Mile 879.0 - LBD Tiptonville Chute

879 LBD Tiptonville Chute

An old channel of the Mississippi River, the Tiptonville Chute can only be accessed by your canoe or kayak in the highest of water levels. But if the river is at flood stage, and you are ready for an adventure, you could jump off the main channel and enjoy a sinuous six mile run down this back channel. Follow the obvious flow in a predominately south direction as you meander gently, boxed in by big woods. The trees start out big and thick up top, mostly oaks, sweetgums and other high bank trees. By the time you re-enter the main channel six miles downstream you will be surrounded by flooded willow forests. You will come back out on the big river one mile above the old Tiptonville Ferry Landing following the back channel of Bixby Towhead (Mark Twain’s volcanic mentor famously narrated in Twain’s classic Life on the Mississippi). Note: Tiptonville Chute was almost reopened in the flood of 2011. A massive wall of rip-rap has been placed across the upstream mouth (879 LBD) as safeguard.