Mile 22.0 LBD — Bolivar Point

John Ruskey

26 Apr 2026 � 1 min read

Low/medium water camping, up to 12NO, underwater above that. Best camping is found on the first sandbars located close to main channel on East Bank as you pass mile marker sign 22LBD. This is a beautiful location, with the river making a right angle turn, freighters proudly plowing by, and many sports and commercial fishermen on the water. The sandbars at Bolivar Point would make for great camping if not for all the cattle running around this point and the East Bank shoreline for several miles downstream. If you don’t mind camping around sloppy bovines, amongst their squallering and hollering, and their many poop and pee places, definitely stop here for otherwise good camping (or picnicking). However, if you find it distasteful, go on down to Jackson Point, two miles further downstream, and located on the other side of the river.

We camped on a pile of cattle dung on the last night of a 2009 expedition. We had paddled until sunset, and and then stopped here because it was the only place we could locate in the gathering darkness. This was a decision we later regretted as we first grounded out in shallow mud, and then had to wallow through this mud to reach shore. The final insult was having to strike camp on a high point favored by cattle for the same reason we favored it -- high and dry! We resolutely built a fire and set up a big wall tent on the dung pile, and made the best of the situation. But not something I would want to purposefully repeat!

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