Helena to Greenville

Mile 640.5 - Entrance to top end of Island 63 Chute

John Ruskey

20 Apr 2026 � 1 min read

LBD 640.5 Entrance to top end of Island 63 Chute

Great back channel to explore. Highly recommended -- unless you're already camped on Island 62. If you are proceed to bottom end for a view into this un-imporoved back channel, its banks mostly free of the endless rip-rap, rock and revetment of the main channel. Your only access to Quapaw Landing is through this chute either via the top end of Is. 63 or via its bottom end (see below).

When the river is above 10HG Paddlers wanting to reach Quapaw can enter the chute of Island 63 above the island and enjoy the wilds of the back channel. This chute used to be bisected by a tall rock dike that corked off the flow until medium water, somewhere around 20 HG. However, after dike being busted open in 2009 as one of the many notching projects initiated by the Lower Mississippi River Conservation Committee the river now pours through at lower water levels. The 2011 flood scoured this opening even deeper and much more water is flowing through. Now this opening is flowing at even lower water levels, as low as 5HG, and is full-throttle waterfall with a three foot drop at 10HG. Be ready for some big standing waves and swirling turbulence. Playboaters will love this notch as a surfing feature! On a stand up paddleboard you could eddy out and return to the train of waves for some fun in the muddy surf! Whitewater can be expected here until the river climbs above 20 HG. Paddlers: put on your lifejacket and strap down all loose gear and then aim for center channel and follow the V-line through the rocky walls and pounding waves beyond. If you flip over you can eddy out and recover on one of the muddy banks or isolated sandbars. Best practice: stop and inspect first. If you don't like the look of things or don't want to risk a capsize, approach one of the ends of the dike and portage over. Or, avoid this channel completely and go for the bottom entrance to Quapaw.

Quapaw Landing is approximately four miles down this chute LBD. Unmarked. See below for description.

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