Mile 496.0 - Tennis Court Landing
LBD 496 Tennis Court Landing
Paddlers will find Mayersville to be a suitable put-in or take-out with a few precautions. There are two ramps are located here. The older one is frequently bogged down in mud (below medium water 25GG). The new one was recently crushed by an upstream tow (sometime in 2011). Access to Mayersville is over a gravel/muddy road that gets flooded around 45 Greenville Gauge. Paddlers of course can always find a place to make landing. Simply paddle until you find the road! Tiny Mayersville is one mile over the levee. There is one small convenience store at the dusty crossroads downtown, Tony’s Grocery, 101 Holly Lane, Mayersville, 662-873-6030. Rolling Fork, the birthplace of Muddy Waters, is less than eight miles away. If you need groceries hide your vessel very carefully, or better yet find someone with a pickup truck and take it with you. Not a safe place to leave your valuables, or any of your precious camping and paddling gear. Rolling Fork is well worth the visit, for good food, accommodations, points of interest, and Southern hospitality. (See appendix for services, accommodations, contacts and other details). But only if you can secure a ride and safely stash your vessel. Otherwise it would probably be best to continue downstream to Lake Providence or Vicksburg .
Mayersville is the proud seat of the least-populated county in Mississippi: Issaquena County, population 1406 (2010 US Census). At 441 square miles the resulting population density is 3 people per square mile. This is less than the population density of Wyoming, Montana or North Dakota! Interestingly 6.41% of Issaquena County is water (28.3 square miles) much of which is found in its giant oxbow lakes Chotard and Eagle Lake, but mostly is found in its portion of the Mighty Mississippi.
The Mayersville Tennis Court Landing is the only public boat launch on the East bank located right on the main channel of the Mississippi in the 100 miles in between Greenville and Vicksburg. West bank public landings are found at Sunnyside, and Goodrich (near Transylvania).
Vicksburg Gage
At this point in the Rivergator we’ll leave the Greenville gage and switch over to the Vicksburg gage, which is about 40 miles downstream. We’ll denote the Vicksburg gage as “VG.” For daily river levels and weekly forecasts, go to
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lmrfc/?n=lmrfc-mississippiandohioriverforecast
Water levels according to the Vicksburg gage
Low Water = 0 to 20 VG
Medium Water = 20 to 33 VG
High Water = 33 to 43 VGVG
Flood Stage = 43 VG and above
VG = Vicksburg gage
Flood Stage Warning: above 48 VG paddlers are advised to stay off the river. Limited access. Most landings and approach roads will be underwater. Most islands will be gone. No easy camping. All sandbars will be covered. Fast waters with many hazards. All islands and landings will be surrounded by flooded forests full of snags, strainers, sawyers and all other dangerous conditions associated with floodwater moving through trees. Docks, wharves, dikes and any other man-made objects will create strong whirlpools, violent boils, and fast eddies. Towboats will create large waves. The Rivergator will not describe the river and its islands at any levels above flood stage.