River Log section: Memphis to Helena
Memphis to Helena
LBD Mile 736 Memphis, Tennessee, Mud Island Harbor https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zuHKMJCfTcpQ.kUYIvKgH8J_0 One of the most memorable experiences along the Lower Mississippi is entering and leaving the city of Memphis, which straddles the 4th Chickasaw Bluff and shimmers like a mirage on the floodplain
Memphis to Helena
701 Gold Strike Casino The highest building in the State of Mississippi is the 29-story tall hotel of the Gold Strike Casino which shimmers like a golden mirage over the face of the river when viewed from upstream or downstream. It is anchored into one of the deepest alluvial floodplains
Memphis to Helena
Pickett Dikes Back Channel Only possible during high water. Good route to follow in high water for landing at Tunica Riverpark Museum. Stay LBD below Cat Island and follow bankside trees as close as possible for wildlife and scenic interest. Tunica Riverpark Museum Boat Ramp LBD 699.5 Wide well
Memphis to Helena
711-705 Cat Island No. 50 Cat Island is the biggest and wildest Island in this stretch of river boasting deep hardwood forests, willow/cottonwood flats, wild floodplain fields, and miles upon miles of sandbars and (at low/med water) gravel bars. Supreme camping found surrounding the island on all sides,
Memphis to Helena
A thriving jungle wilderness through the Civil War, the Delta was considered a frontier into the early 1900s for its deep forests full of giant cypresses, oaks, sweetgums, and a fantastically active wildlife including panthers (cougars) and black bear. Teddy Roosevelt hunted bear in the south Delta and declared he’
Memphis to Helena
720 Josie Harry Bar The Josie Harry Steamboat sank in 1878 and created a sandbar island that has now been assumed by the Tennessee/Mississippi shore LBD. If you are in the main channel through this area you will have a long uninterrupted stretch of rip rap and revetment to
Memphis to Helena
726-717 Armstrong/Dismal Point/Ensley Bar As noted above, the long chain of forested islands found along Armstrong/Dismal/Ensley is the best camping to be found below Memphis. Approximately fifteen miles downstream of Mud Island and light years away. (Note: another beautiful location awaits another 15 miles downstream at
Memphis to Helena
LBD 725.5 Entrance to McKellar Lake Watch for towboat traffic coming in and out of McKellar Lake Memphis Industrial Harbor, as well as workboats, crew boats and fleeted barges. Unless you purposely intend to access the harbor the fastest water and most interesting forests and islands are found along
Memphis to Helena
Life is a great mystery and we are the players. Who knows where the cycles of life will bring us in the endless spinning of tales and tapestries and flowing of energy. I have no idea. But I do know one thing: that wherever you go and whatever you do,
Memphis to Helena
The infinite mystery of the sky is matched by the infinite depths of the river. It seemed as if the river had let me live one more day for a reason. Over the years I have come to see that the river is a similar to a beautiful woman. She
Memphis to Helena
The river smashed us against the tower and tried to drown us. Later she came to our rescue. Somehow, by some miraculous current of water amidst the now two-mile wide torrent of winter water we were washed out of Cow Island Bend towards the top of Cat Island and floated
Memphis to Helena
We should have died after wrecking our raft in February 1983. I wasn't wearing neoprene like I do now in cold water. The wreck threw us in the river, Sean on one side of the pylon and me on the other, we popped up and called out to