Mile 56.4 - The Atchafalaya Split

56.4 The Atchafalaya Split

The Atchafalaya divides into two big channels at this fork in the road, and both routes make for good paddling and good scenery along the way. The right hand fork is the Old Channel of the Atchafalaya. And the left hand fork is the New Channel, sometimes called the “Whiskey Bay Pilot Channel.” This point also marks the end of the levee on the west bank. From here on the batture opens up like a blossoming flower, eventually becoming 20 miles wide. Most of the Atchafalaya River flows into the Whiskey Bay Pilot Channel, hence it is the fastest route, and is indeed today considered the main channel. This route is a good choice if you want to make the best speed possible, and aren’t interested in some sight-seeing and exploring some of the back channels of the Atchafalaya Basin. At most water levels the Whiskey Bay Pilot Channel will cut your time in half over the Old Channel. The Whiskey Bay Pilot Channel is more forested and feels wilder. On the other hand, you will miss a rare opportunity for small channel, or back channel paddling through the extensive forests, swamps of the Atchfalaya Basin, and some of its small communities. The Atchafalaya Basin is a place where man and nature coexist in some kind of harmony; where Cajun families live on the waterways and the outdoors is an intimate part of their daily lives; where houses have been built on stilts hanging over the river, or on wooded banks of the bayou, or on houseboats, and where the communities end the deep woods begin. You will experience some of this intimacy with nature, this deep sense of place following the Old Channel of the Atchfalaya River through Butte La Rose. Either way you go will eventually bring you back to the same place, which is the bottom end of Splice Island, where the two channels rejoin, at mile 75.5.

Whiskey Bay Pilot Channel

Most of the Atchafalaya River flows into the Whiskey Bay Pilot Channel, hence it is the fastest route, and is indeed today considered the main channel. This route is a good choice if you want to make the best speed possible, and aren’t interested in some sight-seeing and exploring some of the back channels of the Atchafalaya Basin. At most water levels the Whiskey Bay Pilot Channel will cut your travel time in half compared to paddling the Old Channel.

The Whiskey Bay Pilot Channel was cut 40 feet deep into the center of the Atchafalaya in 1934-1937 to create a waterway navigable to towboats. In 1973, a large flood threatened to destroy the main control structure and the Corps began a redesign of the control system to include additional structure elements. The resulting “Old River Control Structure” that exists today was designed and built to allow as much as half of the combined flow of the Rivers to be diverted down the Atchafalaya during a major flood and to allow configuration of the flow to minimize stress to the structures. In addition to the control structures, levees were built outside the lowest area through the Atchafalaya Basin, roughly five to ten miles on either side of the Atchafalaya River, from Simmesport to Morgan City. The construction of the levees and subsequent straightening of the Atchafalaya River main channel changed the hydrology and siltation of the Atchafalaya Basin, both inside and outside of the levees. The new “main channel” follows the Whiskey Bay Pilot Channel, and the previous channel through Butte La Rose is silting in. Some historic channels were cut off by the levees and others were intentionally closed at the river to force the bulk of Basin water to be carried by the new main channel and hence, to scour the channel wider and deeper so that the flood control mandate could be met. A larger channel would also provide for easier navigation on the River. (Friends of the Atchafalaya)