River Log section: Vicksburg to Baton Rouge
Vicksburg to Baton Rouge
235.8 LBD Bayou Baton Rouge The bayou running through Devil’s Swamp is not named on the 2007 USACE river chart but is named Bayou Baton Rouge on most other maps. Confusingly, the USACE charts name a different waterbody Bayou Baton Rouge which is called Monte Sano Bayou on
Vicksburg to Baton Rouge
239 - 235 Allendale Reach (Thomas Point to Wilkerson Point) After zig-zagging through the hairpin corner Thomas Point the paddler comes around like a billiard ball into the final run downstream into the top end of the busiest port in North America (the port of greater Baton Rouge/New Orleans)
Vicksburg to Baton Rouge
239 - 235 LBD Allendale Reach: Fleeted Barges Stay with the faster water right bank, and avoid the fleeting petro and grain barges left bank descending 238 -235. In other words, three miles of fleeted barges, or places that tows might getting ready to pull over and detach or re-attach
Vicksburg to Baton Rouge
241 - 239 LBD Thomas Point (Mallet Bend) Warning: Hairpin Bend! Blind Corner! As you enter Mallet Bend around Thomas Point pay special attention to any signs of upstream traffic. Ride the inside of the curve LBD as tightly as possible so that you can run to the shore quickly
Vicksburg to Baton Rouge
245 LBD Devil’s Swamp Bayou Note: the main entrance to Devil’s Swamp is at the south end of the bayou, ten miles downstream left bank descending, below and behind all of the fleeted barges near mile 235.8 LBD. If you are interested in seeing Devil’s Swamp
Vicksburg to Baton Rouge
246.2 RBD Small Dune There is a small dune of yellow-white sand right bank descending as you exit the Profit Island stretch of river, that could make for a good emergency camp in southerly or southwesterly winds, but is open to the north wind. In any northerly winds continue
Vicksburg to Baton Rouge
246.5 - 245.8 LBD Sandbar at Bottom of Profit Chute As you come around the southwesterly point of Profit Island you will pass a skinny sandbar with camping up to 30 BG, that connects to a long 2-mile sandbar stretching along the entire southern or bottom end of
Vicksburg to Baton Rouge
246.5 - 246 LBD Profit Island Chute (Exit) As you exit the Profit Island Chute (if this is the route you have taken) be sure to “look both ways” before re-entering the main channel of the big river. Wait until the coast is clear and then paddle hard for
Vicksburg to Baton Rouge
247.2 RBD Smithfield Boat Ramp Steep Ramp is made of revetment, not maintained regularly, and is often covered with clumps of mud. May no longer be accessible from the levee, the 4WD path between the levee and the ramp appears to be cut by a lagoon in the batture,
Vicksburg to Baton Rouge
250.2 RBD Wreckage of Crane Boat The flood of 2011 uprooted this crane barge from somewhere upstream and slammed it against the outside of the Profit Island Bend, where it now lays at a severe angle making a sunning location for turtles in low water, and a catfish harbor
Vicksburg to Baton Rouge
250.3 RBD Bald Eagle Nest Several Bald Eagle nests can be seen high in the arms of some tall trees along the perimeter of Profit Island, on both sides of the river, a sign that you are still within one of the few remaining “wild” stretches of the Lower
Vicksburg to Baton Rouge
252.8 - 252.2 LBD Profit Island Chute (Entrance) Profit Island divides the Mississippi almost cleanly in half. The Chute is slightly smaller, but not much. The best camping is along the top and back ends of the Island in higher water levels, and around the backside and bottomside