Vicksburg
Vicksburg
Vicksburg marks a significant change of geography for the Lower Mississippi River paddler. Vicksburg heralds the end of the Mississippi Delta and the beginning of the Mississippi Loess Bluffs. From here down to St. Francisville there are no continuous levees on the Mississippi side because of the high ground created by the bluffs, which approach the river and then retreat along various tributaries like Bayou Pierre, Coles Creek and the Big Black River. The Yazoo-Mississippi Delta technically ends at the mouth of the Yazoo River, also known as “the River of Death.” This junction also marks the first left bank tributary since Noncannah Creek in Memphis, 300 miles upstream!
The Yazoo River (along with its major tributary the Big Sunflower) drains all the Mississippi Delta and much of the Hill Country. If there was ever any river that had the blues, it is the Yazoo. Its reach includes Delta blues stars like Memphis Minnie, Charlie Patton, Howling Wolf, Muddy Waters, and Robert Johnson, and also Hill Country blues stars Mississippi Fred McDowell, Othar Turner, and Jessie Mae Hemphill, and many, many others. Almost anyone you can name in the Delta Blues or Hill Country blues traditions were born and raised in this drainage. See Rivergator Appendix for complete descriptions of the paddling trails of the Lower Delta including Centennial Lake, the Yazoo River, Big Sunflower River, Little Sunflower River and Yalobusha River.
Vicksburg’s nickname “the Key to the South” also applies to paddlers. Here you will find your best place to start or end an expedition. For long-distance paddlers it will be your best resupply. Vicksburg is thick with history, culture, good food and great accommodations. The feeling is “thick” here also. Thick and oily. Downtown feels like it is living in another era, a feeling that reaches out into all parts of town, and is highlighted at the National Military Park.
A good place to start your visit is the Old Courthouse Museum with great panoramas of downtown. It’s located up the hill at 1008 Cherry Street, and is one of the first buildings you’ll see from the distance as you paddle up the Yazoo. Be sure to visit the recently completed Lower Mississippi River Museum and Riverfront Interpretive Site located within the MV Mississippi. You can walk down a scale model of the Vicksburg to Baton Rouge stretch that you are about to paddle! For a spectacular view up the main channel of the river go to the turnout on South Washington (Louisiana Circle) across from the Dixiana Motel. The Vicksburg National Military Park is a must-see for its moving exhibits and beautiful monuments and scenery. Be sure to visit the ironclad gunboat U.S.S. Cairo museum. The park commemorates the campaign, siege, and defense of Vicksburg in 1863 and includes over 1,340 monuments, markers and plaques, a 16-mile tour road, a restored Union gunboat, and a National Cemetery. Vicksburg National Cemetery embraces 116 acres and holds the remains of 17,000 Civil War Union soldiers, a number unmatched by any other national cemetery. Paddlers take notice: you can purchase Maps of the entire Lower Mississippi at the US Army Corps headquarters on Clay Street! Bring your ID and visit the map room.
USFW and the LMRCC
Besides being the supreme stronghold for big river engineering, Vicksburg is also the home to the Lower Mississippi River Conservation Committee and the US Fish & Wildlife -- whose fish toxicology reports have demonstrated that the Mississippi River is a lot cleaner than anyone thought. In fact, it’s the cleanest river in the State of Mississippi (this according to the fish taken and examined).
The LMRCC oversees the notching project which has opened up so many of the back channels described in the Rivergator. Notching means better habitat for endangered species like the pallid sturgeon, the fat pocketbook mussel, and the least tern. Notching also results in better paddling. It means we paddlers have more opportunities to get off the main channel and away from tow traffic and enjoy the wild splendors found behind the islands. Last benefit to notching: it creates more isolated islands where only paddlers (or other boats) can find access. LMRCC founding director Ron Nasser envisioned endangered pallid sturgeon and other species reconnecting their life-cycles with free flowing back channels, and through decades of hard work Ron made them happen. Delta Point Bar is one of the many islands that have benefitted from Ron’s vision. As result of the notching project biologists like Paul Hartfield and his Pallid Sturgeon Posse have uncovered Pallid Sturgeon spawning grounds and secrets of their migrations and life cycles that had heretofore not been understood. In fact, the Lower Mississippi was considered a dead river (for sturgeon) until Paul and other river biologists demonstrated otherwise. Two other mysterious Lower Mississippi migrations are the freshwater shrimp and the American eel. Ron retired in 2013 but his vision is being carried on by Angeline Rogers and her staff. See Rivergator Appendix for more information about the LMRCC and its restoration projects.
Bluz Cruz
The Mississippi River Bluz Cruz Canoe & Kayak race started back in 2005 in Vicksburg and continues to grow every year. Family friendly, and more about the fun of paddling than sheer competition, Bluz Cruz nevertheless allows surf skiers and other cutting edge paddlers the opportunity to stretch out and challenge themselves on a significant portion of the Lower Mississippi River. Held annually on the 2nd Saturday in April, the 22 mile race start line is at the Madison Parish Port boat ramp (Louisiana: mile marker 457 RBD) with a finish line at the Vicksburg boat ramp up the Yazoo River in downtown Vicksburg. Commercial towboat traffic is halted by the Coast Guard during this race. Go to bluzcruz.com for more information. (Layne Logue)
Vicksburg Services and Accommodations
For long distance paddlers Vicksburg will be your best place for resupply, rest and relaxation, and reconnoiter. Do not leave your vessel unattended! Portage or safely stash your vessel and gear and walk up the hill to Washington Street which is full of restaurants, shops, bars, cafes, a drug store and a dollar store. The library is at the South end of downtown, and the Highway 61 Coffeehouse at the other, both are great for orienting yourself and finding local information. There are a couple of options for
hotels nearby, but the closest grocery store is the County Market (2101 Clay Street) and 1 mile to the East. You’ll have to hop the bus or find a ride for food supply if you need Wal-Mart or Kroger. These two are miles away in the strip malls along Interstate 20. The Relax Inn (1313 Walnut St.) is within walking distance (3 blocks) of the Vicksburg boat launch with $45/night rate or the Portofino Hotel (1310 Mulberry St.) is one block away ($80/night). Portage your vessel and ask them to let you safely store it. Public Wi-Fi in the 1200-1400 blocks of Washington Street.
Catfish Row Children’s Art & Water Park is located on Levee Street just across the Vicksburg boat ramp. There are drinking water fountains and free electricity (outlets on the light poles). In the summer, cool off and maybe sneak in a bath in the water park fountains Hours: Open daily 9:00 – sunset.
Another possible landing for paddlers needing resupply in Vicksburg in low or medium water levels is the River Front Park left bank descending at 436.5 (directly below the Washington Street Louisiana Circle Overlook). Primitive landings only on shelves of rock, mounds of hardened mud, or if you’re lucky (and perceptive) one of the small beaches that usually form here in between the mud and the rock. Make your landing and pull vessel completely out of the water (or risk capsize - the waves get big here). Your gear should be safe here, no one else uses this location. Scramble your way several hundred yards up the bluffs to the park. Some bushwhacking might be necessary.
River Front Park has a drinking water fountain, bathrooms and free electricity (outlets within the pavilion. Within walking distance of the park (up the hill and down Washington Street) you will find a Kangaroo Gas Station, Shell Gas Station with a Subway attached, Waffle House and Ameristar Hotel, Days Inn and Suites and other economical hotel choices. If you stay at the Dixiana you might be awakened out of your sleep by some of the all-night activity that seems to take place.
Public Transportation
The City of Vicksburg offers public transportation through the NRoute system. NRoute operates Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sit back, relax, and enjoy a safe comfortable air-conditioned ride while listening to music by some of Vicksburg's and Mississippi's most famous Delta Blues musicians. You might even learn a little more about Vicksburg along the way! Need schedules or special assistance? Call or go by the NRoute office to obtain route schedules and maps. All buses are handicapped accessible. They are also equipped with bike racks for those commuting from place to place.
For $2, you can go to grocery stores (Kroger, Corner Market, Walmart), hospitals, the Vicksburg National Military Park, and the US Army Corps Map Room. Washington Street (2 blocks from Vicksburg City Front boat ramp) has NRoute bus stops on it. See below for contact info.
We Care Customer Hotline 601-636-1053
Maps and other assistance offered at 2501 Halls Ferry Road
Email nroute@vicksburg.org
For fare schedules go to Vicksburg.org bus info
Wi-Fi: Vicksburg provides free wireless internet access along the 1200 through the 1400 block of Washington Street. You can also find Wi-Fi at the Tourist Information Center (on Clay Street, across from the entrance to the Vicksburg National Military Park) and the Vicksburg Convention Center (1600 Mulberry Street).
Click Here for: Vicksburg Services & Accommodations
Putting in: Clay Street Landing/Yazoo River
Clay Street Landing (Vicksburg Boat Ramp on the US Army Corps Maps). Most expeditions leaving Vicksburg begin not on the Mississippi but on the tributary river the Yazoo, which flows through the heart of downtown and confluences with the Mighty Miss one mile downstream. There is a landing at the foot of Clay Street which is the best landing in the area. This is a wide landing with plenty of room for paddlers to load up and prepare departure amongst the fishermen and commercial vessels. Unless it is a strong north wind or west wind, you will find this to be a protected landing. Depending on rainfall and the Mississippi River levels, the Yazoo is normally flowing slowly here. But sometimes it is at a standstill when the big river is high. After heavy rain fall and a low Mississippi River it might be flowing swift and turbulent with chalky waters.
If driving to the landing, follow Clay Street through downtown Vicksburg, down the steep hill, 2 blocks West of Washington Street (Old Highway 61). The landing opens up just beyond the tall concrete seawall in front of you at the bottom of the hill. You can leave your vehicle overnight, and it should be safe. Hide all valuables. Don’t leave vehicle for extended periods of time (more than one night). For one thing, the river sometimes rises up against the seawall drowning everything on the landing. The other thing is that you will eventually be broken into. Your best option is to arrange shuttle, or find a safe place in downtown Vicksburg to park.
Paddlers on canoes, kayaks or stand up paddleboards follow the Yazoo River downstream along the Loess Bluffs of Vicksburg. Known as the “River of Death” the Yazoo River was once populated by Quapaws, Choctaws, and others Amerindians, and still is a vital route for commerce and transportation. Towboats use the Yazoo as far upstream as Greenwood. Today the Yazoo inhabits the Civil War channel of the Mississippi through downtown Vicksburg, and yields the best possible view of the battlefields. The Yazoo drains the Mississippi Delta and the Mississippi Hill Country. More blues musicians were born and raised along its banks (and tributaries) than probably any other river in the world!
Leaving the Clay Street Landing paddlers can enjoy the last mile of the Yazoo as it flushes out of the Mississippi Delta and enters the mother river. This section of the Yazoo is locally known as the “Yazoo Canal,” an unromantic naming of a legendary river which refers to the big scale earthwork done to reopen the Vicksburg riverfront after the Mississippi left it high and dry in the 1870s. The Yazoo normally runs a creamy yellow sweet with the succulent soils of the Mississippi Delta. Be vigilant for commercial traffic. There might be small tows pushing 1-4 barges back and forth between the big river and the Vicksburg Harbor (several miles upstream the Yazoo). Usually they run slow past the landing. All types of river traffic are found in the Yazoo Canal. Besides fishermen and workboats you might see the log barges, rock barges, petroleum barges, hot asphalt barges, big tows, small tows, the American Queen, the Viking Queen, and Queen of the Mississippi, the US Coast Guard, US Army Corps vessels, and etc, etc. There is a growing paddling community in Vicksburg, so hopefully you’ll see other canoeists, kayakers, and maybe a long distance raft. Unfortunately, the Sweet Olive went out of business and is no longer plying the muddy waters around Vicksburg. She was last seen pulled to the shore and listing dangerously on a falling river,
As soon as you push out into the gentle flow of the Yazoo you will see the mouth of the big river below and the trusses of the Vicksburg Bridge, the power plant downstream beyond. If you are carrying a VHF Marine radio this would be a good time to turn it on and adjust the squelch and listen in on channel 13 for any traffic in the area. This is a notoriously difficult bend of the river for towboats to get through and make final adjustments for safe passage between the towers of the bridge. You will want to be aware of all traffic and stay out of their way. Especially downstreamers.
Watch for gators as you paddle down the Yazoo. They are frequently seen sunning themselves along the West shore. While gators are rarely seen in the main channel of the Mississippi, they are common to tributaries like the Yazoo, and will become thicker and thicker along tributaries the further south you go. Like all cold blooded creatures they like sunning themselves along the banks of the river, which is your best chance for viewing. Are they dangerous? Canoeists and kayakers are fairly safe. In the law of the jungle you appear to be a much larger creature than they are, and they will always run away at your approach. On the other hand, from Vicksburg downstream you should be cautious along shorelines, especially in back channels, and even more so if you have children or dogs with you.