Mile 81.0 RBD — Twelve Mile Point

Best camping below New Orleans, good in low water, 0-8NO Gage. Good protection from north winds or storms approaching from north or northwest.

Twelve Mile Point is the best camp within 20 miles below New Orleans. At low water (2-8NO gage) you’ll find a series of low dunes right bank descending at this point and extending downstream for hundreds of yards, in between outcroppings of willow. Pick the highest place not already occupied and paddle in for estimate of bank height vs. water level. Big waves crash ashore here, up to 3 feet tall, so make sure your intended campsite is 3 feet above water level if possible. BTW: welcome to Plaquemines Parish, the last parish along the Mississippi River in Louisiana! Slowly but surely you’re checking off all of the “very last of” from the list, first the last bridge, now the last parish. Soon it will be the last refinery, the last town, the last boat ramp, and then eventually the last bend of the river, leading to the last fork, and into the last pass, and then finally the last mile, and then at long last, the very last paddle stroke -- you’re almost there paddler! As we say on the river, “it’s just around the bend!”