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Great all-weather campsite or picnic site up to flood stage BR 35. Tight 180 degree bend, watch carefully for freighters, tugs and tows. Manchac Point is the first of the classic “Blind Corners” that paddlers will encounter after passing south of Baton Rouge. Unlike the gently curving bends you’ve
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As you come around Duncan Point, you might have to rub your eyes for the fantastic vision that has entered the scene. Downstream is a gleaming yellow building with mirror glass windows and four tall palm trees growing on top. Like Don Quixote riding his faithful Rozinante, you might be
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A small but very protected sand dune is located within an alcove cut into the bankside here. This would make an possible camp in the threat of oncoming south or south-westerly storms, or if you had to make camp in strong south winds. You’ll find sand here up to
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There is a low point in the bank at the outside of Missouri Bend RBD 219 where the water spills over the rip-rap in flood season and has created a dynamic landscape of rolling sandbars and vegetation. After getting flooded the water and sand return back out into the river,
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Duncan Point stands tall above the main channel with mature willows, and seems to grin like a baleen whale its mouth full of krill. At low water this is a steep sandy bank, at medium water less so, and at high water you can step right out of your canoe
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Low island, but no protection. Good picnic place below 10BR. Missouri Island emerges out of the muddy river like a golden slice of sandy beauty when the river drops below 10BR, sometimes adorned with logs, driftwood, and an array of human trash. Not recommended for camping until 5 BR or
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There is a possible low camp below the 1st dike of the Red Eye Crossing. We camped there one time after leaving Baton Rouge late in the afternoon with a group of East Germans. Had I known about Manchac Point, about 10 miles further downstream, I might have insisted on
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This is the 2nd fleeting area you will encounter below Baton Rouge. Although best line of travel is towards East Bank following the Missouri Bend Pointway, and you probably won’t be paddling anywhere near this fleeting area, it’s good to be aware of. If you haven’t already,
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As you paddle past the Port Allen Lock watch for barge fleeting right bank descending (West Bank) between miles 228.4 and 226. Inspect your 2007 USACE Mississippi River Maps: you can see this fleeting area as a rectangle formed by dashed grey lines. The best line of travel is
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The Intercostal Waterway cuts through Port Allen and heads southwestward towards Morgan City, and from there points further west along the Louisiana and then Texas coastlines. You have to lock through the levee to get to the canal. There are a number of options from here on down to the
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Best camping and picnicking in the Greater Baton Rouge area, with dry sand on south side up to bank full 30BR. Sandy picnic or campsites are found on either side of the entrance to the Intracostal Waterway (ICWW), with the tallest and biggest on the south side, and a smaller