River Log section: Helena to Greenville
Helena to Greenville
571-567 Catfish Point Bar Another solution to the monotony of the long-distance paddler is a stop on Catfish Point Bar. If the weather's calm, and you need a good rest place to stretch you legs, pull into Catfish Point Bar. It can be a long paddle getting into
Helena to Greenville
572-567 Cypress Bend Cypress Bend is perhaps the most perfectly formed bend on the Lower Mississippi. The river flows in perfectly due west out of Catfish, and then carves a perfect semi circle around Cypress, and then exits perfectly due east towards Eutaw and Choctaw below. Alas, its also one
Helena to Greenville
576-572 Caulk Neck Cut-Off During the Great Flood of 2011 the entire Mississippi River violently whisked around Caulk Neck Cut-Off and was concentrated into a mess of swiftly sliding boils and extreme river eruptions past Catfish Point and into Cypress Bend. Writer Hodding Carter and I ran the river from
Helena to Greenville
RBD 575-572.5 Caulk Neck Bar Small Towhead along inside of Caulk Neck Bend, forming gravel bar top end at low water, a short (2 mile long) back channel behind at high water. Private Hunting Camp. Frequented by ATVs and 4WDs.
Helena to Greenville
RBD 575.8 Caulk Eddy Tall sandy bluff of a sandbar thrown high against Arkansas shore less than one mile below the Caulk Light 576.5, excellent location to quickly exit the river in case of towboat emergency or imminently approaching wind or thunderstorms out of the north or west.
Helena to Greenville
LBD 574.5 Mouth of Lake Whittington A classic river pass, which way the water is going will demonstrate whether the river is rising or falling. Good place for quick shelter from the weather on a hot sunny day or a cold windy day. This beautiful tree-lined channel cuts through
Helena to Greenville
RBD 578.4 Napoleon Light In his rambling Life on the Mississippi Mark Twain digresses through several chapters with a drawn-out story reaching into a Bavarian mausoleum concerning the bereaved hamlet of Napoleon. Once numbering upwards of 1,000 inhabitants, Napoleon promised to become the largest city in the Lower
Helena to Greenville
LBD 581-576 Prentiss Sandbar As you round Prentiss Bend and continue downstream, past the mouth of the Arkansas River you will find a long skinny sandbar that stretches up to five miles long at low water around Monerrey Bend. At medium water this becomes a 2-mile long island that you
Helena to Greenville
RBD 580 Arkansas River The 1475 mile long Arkansas River drains all of the Great Plains from Kansas down to the Texas Panhandle, including most of Oklahoma, and everything west to the continental divide of the Colorado and New Mexico Rocky Mountains. It's the biggest and longest tributary
Helena to Greenville
RBD 585-580 Arkansas Bar The best camping in this section of river is found along the Arkansas Bar which parallels the main channel for five miles (at low water) as the river swings out into and then through Rosedale Bend. Arkansas Bar ends at the mouth of the Arkansas River.
Helena to Greenville
Muddy Waters Wilderness The section of river from Quapaw Landing down to the mouth of the Arkansas and then on down to Vicksburg has become known locally by big river paddlers as the Muddy Waters Wilderness. Not that its officially designated as such, but its definitely muddy and its definitely
Helena to Greenville
LBD 610 Hurricane Point (Dennis Landing) Steep Concrete Boat Ramp dropping precipitously into an agitated edge of a big eddy, right at the edge of the powerful currents of the main channel. Usable at water levels up to 37HG when the parking lot above starts going under water. Paddlers can