Mile 581.0 - LBD 581-576 Prentiss Sandbar

LBD 581-576 Prentiss Sandbar

As you round Prentiss Bend and continue downstream, past the mouth of the Arkansas River you will find a long skinny sandbar that stretches up to five miles long at low water around Monerrey Bend. At medium water this becomes a 2-mile long island that you can duck behind (but be prepared for slow water), and at high water its further reduced to one mile, and goes completely under before the river reaches flood stage. Towards its bottom end a narrow scruffy line of trees is found atop a narrow ridge which abruptly ends in a muddy cut bank at its bottom end. Note: towboats sometimes sneak behind Prentiss Bar during high water, which can be a frightening encounter for a paddler.

Possible open bar camping on Prentiss Bar but be prepared for company. Locally known as Venice Beach. Sometimes degenerates into a lively beach party on hot spring/summer afternoons for Delta State University college students and others from nearby Cleveland (accessible by motorboats from Rosedale Harbor). Towboat pilots and boy scouts yearn for a view of the topless beauties that reportedly grace this bar. An adventurous troop once approached this section of river excited for the possible glimpses. But daylight failed as they passed the Arkansas confluence and their testosterone levels suffered a severe letdown enduring repeated attacks by squadrons of mosquitoes as they were forced to set up camp in the darkness, the mermaids having long departed for home.