Mile 384.0 - LBD - Spithead Towhead

384 LBD - Spithead Towhead

Spithead is a giant sand island hugging the inside of the Kempe Bend offering beautiful all weather and all river level camping, exercising the normal precautions for wind and storms. Wonderful place to go tracking, the sand tells the story of who walked by in the past 24 hours. You might see the tracks of coyote, deer and occasional river otters. The birds are most common tracks you’ll find. The interior least tern flocks here sometimes by the thousands during mating season (usually late spring/early summer), and white pelicans love its broad open bars during their migration. Otherwise look for killdeer, Canada goose, and of course the omnipresent egrets and herons.

In calm weather good picnicking and camping can be found around the entire perimeter of Spithead. But in high winds or oncoming storms you will want to get close to the trees, or if this is not possible, continue down to Waterproof where protected access is easier to locate. Primitive sandbar stretching to the horizon in low water, two clumps of willows accentuating the scrubby tops of the two remaining high points of the island. These two humps are reminders of the power of the flooding river. Previous to 2011 they were connected in one beautiful mile-long high ridge of willow forest. The flood of 2011 charged through the center of the forest and left the two ends as a poignant reminder of its radical height and violence.

During low/medium water paddle to bottom of island and then return upstream in the large open bay that forms behind the highest sand/clumps of willows in the center of the island. In high water you can paddle right up to the trees from above, but choices will be limited. Entire island goes underwater around 40 on the Natchez Gage.

After passing the mouth of Bayou Pierre paddlers will notice the third Mississippi Bluff rising over the treeline left bank descending. These are the fabled Petit Gouffre” or Petit Gulf Hills, but appear to be as tall and lengthy as the Big Black Bluff at Grand Gulf. Stopping on Bondurant island would give you the best view possible of these bluffs. As with all Mississippi River places, layers of mud cover the stories of life, death and the endless march of civilizations. Two ghost towns not visible from the river are reminders of the river’s ability to help people prosper, wage war, and then leave them bereft of economy. Such are the stories of the Petite Gulf towns Bruinsburg and Rodney, both thriving communities in their day.