Mile 239.0 - Miles 239-235: Allendale Reach (Thomas Point to Wilkerson Point)

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). The river flows in a straight channel due east between Devil’s Swamp on the left and Pot Allen on the right, in a scene that looks like something you’d expect in Manaus Brazil, or some other industrial stretch along the Amazon. There is nothing sophisticated about big industry here. Rusty barges are scattered about in various states of use and ruin, and noisy worksites litter the banks, laid out with no particular grace or elegance. Nothing but economy and access are in consideration here. Same as any trashy river industry anywhere. Fortunately the port activity begins calmly. In this four mile stretch you can easily stay right bank and avoid the fleeted barges left bank. Best line of travel: keep a healthy few hundred yards out from a couple of right bank construction sites and docking areas, the first being a barge repair facility at RBD 236.5 (TT Barge Services).