Mile 356.5 - 356.5 - 360 RBD Morville/Jeffries Landing

356.5 - 360 RBD Morville/Jeffries Landing

The mile-wide Mississippi River below the Natchez Bridge gets squeezed into a channel half that width as it rounds Carthage and as result dives deep and flows fast and furious, even at low water. Watch carefully and plan your route in the presence of any tow traffic. Big eddies clutch the current right bank while sluggish water hugs the left bank, in between which a vigorous tongue of water several hundred yards wide charges into and creates mini-maelstroms on either edge, where rounded waves become big crashing waves, and smooth boils become explosive boils with whirlpools on the edges. Take note: Downstream tows want to be exactly where you are paddling! Upstream tows meanwhile will hug the inside of the bend, unless they are waiting for a downstreamer to come through and then they might approach either bank. You could just as well find an upstream tow in wait along the left bank as well as the right bank. Meanwhile you are caught in between as helpless as a willow leaf being spun in the swirls. If you see a 2 or 3-screw tow plowing upstream be ready for waves! Monitor VHF channel 13 if you have a radio. Pull to the bank and wait if things look too weird.