Mile 352.5 - 352.5 - 346.5 LBD Opposite Warnicott/Esperance Archipelago

352.5 - 346.5 LBD Opposite Warnicott/Esperance Archipelago

Great bomb-proof (all weather, all water level) camping is found throughout the incredible six mile long string of white sand islands strung along the left bank of the main channel as it courses through St. Catharine Bend. During high water in Spring 2013 the Quapaw and Natchez made peace for the first time in 400 years on Esperance. That is, Adam Elliott of Natchez joined Quapaw Canoe Company as an independent outpost owner and river guide for the stretch of river between Vicksburg and Baton Rouge. We lit white sage to create a sacred space, and perform the ceremony, and played our drums, and made gifts of tobacco to appease the winds of the four directions (paddler’s friend, the wind). Little did we know we had company. One face appeared out of the willow thickets. Then another. They looked at us with big eyes and nervous body language. I beckoned them over. They cautiously approached. It was one of those serendipitous river encounters, they were a group of four kayakers who had left Natchez that very morning to paddle to Baton Rouge!