Mile 168.0 - Miles 168-167: LBD Carroll Islands

168 -167 LBD Carroll Islands

Best camping below Mosenthein Island is found left bank descending (against the Illinois shore) below the JB Bridge, at the top end of the Carroll Islands (two consecutive islands, each similarly shaped and about a mile long), where a generous bluff of creamy white sand is found thrown up against the edge of the forest with a large flat sandy landing area below, and sometimes huge logs tossed onto the beach in high water. At low/med water go wherever the sand looks best to you, usually found on at the top end of the second island, but sometimes at the top of the first, closer to the traffic and the bridge. Each highwater has a different effect on the sandbars, and there is some fluctuation in some places as to where the best bluffs and campsites will be with each subsequent flood. As the water rises the top of the lower island goes under, but beautiful open forest parks with sandy bottoms can be reached at the bottom end of the upper island. At bank full the lower island is mostly underwater, but the top island doesn’t disappear until flood stage above 30 SLG.