Memphis to Helena
A thriving jungle wilderness through the Civil War, the Delta was considered a frontier into the early 1900s for its deep forests full of giant cypresses, oaks, sweetgums, and a fantastically active wildlife including panthers (cougars) and black bear. Teddy Roosevelt hunted bear in the south Delta and declared he’
Memphis to Helena
720 Josie Harry Bar The Josie Harry Steamboat sank in 1878 and created a sandbar island that has now been assumed by the Tennessee/Mississippi shore LBD. If you are in the main channel through this area you will have a long uninterrupted stretch of rip rap and revetment to
Memphis to Helena
726-717 Armstrong/Dismal Point/Ensley Bar As noted above, the long chain of forested islands found along Armstrong/Dismal/Ensley is the best camping to be found below Memphis. Approximately fifteen miles downstream of Mud Island and light years away. (Note: another beautiful location awaits another 15 miles downstream at
Memphis to Helena
LBD 725.5 Entrance to McKellar Lake Watch for towboat traffic coming in and out of McKellar Lake Memphis Industrial Harbor, as well as workboats, crew boats and fleeted barges. Unless you purposely intend to access the harbor the fastest water and most interesting forests and islands are found along
Memphis to Helena
Life is a great mystery and we are the players. Who knows where the cycles of life will bring us in the endless spinning of tales and tapestries and flowing of energy. I have no idea. But I do know one thing: that wherever you go and whatever you do,
Memphis to Helena
The infinite mystery of the sky is matched by the infinite depths of the river. It seemed as if the river had let me live one more day for a reason. Over the years I have come to see that the river is a similar to a beautiful woman. She
Memphis to Helena
The river smashed us against the tower and tried to drown us. Later she came to our rescue. Somehow, by some miraculous current of water amidst the now two-mile wide torrent of winter water we were washed out of Cow Island Bend towards the top of Cat Island and floated
Memphis to Helena
We should have died after wrecking our raft in February 1983. I wasn't wearing neoprene like I do now in cold water. The wreck threw us in the river, Sean on one side of the pylon and me on the other, we popped up and called out to
Memphis to Helena
We all have someone in our lives who opened up the door to the wilderness for us. Think on it a minute and thank them for that gift. My parents were outdoor lovers and adventurists, especially my father, but my mother also. They wouldn’t like to think so, but
Memphis to Helena
But we did. Fate had a hand in the matter. As we floated along unconcerned and infatuated with our game the river brought us past the grain elevators and smack dab directly into the fast waters plowing into the tower. Only a hundred yards upstream the tower loomed ominously overhead,
Memphis to Helena
After flying past Riceland the channel opens up into an ocean of possibilities including the harbor opening (LBD 725.5), a wide back channel behind Enlsey/Dismal Point (RBD 725) and the main channel flowing along an archipelago of islands which extend so far downstream and around the next bend
Memphis to Helena
Fleeted Barges As you are leaving the Memphis Industrial reach, be wary of the rows of fleeted barges ties up alongside either bank, especially in the 2 miles below the lower bridges, in the West Memphis area, and then also in the vicinity of the McKellar Lake Memphis Harbor. What