Caruthersville to Memphis — Introduction

Intro: Caruthersville to Memphis: Welcome to the 2013 update to the Rivergator : Paddlers Guide to the Lower Mississippi River! This section covers the 113 miles of the big river from the paddler-friendly town of Caruthersville, Missouri to the thriving metropolis of Memphis Tennessee, the largest city south of St. Louis. Along the way you’ll paddle over mud that’s over 6,000 feet deep and an entire loess bluff caving into the river. You’ll see towboats and fishermen and a few crusty river towns like Osceola and Randolph.

You’ll camp on beaches the size and feel of Caribbean beaches, and paddle through narrow chutes with lush overhanging willows and cottonwoods. You’ll be hemmed in by revetment and dikes in one place, and then released into long sections of the main channel with no levee -- where the floodplain forest/wetlands are still connected directly to the river, creating an incredibly vibrant ecosystem of bayous, sluices, chutes, pools, and back channels overflowing with wildlife. In some places you might think you’re in the Amazon jungle for all the mud and trees, in other places you might be overwhelmed by the large agricultural landscapes, or by a couple of sprawling steel plants.

In one special location you’ll think you’ve discovered a land of the lost where the Mississippi River meets Utah (at the base of the startling candy-colored ridges and buttes of the 2nd Chickasaw Bluff). Geography: The river here rolls out of the Missouri Bootheel and into the wild floodplain below between Tennessee and Arkansas, it’s so wild that no levees are needed for 60 miles along the left bank side of the river from Moss Island to Memphis! This section is full of tributary rivers with deep woody bottoms, strange colorful mud slides, and dozens of islands and back channels to explore, many protected within wildlife refuges and state parks.

There is some heavy industry along the way, a couple of noisy steel plants and a giant power plant (below Osceola), and some busy grain docks and two harbors -- none of which you’ll want to camp near. Nevertheless your hard paddling will be rewarded again and again with fabulous views of the Chickasaw Bluffs along the Western edge of the state of Tennessee and adjacent bottomland hardwood forests, including the colossal cliff-bluffs at Fort Pillow (1st Chickasaw Bluff), the astounding colorful chalky glacier of mud above Richardson’s Landing (2nd Chickasaw Bluff), Meeman-Shelby State Forest (3rd Chickasaw Bluff) and finally the sweeping view of the Memphis skyline, including the Memphis Bridge and the Pyramid, and downtown Memphis (which straddles the 4th Chickasaw Bluff).

The vista from the river is unparalleled! Points of interest include Obion RIver, Moss Island Wildlife Management Area, Nucor Yamamato Steel, Island 30/Osceola Back Channel, Hatchie River Bottoms, Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park, Hickman Bar, Loosahatchie and Wolf Rivers, the elegant “M” Bridge and finally the eye-popping view of skyscrapers over the Beale Street Harbor and Landing. The vista from the river is unparalleled! You’ve never seen downtown Memphis if you haven’t viewed it from the river!

Who is the Rivergator written For? The Rivergator is written by paddlers for paddlers. It will open the river for local experienced canoeists who have always wanted to paddle the Mississippi but didn’t know how or when or where to start. Canoe clubs, kayak clubs and outdoor clubs. Outdoor leadership schools. Friends and families. Church groups and youth groups. It could be used by the Girl Scouts for a week-long summer expedition to Memphis, or a group of Boy Scouts working on their canoe badge in the Caruthersville area -- or a group of KIPP middle schoolers from Blytheville who want to get on the river in Osceola for an easy day trip.

Paddlers seek out new places to explore. You could read the Rivergator during the winter months from your home and by spring snowmelt you could be making your first paddle strokes on a life-changing adventure down the Mississippi! Rivergator will help you get there if you’re a long-distance canoeist who started at Lake Itasca, or a kayaker who is coming south after paddling the length of the Missouri River from Montana’s Bitterroot Mountains. You could be a stand-up-paddleboarder who put in at the Great River Confluence of the Upper Mississippi and Big Muddy Missouri in St.

Louis. We paddlers are all the same: canoeists, kayakers, stand-up-paddleboarders, rafters. We look for the same kinds of currents on the river, and enjoy the same kinds of remote islands. We are slow, but efficient. We know the river better than any other river pilots, at least the pieces of river we have paddled on. We have more in common with towboats than motorboats. Regardless of what you paddle, the Rivergator will you help you find the essential landings and the obscure back channels that you would otherwise miss.

It will help you safely paddle around towboats, and choose the best line of travel to follow around the head-turning bends and intimidating dikes, wing dams, and other rock structures. It will identify which islands to camp on and which to avoid, and where the best picnic spots are found and where blue holes form. It will lead you to places of prolific wildlife and mind-blowing beauty. It will help explain some of the mysterious motions of the biggest river in North America. It’s written for canoeists and kayakers, but is readable enough to be enjoyed by any arm-chair adventurers including landowners, hunters, fishermen, communities along the route, historians, biologists, geologists, and other river-lovers.

The river is the key to understanding the history, the geography and the culture of the Mid-South. It’s the first high speed “router.” It connected our ancestors much like internet does today. It’s the original American highway, migration route, freight route, newspaper route, and trade route. But it’s also a church, a sanctuary, a playground, a classroom. The river is the rockstar, The Rivergator is merely a guide to help you interpret and enjoy the songs of the river!

Reading the Rivergator : The Rivergator reads like a big river expedition, starting in Caruthersville and following the Lower Mississippi downstream mile-by-mile. (Note: we are currently in the second year of a four year project: ultimate start place will be St. Louis, with end place in the Gulf of Mexico, almost 1200 miles of free-flowing river) The descriptions are factual and the information is the most up-to-date available, but I have tried to enliven the writing with “the feel” whenever possible.

Each piece is titled with headings in bold that include 1) the name of the important features along the way, 2) which side of the river it’s on, and 3) its mileage. For example, “The Mouth of the Caruthersville Harbor 849 RBD.” 849 is the mileage above the head of passes near the Gulf of Mexico. RBD=right bank descending and LBD=left bank descending. Paddlers are offered many route choices beyond the main channel in the plethora of sluices, back channels, secret passages, and tributaries along the way, using Google maps for illustration.

On your laptop or home computer you could open two pages, one for the text and one for google maps. On the river you can switch back and forth on your smart phone. Or you can print the text and use the US Army Corps Lower Mississippi Maps hard copy or online. The Rivergator is actually three guides wrapped up into one, because every island, landing and riverbank has to be described in three different water levels, low, medium and high. The Mississippi fluctuates 40-50 vertical feet in any given year, with enormous changes as result, whole islands disappear in high water, while some good landings become fields of mud at low water.

Panel of Experts: All writing is reviewed by a panel of paddlers, naturalists and other river experts including Dr. Ken Jones, big river pilot and Dyersburg biologist; Jim Stark, Dyersburg kayaker; Diana Threadgill, director of the Mississippi River Corridor-Tennessee; Keith Kirkland, big river canoeist, trailblazer and Wolf River Conservancy outdoors programs director; Bruce Van Wyngarden, big river pilot and founding editor of the Memphis Flyer; Joe Royer, pioneering Memphis kayaker and founder of Outdoors Inc; Dale Sanders, big river kayaker and adventurer extraordinaire; Terry Eastin, Director of the Mississippi River Trail; Colton Cockrum, river canoeist and founder of the Memphis River Warriors; Bayard Morgan, canoeist and river advocate; John Gary, big river pilot and all-around river-rat; Mike Beck, big river kayaker; Mark River Peoples, big river guide, and Chris “Wolfie” Staudinger, big river guide, Braxton Barden, avid paddler and mariner.

I, John Ruskey, am the primary author. I have been taking notes, photographs and documenting the river since my first raft trip down the Mississippi in 1982, and so the Rivergator is the culmination of 30 years of exploration. I have paddled the Mississippi on anything that floats including a log! To verify all information I have been making “refresher expeditions,” (I last paddled this section with a team of explorers during the June rise, 2013). I’ll try to keep myself out of it as much as possible, and let the river speak for herself.

But I’ll also spice the journey with stories and vignettes from my adventures along the way - and those of others who have first-hand experience. Other important Rivergator sources include the National Weather Service “Lower Mississippi River Gauge and Week Forecast,” the US Army Corps 2007 Flood Control and Navigation Maps: Mississippi River, Google Maps Satellite View, Marion Braggs’ Historic Names and Places on the Lower Mississippi River ,Teresa Tidwell’s Caruthersville, Missouri: 150 Years , Historic-Memphis.com, The Wolf River Conservancy, The Mississippi River Corridor-Tennessee, The Lower Mississippi River Conservation Committee, Wikipedia, Quapaw Canoe Company and Wild Miles.

See “Sources” for complete listing and suggestions for further reading.

Wild Miles: The wonderful thing about the Lower Miss is that it’s still wild! You will see some industry and agriculture between Caruthersville and Memphis, but for the most part your experience will be big water, big forests, big sandbars, big bluffs and big skies! Does this sound like Alaska? Or Lake Superior? Or Puget Sound? Yes -- but it’s not. It’s nothing but the muddy big river, the biggest river in North America, and the longest stretch of free-flowing waters in the Lower 48. In this section the wild places include 1) Tamm Bend , Mile 822 to 812, 10 wild miles (beautiful bend of the river -- unbroken forests - very wild feeling) 2) Chickasaw National Wildlife Refuge to Osceola Harbo r, Mile 805 to 785, 20 Wild Miles (Chickasaw National Wildlife Refuge,1st Chickasaw Bluff) and 3) Osceola Harbor to above Memphis , Mile 780 to 740, 40 Wild Miles (Chickasaw National Wildlife Refuge, 1st Chickasaw Bluff, Anderson Tully WMA, 2nd Chickasaw Bluff, Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park, 3rd Chickasaw Bluff, several protected public-use islands including Redman Bar, Loosahatchie Bar and the Hickman Bar.

Lights of Memphis seen at night along southern horizon). What are the Wild Miles? According to www.wildmiles.org there are 515 Wild Miles on the Lower Mississippi River between Cairo, Illinois, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which means that 71% of the scenery viewed from canoes or kayaks paddling down the river looks & feels “wild.” Wild Miles are the places along the river where nature predominates and nothing is seen of mankind save passing tows (and other river traffic) and maybe a tiny hunting camp or a single fisherman buzzing by in a johnboat.

These are places where the landscape is filled with giant islands bounded by endless mud banks & sandbars, where the river is overseen by big skies and where the sun sets uninterrupted by buildings or wires and where big river predominates with creative wild beauty, each high water results in shifting sand dunes and re-made sandbars. This is a floodplain valley where only deer & coyote tracks are seen along the sandbars and enormous flocks of shy birds like the White Pelican and Double Breasted Cormorant are comfortable enough to make landing for the night.

These are places where it's dark & quiet at night, where the stars fill the skies like brightly shining jewels poured out on a dark purple velvet blanket, almost as thick & vibrant as the night skies of the Great Plains or Rocky Mountains. America has an opportunity to find the wilderness within by recognizing and preserving the below Wild Miles in the center of the country, and it just so happens that the gigantic floodplain of the Mississippi creates these Wild Miles. These places have been preserved mostly by neglect, by the power of the river, by its catastrophic rises & falls, and the danger of building anything within its floodplain.

Moreover, in light of recent flood cycles and the declining population of the lower floodplain, this area is receiving attention as one of the best places to restore native bottomland hardwood forests. Restored forest creates habitat for wildlife, improved water quality, a buffer to flooding, and is an important means of reducing the Gulf of Mexico's dead zone, caused by nutrient runoff into the river. For this reason the recent efforts to reopen the New Madrid Birdspoint floodway would have a detrimental effect on the entire Lower Miss, at the very least in flood control.

Developers: Instead of building any new sites within these Wild Miles, please consider placing new industry and agriculture construction outside the Wild Miles -- and stay within those places already industrialized such as within one of the many harbors along the way, or building it far enough behind the levee that it won't be seen or heard or be directly connected to the river.

Big Trees and Floodplain: The lower Mississippi River Valley was historically a vast expanse of bottomland and adjacent upland hardwood forests with scattered openings primarily created by fire, beaver, or large flood events by the Mississippi River and its tributaries. These openings were generally comprised of herbaceous moist-soil areas that created excellent waterfowl and other wetland wildlife habitat or giant switchcane that was almost impenetrable and an extremely important habitat component for a variety of wildlife species.

Once covering 22 million acres in the Mississippi River Alluvial Plain, bottomland hardwood forests have decreased in extent to only 4.9 million acres. Extensive clearing for agriculture (i.e. soybeans, corn, or cotton) and urbanization are two of the primary reasons giant bald cypress and oak trees of pre-settlement times no longer exist. However, giant bald cypress and oak trees characteristic of yesteryear can still be seen on some of these sections of the Lower Mississippi. Important Note to Paddlers: The Lower Mississippi is not for beginners, although there a couple of places beginners can get a taste of its waters (such as Everett Lake, the Mud Island Memphis Harbor and the Caruthersville Harbor -- and other protected flat water places connected to the big river -- see page “Beginner Paddlers on the Lower Mississippi River”).

Advance paddlers only in the main channel. You should be capable of self-rescue, and you should have previous big river experience, in specific: large volume waters with long crossings and industrial traffic (towboats). Your skills should include self-rescue, long ferry-crossings, paddling in the wind, paddling in the vicinity of towboats, paddling through violent boils, violent eddies, and large whirlpools. Ultimately you must decide whether you are capable of safely paddling the big river, and whether you are capable of leading your family or friends on the same.

Be cautious. Take your time. Swallow your ambition and pride. Impatience has been the root cause of most problems encountered by Lower Mississippi River paddlers. Enjoy the moment, not the destination. Turn around if you aren’t sure or aren’t prepared. Use the Rivergator Safety section to asses specific skills and recommendations. Check the river levels and weather forecast with special attention to wind speed and direction. Carry extra food, water, and all-weather protection. Wear wetsuit or drysuit in cold water seasons (November though April).

Carry cell phone and VHF Marine radio. Carry an extra paddle and leave a route plan with someone on shore. Large groups can notify the Coast Guard who will keep the towboat pilots informed of your progress. Memphis Big City Considerations: A little teaser... Some hundred miles downstream... your imagination will be arrested by a unique vision... a distinct mirror-faced Pyramid rising out of the trees above the face of the river... Are you delusional after paddling all day with no food or water? Is this an Egyptian hallucination?

A mirage flashback from Langston Hughes’ “I have known rivers, ancient dusky rivers?” No, this is Memphis’ famous landmark, the shiny steel and glass Pyramid. As you approach closer the complicated monotone geometry of downtown Memphis thickens the horizon behind... This vision alone will reward you for any trails you have undertaken in paddling the Mississippi River this far! Memphis is the largest population on the last 1,200 miles of the Mississippi River. Long distance paddlers, if you’ve already canoed or kayaked through metropolitan St.

Louis you know what to expect. For those who haven’t paddled through a big city, get ready for some challenges. Along the fast waters of the Memphis riverfront you’ll encounter the Memphis Queen Paddle Boat, Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency Rangers, Coast Guard vessels and work boats, local tows, resupply tows, crew boats, Army Corps vessels, and of course recreational boaters and the omnipresent big tows going long distance. You have four bridges to navigate under, the iconic “M” Bridge first and not far downstream the lower three bridges all huddled together below the South Bluff made famous in the Chuck Berry song “Long Distance Information.” Anytime there is a bridge to maneuver under, tow pilots get edgy and things can go bad quick.

Real quick. Strap all gear down and keep your life jacket on. Monitor VHF Channel 13 if you have a marine radio. Remember, the safest place around a towboat is behind a towboat!

Memphis Landing & Shuttling considerations: You are still many days away from the big city, maybe even a week depending on your ambitions, weather and the river levels. But I am sharing this information now so you can begin to make plans with whoever is picking you up in the big city. If you are meeting someone Mud Island Upper Landing LBD 738.5 is probably the easiest location, but not the most romantic. It’s stinky, and you will miss the thrill of going under the bridge and into the spectacular Beale Street Harbor entrance downtown.

For landings in the Mud Island Harbor LBD 736: continue three miles further under the M Bridge to the Memphis Yacht Club Marina, which is about a half mile up the Memphis, or the Coast Guard Boat Ramp which is about a mile up the Harbor. An advance warning: the mouth of the harbor opens up river left just beyond the first Bridge, the elegant M Bridge. When you can look down Beale Street turn left and paddle hard! Don’t go past the Harbor. There is no public landing for Memphis further downstream.

Your route: Main Channel vs. Back Channel Rivergator will detail Main Channel which is almost always the fastest route on the water, but full or traffic, and Back Channel , which is slower but is full of wildlife and big tree