Memphis to Helena — Introduction

This section covers the 73 miles of the big river from the pyramid city of Memphis to the paddler’s oasis Helena Arkansas.

After leaving downtown Memphis you’ll swish under the last three bridges and some industry along the south bluff, and then you’ll quickly return to the wilds of the Lower Mississippi with nothing but forested islands, big river and big open skies as your scenery. Of course there’ll be towboats and fishermen and a few casinos along the way, but it’s amazing how quickly the city disappears into the wilderness. 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 where the floodplain forest and riverbank wetlands are still connected directly to the river, creating an incredibly vibrant ecosystem of bayous, sluices, chutes, pools, and back channels overflowing with wildlife, notably at Tunica Runout and the mouth of the St. Francis River. Geography: After exiting the Missouri Boot-Heel and bouncing along the Chickasaw Bluffs past Memphis, the Mighty Mississippi flows southwesterly in giant meandering loops into the verdant and fantastically fertile Mississippi Delta.

This is the land that gave birth to the Delta Blues, and was once the cotton kingdom of the world. Its forest was America’s Amazon, millions of acres of deep woods now removed for farmland. Leaving Tennessee and entering Mississippi the paddler is welcomed by a long line of casinos that rivals Atlantic City, but which you’ll see little evidence of as you paddle behind long chains of islands in the same area, although you should stop for a visit to the Tunica Riverpark Museum. The river carves elegant S-curves through deep woods as it meanders through Commerce Bend, Mhoon Bend and Walnut Bend, and then wanders down through a floodplain fifteen miles wide to the mouth of the St.

Francis River. The St. Francis is the biggest west bank tributary downstream of St. Louis. The big river engulfs mind-boggling swaths of muddy landscapes as it is forced southerly by the strange geophysical anomaly Crowley’s Ridge, which parallels the Mississippi out of Missouri. Buck Island invites exploration, picnicking or camping, and Helena, Arkansas commands the base of Crowley’s Ridge. As result of the high ground Helena is the only population in between Memphis and Vicksburg (300 miles) that sits right on the main channel.

Visit the Delta Cultural Center, or coordinate your adventure with one of the world’s greatest celebrations of music, the King Biscuit Blues Festival (October). Canoeists, SUPs and kayakers will find provisions, maps, gear, and paddling tips at Quapaw Canoe Company in Helena, as well as water and Wi-Fi.

NOTE TO PADDLERS: The Rivergator is for your free use! Please print or access from your smart phone. (Presented here in roughly 100 miles sections from St. Louis to the Gulf of Mexico). Best case scenario: 1) print up section of Rivergator that you will be canoeing or kayaking. 2) Print up accompanying USACE river maps. 3) Print up NOAA River Stage Forecasts the day before you embark on your adventure for latest readings and forecast. 4) Lastly, listen to and print up latest weather forecast. Secure the above by inserting pages into 8.5x11 page protectors and bundle into a 3-ring notebook or waterproof map casing (available at most water outfitters such as Outdoors Inc.

Memphis or online at REI or NRS). If using a smart phone be sure and protect with water-proof casing! The river is hungry for electronic devices and equipment that doesn’t float! (I have personally left several marine radios, a half dozen knives and one camera with the sturgeon and catfish at the bottom of the river!) The Rivergator is a public service brought to you compliments of the Lower Mississippi River Foundation with support from dozens of river experts and partner organizations 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 and is appropriate for canoe clubs, kayak clubs and outdoor clubs, outdoor leadership schools, friends & families, and church groups & youth groups. It could be used by the Girl Scouts for a week-long summer expedition to Tunica, or a group of Boy Scouts working on their canoe badge in the Memphis area -- or a group of KIPP middle schoolers from Helena who want to get on the river at the mouth of the St.

Francis for an easy daytrip. 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 through 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. Regardless of where you will be starting the Rivergator can help you in your journey.

We paddlers are all the same: we are 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. Yet 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 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 the 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 rock star, and as such the Rivergator is a guide to help you interpret and enjoy the songs of the river! Reading The Rivergator reads like a big river expedition, starting above St.

Louis at the confluence of the Missouri and following the Middle and then 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, “LBD Mile 736 Memphis, Tennessee, Mud Island Harbor.” 736 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 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. It provides paddling routes, as well as history, geography and culture. 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 (for this section) 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; Beth Wiedower, Arkansas Rural Delta Heritage Initiative, 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; Bubba Battle, canoe builder and paddler; Rick Howe, structural engineer, river rat; Julia Malinowski, Helena Tourism Director; Kevin Smith, historian and big river paddler; Bill Branch, curator Delta Cultural Center; Peggy Linton, Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi; Larry Jerrett Canoeist, river advocate; Kevin Pierson, National Audubon Society Lower Mississippi Program; Ernest Herndon, canoeist, author of Canoeing Mississipp i and also Canoeing Louisiana, Paul Hartfield, biologist, pilot, big river expert; Mark River Peoples, big river guide, Chris “Wolfie” Staudinger, big river guide, and Braxton Barden, big river guide and mariner.

I, John Ruskey, am 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 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 , Mark Twain’s Life on the Mississippi , Historic-Memphis.com, The Tennessee Valley Authority, The City of Memphis, The Lower Mississippi River Conservation Committee, Herman Melville’s The Confidence Man , 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 Memphis and Helena, 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 Mile 725 to 664, 61 Wild Miles from below Memphis Harbor to above Helena Note: Tunica RiverPark & Museum, Buck Island protected public-use island. Some casinos can be seen with their right night lights. The lights of Memphis are dimly seen along northern horizon. Casino section Mile 708-695 might need to be removed from Wild Miles.

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 that stretch of 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 and 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 and 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 and 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 and 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 harbored 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 side channel places that beginners can get a taste of the big waters (such as Mud Island Memphis Harbor, Tunica Lake, the mouth of the St. Francis and the Helena 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 assess 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 (generally November through April, but could begin in October and could extend into May). 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. Your route: Main Channel vs. Back Channel The 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 trees. Main channel is always open regardless of river level, but back channel is dependent upon river levels. Most back channels are closed in low water, open with slow flow in medium water, and full of strong flowing currents in high water.

Main channel hazards are buoys and towboats. (Avoid both!). Dikes found on the edges of the main channel can cause violent turbulence, strong boils, eddies, and radical changes of current, and oftentimes whirlpools. Be especially cautious around the ends of any dikes. In the back channel your main hazards are waterfalls over dikes (dependent on river level), snags, strainers and channel blockages (driftwood piling against trees or low bridges). Rivergator will detail all known waterfalls and blockages.

But on the river things are in constant flux. What one year is an uninterrupted flowing back channel might next year be blocked by a pile of logs and tree removal dropped by some logging operation. Two things: 1) be a smart paddler and use you own best judgment about what’s safe to paddle and what isn’t. And 2) let us know if you discover something of importance not listed in the Rivergator , like a dangerous waterfall or a blocked channel. That way we can update Rivergator descriptions and keep other paddlers informed about these difficulties and possible hazards!

Dikes present special challenges to the back channel paddler. At low water they are exposed, and you can paddle around any dike, but you will often discover strong eddies with ripping cross currents and whirlpools. At medium water you can