River Log section: Vicksburg to Baton Rouge
Vicksburg to Baton Rouge
311 - 309 RBD Point Breeze Once safely below the Auxiliary Intake channel of the Old River Control Structure, you can find a very tall bluff of sand, the tallest in the area, which makes the best highwater camping available all the way up to flood stage (and beyond). At
Vicksburg to Baton Rouge
311.7 - 310 LBD Tunica Hills below Clark Creek (Mississippi Loess Bluffs #6) There are places in this world where you feel like the creator paid special attention in the landscape and arrangement of plants. The Tunica Hills is one of the special places. Not many people know about
Vicksburg to Baton Rouge
311.7 LBD Clark Creek Clark Creek is the last significant drainage coming out of the State of Mississippi into the big river. As if wanting to gift paddlers with a landscape worth remembering, Clark Creek creates one of the most colorful and creative settings, which can be best seen
Vicksburg to Baton Rouge
311.7 RBD Auxiliary Intake -- Old River Control Structure As you paddle past Knox Landing and around Point Breeze, with the Clark Creek/Tunica Hills on your left, you might notice a mournful “fog horn” like sounding echoing through the woods right bank descending. This is the warning horn
Vicksburg to Baton Rouge
313.7 RBD Knox Landing A steep but well-positioned concrete boat ramp drops into the river here on the artificial island created by the Main Intake and Auxiliary Intake of the Old River Control Structures. Good place to start or end an expedition, and probably safe parking. But there are
Vicksburg to Baton Rouge
314.6 RBD Main Intake -- Old River Control Structure This is the original gate built in 1963 to “keep the Mississippi in its place,” and was almost washed away a decade later, in 1973, by floods that scoured120 foot deep holes around its monumental concrete & steel footings. The
Vicksburg to Baton Rouge
316.3 RBD Hydro Intake -- Old River Control Structure Maybe you’ve read about it, or heard frightening tales about it. It’s as legendary as the Chain of Rocks of St. Louis, and as little understood, and as many tall tales told about. No, you won’t be
Vicksburg to Baton Rouge
Vicksburg Vicksburg marks a significant change of geography for the Lower Mississippi River paddler. Vicksburg heralds the end of the Mississippi Delta and the beginning of the Mississippi Loess Bluffs. From here down to St. Francisville there are no continuous levees on the Mississippi side because of the high ground
Vicksburg to Baton Rouge
363.5 LBD Natchez-Under-the-Hill Steep concrete ramp diving into the river at the base of the Natchez Bluffs, the best place to make a landing and a visit to the classy river town of Natchez. After you make landing and get your land legs, stroll up to the top of
Vicksburg to Baton Rouge
365 RBD Opening to Old River -- Bottom End (Marengo Bend Lake) Only access to Marengo Lake/Old River. Public boat launch 8 miles around the outside bend of the lake (west side). The water never gets too low to paddle into the bottom end of Marengo Lake for a
Vicksburg to Baton Rouge
367.5 RBD Opening to Old River -- Top End (Marengo Bend Lake) Previous to 1933 the Mississippi made a giant curve around Marengo Bend into the rich Louisiana bottomlands before curving back to slam into the bluffs at Natchez. The Giles Cutoff changed that, resulting in the 10-mile long
Vicksburg to Baton Rouge
367 LBD Devil’s Punchbowl “Far in the past, a great cup-shaped hole, about five hundred feet wide, had formed in the soft earth of the river bluffs. Slowly it seemed to widen, as gullies formed along its sides and rows of trees hurtled into its depths. Thickly grown, it