Mile 902.0 - Miles 902-899: LBD Below Island No 9 Dikes

902 - 899 LBD Below Island No 9 Dikes

Some serious rock work has been done over the years around the outside of Slough Bend where the river makes its southernmost run around Donaldson Point before rolling ten miles north up to New Madrid. At low and medium water levels miles and miles of dikes along the outside of the bend, and others perpendicular running to shore create a hazardous canoe crunching shoreline, and you won’t want to make landing anywhere in the area. But once the river climbs over the dikes, at around 25CG, you can access a couple of beautiful willow-filled islands that have grown up amongst the rock work, the last of these around 900 LBD would make a great protected forest camp, especially in south winds or in the threat of storms coming from the southwest. This island features open, airy, sand floor forest bottoms filled with mature willows, elegant graceful places where you feel a sort of harmony between the vitality of nature and the power of the river.