Mile 14.2 - -14.2 LBD East Jetty End
-14.2 LBD East Jetty End
If it’s a calm day you can paddle right down the full extent of the South Pass over 14 miles from Mile -0- and past the end of the East Jetty one mile from shore. (Note: do not attempt this in high winds or rough seas). As you paddle past the last pile of rock you will find yourself deep in the Gulf of Mexico with the full feeling of the ocean. Congratulations, paddler! You’ve made it! Flocks of brown pelicans, white pelicans, terns, sheerwaters, and other shore birds will share in your joy. You might see dolphins leaping along with your bounding heart and participating in the happiness and satisfaction of completing the long journey. Turn around and paddle back the same way you came, or head in at a diagonal to one of the nearby beaches.
Pass a Loutre
(Two good routes for beach camps on Gulf: 12 miles via Southeast Pass, or 16 Miles via Pass a Loutre/North Pass route.)
- Sawdust Bend Bayou
- Loomis Pass
- Cognevich Pass
- Southeast Pass
- Southeast Pass Island
- Redfish Bay
- Blind Bay
- North Pass
Pass a Loutre is the widest opening of the three big passes at Mile -0- Head of Passes. Stay with the best flow left bank descending after paddling past Pilottown and descend into Pass a Loutre at the Head of Passes. The channel is almost a half mile wide at its mouth, but gradually narrows as it flows southeastward, then curves eastward, and then runs slightly north of east for a half dozen miles in a straight run before reaching the Gulf. Pass a Loutre runs mostly eastward, this mouth extends out into the Gulf and separates Blind Bay from Breton Sound.
Pass a Loutre provides two good routes for getting to beaches on the Gulf of Mexico: one down the Southeast Pass (14 miles) to the beaches at Southeast Pass Island, and the other down Pass a Loutre itself and then splintering off at mile -12 BHP to follow North Pass to mile -16BHP and stopping on the beaches at North Pass Island. Both routes are full of wildlife and passing fishing boats, and are completed surrounded by the Pass a Loutre State Wildlife Wildlife Management Area.
Dominique Liboiron paddled the Missouri/Mississippi River systems via the Milk River out of his hometown on Maple Creek, Saskatchewan Canada in 2013 in the name of his deceased Uncle. He says that l'outre means “the otter.” Very fitting! Dominique says that it would be pronounced "loo-ter" in his country. Dom lives in Maple Creek, Saskatchewen, Canada.
-0.5 RBD Upper Shallow Island
There are a couple of shallow islands near the mouth of Pass a Loutre, the top one comes to a slight rise in a grove of short willows that could be a stopping place in low water levels, but a campsite probably not be a good idea unless you did it in hammocks. When you paddle back up Pass a Loutre you can stay in slow water against the bank on either side of this islands and the one below it.
-1.5 RBD Lower Shallow Island
Lower Shallow Island is defined by the main channel of Pass a Loutre on one side and a back channel against the bank on the other. No dry land anywhere on this island, it is composed entirely of muddy flats and cane and grass marshes.
-2 RBD Cheniere Pass
Cheniere Pass flows southward approximately eight miles parallel to South Pass, and ends up in the Gulf two miles behind Port Eads in Garden Island Bay. Along the way several splinter passes peel off Cheniere Pass heading towards Redfish Bay.
-2.5 RBD Willow Clump
As you paddle down Pass a Loutre past the shallow islands you will notice a distinct clump of green of a darker shade than the surrounding greenery along the right bank descending. This is a clump of willows on a short hummock found just past the mouth of Cheniere Pass. If the hour is getting late in the day, and you might not make it to the Gulf beaches downstream, you might want to make this your bivouac. This will probably be the last piece of dry ground you will see on Pass a Loutre headed towards the Gulf of Mexico. Willow Clump would be a possible low water campsite, and would be an excellent spot for a hammock camp regardless of the tides or river water levels.
-4 to -5 RBD Wetlands
The Pass a Loutre widens here as it flows around a bird and fish filled wetlands, right bank descending.
Southeast Pass splinters off Pass a Loutre to the southeast in a smaller channel lined by cane marshes and a few clumps of willow. See below for continued description.
-6 LBD Muddy shallows
Paddlers will encounter muddy shallows on either side of the Pass a Loutre from here on out to ocean. Use your well honed river-reading skills to avoid!