at 318 and started heading east.  There is a stretch here that has a number of outflow channels, where they draw water off of the main river for industrial purposes.  The maps warned us to stay on the other side of the river to avoid turbulence.  We managed to do that, even with strong head winds, but ended up crossing back to the east bank too early.  We thought we were clear until we heard warning horns and saw flashing lights as we rounded the bend.  At this point we were in 2-3 foot chop that came from all directions.  There were a couple of tugs and construction boats who I’m sure thought we were insane.  We took it slow and made it through with no problems, in part because there wasn’t much large barge traffic to dodge. 

   By the time we made it past that mess, we were exhausted and it was barely noon.  We stopped for a break and an early lunch and by the time we started again, the wind had let up, thankfully.  We ended up stopping at 298, having gone 26 miles for the day.

Day 81: Sn 12/2- Gator Tracks

  We left from 356 and made 32 miles for the day, stopping at 324.  The weather was nice and we could see changes to the scenery once again.  The sandbars were becoming smaller and we had to be more careful about stopping when we found a suitable campsite, rather than going farther and risk getting stuck in the dark with no where to stop.  We spent Sunday night on an island that was pretty and sheltered, but obviously a gator haven.  There were tracks crisscrossing the beach, but we didn’t really have time to push back out to find another spot.  We tied Lilly up for the night and tried not to imagine giant reptilian monsters in the darkness.

Day 80: S 12/1- December in Natchez, MS

     December!  And no snow, in fact, it was warm enough in the morning for me to walk into the water and wash my hair.  It felt wonderful, but the water was still cold enough that I don’t think the soap washed out very well.  I was to find out that afternoon that this area is also the home of alligators; had I known that at the time, I probably would have refrained.

We fought a decent south wind coming down to Natchez, MS.  Even though we could see the town and the boat ramp, it took us a good long while to cross the river and beach.  Natchez is a small city perched high on the MS bank and the ramp we stopped at is at the bottom of the steep bank in their historical/tourist district. 

As we beached and hopped out a guy at the top of the ramp snapped a few pictures and when we walked up introduced himself as Keith, a local kayaker who hosts an annual 42 mile race on the river with his wife Melissa.  They were very nice, helpful couple and drove us to a grocery to resupply.  On the way back they took us around the historic district to see the antebellum architecture of Natchez.  It’s a very pretty town with neat old buildings.  Melissa and her brother own and operate a bar right by the ramp, so we stopped in to have a beer and look around.  Then we refilled water and they sent us off with a couple of ball caps and stickers for their race.  Keith said he’d be submitting our pics to a local paddling magazine he has worked with in the past, so that was pretty neat.

After lunch we started out again, but my tummy almost immediately started acting up.  We had to make an emergency stop on the bank, after which I felt much better, but still a bit shaky.  I was worried I had picked up Giardia from all the boiled river water we had been drinking, but it wasn’t a problem after that afternoon. 

Keith and Melissa had warned us that we were definitely in ‘gator territory and a 12’ had been spotted north of Natchez a couple of years back.  With that in mind, we carefully chose our campsite and made sure to keep Lilly close by.

Day 79: F 11/30- ...

  Again, a pretty smooth day.  The scenery down here is pretty monotonous and their wasn’t much excitement for the day.  We stopped at 375 with quite a bit of daylight left to hang out.  There was a huge log for Lilly to play on.

Day 78: R 11/29- Nuclear Camping

  We were in good spirits for this stretch of days.  We were making good time and the weather was holding since the thunderstorms earlier in the week.  We made finished the day at 26 miles and camped on the LA side, which meant we had camped in every state along the river.  We were almost directly across from a nuclear power station, which made us nervous about sprouting extra limbs and/or getting in trouble for trespassing, but neither ended up being a problem.  It was a pleasant spot with plenty of room for Lilly to play.

Day 77: W 11/28- NPR & Vicksburg

  This time we were ready to go.  A day of relaxation in the tent had generated more trash and mesh than we had realized and breaking camp was a chore.  We also had to collect the chairs and our rain gear, which we had stashed under the rain fly, from along the windswept beach.  The weather was chilly and breezy, but a far cry better than the day before.

  We made up for our lazy day by making 35 on Wednesday and camping at mile 433 just south of Vicksburg, MS.  We listened to NPR all afternoon, which was a nice treat.  Reception is rather spotty on the river and usually we’re stuck with static.  There were several casinos in Vicksburg that we joked about stopping at, but once again paddled passed for a night of rice and pasta.  The sandbar we stopped on was very shallow and we were lucky the water didn’t rise at all during the night.

Day 76: T 11/27- Zero Mile Day

  At this point in the trip we thought we were beyond the possibility of zero-mile days.  Even in the nasty weather of the north, we had always managed to break camp and at least push the canoe out, even if it was only for a mile or two.  This morning, however, the wind was still blowing hard and we were exhausted.  At first we decided to wait it out, try and sleep and take off around noon.  We snacked in the tent, dozed and by noon had no more ambition to move that we had at dawn.  We finally resigned ourselves to a day off and spent the afternoon reading and cuddling with the dog.

   We did manage to eventually leave the tent to make dinner and call home, but it was chilly enough that we retreated to the tent pretty quick after dinner.  The thunderstorms they had called for had pretty much blown themselves out the night before, but the wind and cold alone was unpleasant.  With nothing to do and no flashlights, we were asleep early after a much needed day off.

Day 75: M 11/26- Stormy Night

  We hadn’t heard any rain during the night, so of course it started sprinkling as we woke up.  It was off and on and we managed to break camp and made food during the dry spells.  During the day the rain continued off and on, but we were well bundled up and the weather stayed pretty warm.  The weather called for thunderstorms and high winds on Monday night, so we tried to look for a sheltered camp.  

  Unfortunately, our timing was off and we had to go around one last bend to find a suitable camp.  By the time we were able to pull off, it was getting dark and we had to take what we could get.  That left us an open sandbar next to a lagoon with a huge dead fish.  We made camp and food with no trouble, but woke up around 10 when the side of the tent tried to attack Aaron.  We spent the next hour or so splayed out holding down the tent with our hands and feet.  We were able to batten down the corners with water bottles and eventually the wind died enough for us to sleep.

  And then it changed directions and it was my turn to get tent suffocated.  This time it didn’t die down and the entire night was a lesson in tent staking.  Aaron eventually made a dash through the rain to the canoe and brought all the paddles we had.  He put the handles through the tent loops and dug the blades in as far as the would go.  This kept the tent on the ground, for the most part, but the wind still wouldn’t let us have a good night sleep.  By morning we were more tired than when we had gone to bed, but at least the tent was still a tent and we were still dry.

Day 74: Sn 11/25- Louisiana!

  After the short day and our Greenville stop, we wanted to make good miles on Sunday.  We ended up going 31 miles, which seemed to fly by.  Paddling for hours on end can become very tedious, so a day like that was a nice relief.  We camped on the MS bank, along an abandoned field that was becoming overgrown.  The weather showed impending rain, but the evening stayed dry.  The day was mostly uneventful, but we did finally make it to the last state of the trip, Louisiana!!

Day 73: S 11/24- Southern Hospitality

     We were just a few miles from Greenville, MS that morning and we decided to stop to resupply while we could.  We stopped at Warfield Park, a large camping and picnic area with water and a charge.  Google said the closest place to shop was a few miles away at a Kroger, so Aaron took off walking while I stayed with the dog to charge the phones, blog and refill water.  After what seemed like ages, Aaron came riding along in the back of a pickup with two nice ladies, Martha and Judy. 

Apparently the Kroger was a Google maps myth and he had ended up walking about five miles to find a grocery.  On the way back, heavily laden with bags, these two ladies had seen him and offered a ride back to Warfield.  They had been picking up pecans in their front yard and sent us along with a bag of those as well.  They were incredibly sweet and we won’t forget their help!  We exchanged contact information and promised to get in touch when we made it down to NOLA.  They also gave us a pack of cola and even some cash so we could get ourselves a real dinner at some point.  After chatting a while and hugging farewell, which is a miracle in itself considering how good we smelled, we packed up the canoe in high spirits.  Those pecans were our favorite snack for the next couple of weeks and we were sad to see the bottom of the bag.

The trip into town had taken so long that we didn’t get going until late in the afternoon.  We stopped at 532 after only going 11 ½ miles, but meeting Martha and Judy, getting water and power and fresh supplies made it a very nice day.

Day 72: F 11/23- Tricky Camping

  We left from 572 ½ the next day.  It was still pretty warm, but the wind had steadily picked up over the previous couple of days so paddling was a bit harder.  We were padding more houses on the MS side, but AR still seemed pretty bare.  Finding camp that night was a little tricky; first we tried a sandbar on the AR side which turned out to be mostly gravel and too shallow to beach safely.  We could see a nice looking sandbar on the other bank, but the river is too wide to see detail across the water.

  When we got over there, they first spot was too steep to make camp and the next one had a deer blind with hunters in it.  We went a few hundred yards down and pulled up onto a steep sand bank broken by deep ravines from rain runoff.  That night we heard then saw a pickup drive by on a two track very close to our camp.  We figured they were the hunters leaving, but were not sure if they had seen us.  No one bothered us, but we had a bit of a restless night.

Day 71: R 11/22- Happy Thanksgiving!

  Happy Thanksgiving!  Our holiday was pleasant enough, though no kind fisherman offered to take us home for a nice home cooked meal.  We did come across several fishing boats and their trailers at a ramshackle fishing camp.  One boat stopped to chat and see where we were heading.  They were two nice guys and their boat was chock full of spoon bills.  They said they had seen other paddlers attempting the trip in the past, but no one yet this year.  The day was warm and only slightly breezy, making for a pleasant day.

  We stopped for the night on a shallow sandbar on the AR side and prepared our Thanksgiving ‘feast’.  We had instant mashed potatoes with instant chicken gravy, instant stuffing and mini tuna casseroles.  Aaron drained two cans of tuna, added some milk and seasonings, covered each with a slice of American cheese and set them to bake in a coal-lined hole.  They were very tasty and the most complex meal we had had.  We finished it off with a fried peanut butter, chocolate and marshmallow sandwich each, delicious!

Day 70: W 11/21- Longest Day Yet

  Aaron and I grew up in the middle of nowhere, or so we thought.  For a major shipping route, there is an unbelievable amount of nothing on this stretch of river.  We would sometimes pass a hunting cabin or blind, but there was not a town to be seen.  The occasional large round hay feeder or stock tank sitting on top of the embankments would indicate a pasture, but we were riding so low, we didn’t even see much of that.

  The day was a great one, we did our longest stretch at 39 ½ miles, just short of the elusive 40.  We had thought about stopping on a sandbar a few miles up, but we had just enough daylight to make the next bend.  After that, we ran into barge traffic and the spot we stopped was right in the way and had no suitable spot for a tent or firewood, so we had to keep going.  We stopped in a small cove right at the start of an embankment; the sand had built up a nice little platform just big enough for our camp, but high enough we didn’t have to worry about the water rising on us.  The wood, unfortunately, was mostly up the embankment and Aaron had to scramble along the rocks at dusk to collect enough for our evening and morning fires.  

Day 69: T 11/20- Helena, AR

  At this point we were almost out of water once again and planned to stop in Helena to refill.  The small town has a couple of ramps, but they were tucked behind some industrial buildings and clogged with the inevitable barge traffic.  We made an improvised landing on the outside of the harbor and walked up, but there was no spigot to be found.  We didn’t want to walk all the way around the harbor into the town proper, so we settled for boiling more water and took off again.  For you history folks, apparently Helena was dubbed “Hell-on-Earth” by the Union army when they camped there.  There’s some interesting information on the town that may be worth looking up.

  After our stop we headed almost due south for several miles, fighting a stiff cross wind.  It wasn’t the worst wind we had fought, but exhausting nonetheless.  We ended up doing 28 for the day an camping on the AR side once again. 

  Since we haven’t talked a great deal about the natural surroundings, I’ll throw a note in here.  As we traveled down river, changes to the ecosystem were gradual and easy to miss over the long haul.  The nice northern woods were gone at this point and we traveled through strange trees and other flora.  The sandbars along the river were mostly bare and had bur bushes, some fluffy grass and sometimes scrubby bushes- you can tell I’m an ecologist, right :p  At the high water line, the trees were small and grew close together, indicating young growth for several yards into the woods.  Regular flooding of these areas inhibits long-term growth.  So, the forest always seemed dense, overgrown with weeds and not at all like the open woods we are used to back home.

  Wildlife consisted mostly of herons, deer, coyotes and small, burrowing critters.  And spiders!  There were an unbelievable number of eight-legged monsters all over the place.  They dug holes in the sand, built webs under our rain fly in a matter of hours and would float on the breeze across the river on thin lines.  These were the worst; the lines would coat our hair, arms, paddles and dog and once their lines were on you, you knew they had made it into the canoe.  We almost bludgeoned ourselves with our paddles trying frantically to kill the little buggers as they made a dash up our legs (by we I mean mostly I, Aaron wasn’t nearly as girly about it).  There were also big hairy looking guys with long legs who would float on the water until we came close.  At this point, they would pop up onto their toes (or the arachnid equivalent) and sprint to the canoe; we think they were looking for a ride or a meal, but we’re not sure.

Day 68: M 11/19- Coyotes

  As we broke camp the next morning, Lilly took off for the brush over the ¼ mile of sand bar, barking at two large coyotes who had come looking for water.  They paused for just a moment before darting back into the scrub.  After that, the day was pretty uneventful and we made camp at 665, another 33 mile day.  We stayed on Prairie Point Towhead just north of Helena, AR.

Day 67: Sn 11/18- Sunshine

  Sunday was a nice, full day with more sunshine.  The last several days we had been able to have our solar charger out all day and by the evening it was finally fully charged.  As we left the last of Memphis behind, we passed several industrial complexes and had quite a bit of barge traffic to deal with, but the paddling was smooth.  We were excited to pass the 700 mark as well as enter into Mississippi, the namesake of our journey!

  We stopped on the right bank at 698 on a tall sand dune across from a casino.  After a brief daydream of paddling across for a visit to their buffet, we settled for camping right at the rivers edge and watching the sun go down over the water, very pretty.  We plugged the phone into the charger and after the entire evening, it had actually fully charged the phone, so yay!  As long as there was ample sunshine, we might actually be able to use the phone regularly again.