Mile 325.5 - 325.5 - 322.5 RBD Palmetto Island

325.5 - 322.5 RBD Palmetto Island

Two and a half miles long in high water, and maybe a mile longer in low water, Palmetto is a beautiful isolated wild island surrounded by good sandbars and backed by a long back channel that never completely goes dry (for paddlers). Top end is the first place you’ll find dry ground, and is also might be best bet for the highest of water levels. Next choice is halfway down around the main channel side where a long bar is found with good camping at all water levels from low, through medium to high. Or, if the water’s not too high, you can slide down the back channel and get away from the endless noise and stabbing lights of the tow industry. A large pristine bar grows off the middle of the backside of the island, about one mile down, and is good camping up to around 30 or 35NG, although woods camping could be possible here at higher water levels. If none of these suits your taste, or you want to get some much needed respite from the heat of the day, read below for a final optimal choice.

The forest is choked with vines and undergrowth on the top end, but bottom end descends into a delightful skinny willow forest that comes to a fine point at the southern end of the island. This narrow forest makes for so-so winter wind protection, but is the perfect place to hide from the mid-summer heat. A southerly breeze would flow through the woods keeping mosquitoes at bay. Best enjoyed in a hammock.

Marion Braggs: “The palmetto plant, for which this bend is named, is abundant in this area, and grows well in most of the hardwood forests and swamplands of southern Louisiana and Mississippi. Early settlers on the plantations found it useful for making bonnets and fans. The leaves were dried and pressed and braided into long pieces and shaped into hats or bonnets lined with cotton cloth. Making the fans was a simple process. The plant is fan-shaped, and had only to be dried and trimmed to the proper size.”