I camped every night and ate regular grocery store food no freeze dried foods. It would be possible to spend much, much more, by eating meals in towns, spending lots of time in motels, eating out, and hanging out in bars. Where did you get food and water? I probably got food every four or five days. You could get food much more often, or much less often. Will I have trouble with locals? I think you pretty much make your own luck here.
If you hit the bars and camp in sight of the boat landing, you may have trouble. I had no trouble at all. Choose your campspots wisely. If you have to leave your boat, a boat that is both perfectly hidden AND locked up is far less likely to disappear. Will the bears get me? I saw only one, as it swam across the upper Mississippi, and it ran as soon as it hit shore.
How about food? I found food, water, and other supplies relatively easy to get along the river in most stretches. Just plan ahead. Will the big boats destroy me? Paul, where the lock and dam system starts, the navigation channel is marked by red and green buoys.
You should be especially aware whenever crossing the river through this main channel and when approaching bends in the river.
I had no close calls with boats, and did not find it too stressful avoiding them. It may come as no surprise that the biggest danger on the Mississippi is the river itself. When you load your canoe, secure your gear as if you expect to capsize during the day.
Be especially careful if the water is cold. Avoid dangerous currents found immediately above and below all navigation dams. Stay clear of barges and towboats. The cannot stop or maneuver easily, and can create dangerous currents even when tied up.
Be cautious of wingdams and other submerged structures outside of the nine foot channel. Not all hazards show up on the chart. Learn proper locking procedure s. To add to what the Corp said, one of the biggest dangers on the Mississippi River or any fast moving body of water are currents near fixed objects.
Where the water is fast, steer clear of moored barges or boats, steep banks, wingdams, trees or anything else that can create dangerous currents. They are far more powerful than the strongest paddlers and can easily trap you and destroy your boat. How will I get home? If you plan on canoeing most of the river, you have several choices as to where to end your trip.
Here they are, in order, from north to south:. New Orleans Many people stop at New Orleans. Below Bemidji, there are eleven man-made dams that must be portaged. Behind these dams are lakes of varying size; there was no current in these lakes so paddling required more work than on the open river. Most recreational use along this portion of the river was in these lakes. The portage routes are marked on the Minnesota DNR maps.
The portages ranged from simple to real pains. Some portages require traveling on pavement through towns and crossing busy streets. The first portage is at the exit of Cass Lake at Knutson Dam. Depending on the water level, you may be able to paddle over the shallow spillway; we did this, but scout from shore carefully ahead of time. In Grand Rapids, the Blandon Dam operates a free portage service. Prior to getting to Grand Rapids and about 2.
At this dam there is a signboard offering portage service from either here or from Sylvan Lake in Grand Rapids. You could get a ride around both dams, but then you will miss paddling to Grand Rapids.
The portage at Pokegamma Dam is just a couple of hundred yards and is easy. The portage in Grand Rapids is over 1. We used the service in Grand Rapids; a friendly driver showed up at the take-out with a canoe trailer and helped us load our gear and drove us to the put-in below the dam.
He then gave James a ride to the grocery store. Be very cautious at the Blanchard Dam portage; this was the most difficult portage, with some people reporting taking three hours to complete it.
You will have to carry your gear almost feet and, in doing so, climb up and down several steep embankments with very loose footing. Some people portage the short section of rapids below the town of Sauk Rapids.
These are rated Class 1 to 3 depending on water levels. We were able to run them without incident on river right. Portaging on the Lower Mississippi is limited to voluntary crossing of wing dams or emergent sandbars while using back channels. There are no portages on the main channel.
Between Minneapolis and St. Louis, the Army Corps of Engineers has constructed 29 sets of locks and dams. The most northerly lock, Upper St. Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, was decommissioned in the spring of Operations hours of the Lower St. Anthony Lock may be reduced as well. As of , the portage options were unclear and were still being discussed by various interest groups. The Mississippi River Paddlers Facebook group should be a good source of current information.
There is also a local portage service operated by the Paddle Taxi. You must either transit a lock or portage around it. By studying maps and satellite images, it might be possible to plan to portage some locks by using side channels.
If you plan to try this, remember that maps and satellite images may not match the water level when you are at the lock, so what may look possible on paper may be difficult or impossible in reality. For example, a spillway may be a viable portage at low water, but be a very dangerous place at high water. Using a marine radio you can ask about portage options when you speak with the lockmaster.
After consulting with the lockmaster, we portaged Lock 17 over the river left spillway as conditions were perfect and there was a tow in the lock when we arrived. The vast majority of paddlers use the locks.
There are three exceptions described at the end of this section. The locks were constructed when the Army Corps of Engineers built dams to create lakes to maintain consistent water depth for shipping. The locks allow boats to transit the dams, and use of them is free and available to any type of craft using the river.
Kayaks and canoes have the same rights to passage as tows and private powerboats. There is a pecking order and commercial traffic has priority over recreational traffic, which sometimes can mean a long wait to use a lock. It can take a tow between one and two hours to transit a lock, so if one arrives just before you do, you are in for a long delay. To use a lock without a marine radio, you paddle up to the end of the long wall , which is a huge concrete structure extending many hundreds of feet upriver from the lock gates.
There pull a marked cord announcing your desire to make a transit. With luck, the lock staff will be able to see you and come out and let you know what the situation is. A far better solution is to carry a marine radio use channel 14, except for Lock 26, Mel Price, that uses channel 12 and contact the lock when you are 10 to 15 minutes out. We are 15 minutes out from the long wall and request passage. What is the current status for a transit? After approaching the lock, you find a place to hang out near the end of the long wall where you can see a traffic signal light.
Depending on the winds, this may not be as simple as it sounds as there is rarely a place to tie up. When the lock is ready to receive you, the light will turn green. You paddle in through the open upstream gates and usually a lock staff member will direct you to a particular point and drop you a line to hold.
There may be other recreational craft in the lock with you, but you will not share it with tows. After everyone is stable, the upstream gates are closed, the water level is slowly lowered to match that of the downstream river, and the downstream gates are then opened.
When the lockmaster is satisfied that all is well, he will sound a loud horn signaling that it is now safe to let go of the line and paddle out. Do so immediately and get out of the way of the downstream lock entrance as quickly as possible.
Do not tie off on anything in the lock or you may be dumped out of your boat and it will be left dangling as the water drops. Although in some locks the water level only changes by a foot or so, in others the drop is as much as fifty feet. If a tow is exiting a lock as you arrive, do not approach the long wall until the tow is completely clear of it.
The tow will generate massive waves in the narrow confines near the long wall that could easily swamp your boat. We found the lock staffs, civilian employees of the Army Corps of Engineers, to be generally very friendly, interested in our journey and helpful.
On three occasions staff members actually used their own vehicles to portage us around locks that had long delays due to the presence of tows.
They helped us get our canoe out of the water, transported us to an appropriate put in, and helped us get back on the water. Nice people. There are three locks where there are easy options to transiting the main lock. At Lock 14, there is, on river right, a back channel through a marina that leads to a small auxiliary lock. Since the auxiliary lock only transits small craft, you will not be delayed by tows; it is worth using this option. At Lock 15, there is a back channel on river left that goes around Rock Island.
Once in the channel, you will pass smaller Sylvan Island and soon see a dam. There is an easy and short portage river left before you reach the dam: climb up a short set of rocky steps and follow a marked trail around the dam. After the portage, a short paddle brings you back to the main river downstream from Lock Given how much river traffic there is in this area, we chose to take the portage route rather than risk a long delay.
Finally, at Lock 27, the last on the river, there is a better way downriver than transiting the lock. The problem at Lock 27 is that to approach it, you must first paddle an 8-mile long rock-lined man-made channel.
There is no shelter here from tows, which will be very close due to the narrow width of the channel. If you stay in the river instead, there is single obstacle: the Chain of Rocks. This is a partially natural and partially man made rocky barrier that stretches across the entire river.
There is, however, on river left, a very easy and very short portage around this barrier. The river was running very high when we were there, the Chain was mostly submerged and we just paddled over it without incident. Even if you must portage, we believe that you will be much better off doing so than transiting Lock We generally enjoyed using the locks. It added variety to the trip and often we were the only boat in these huge structures, which was really cool. The staffs were great and it felt like we were really participating in the way the river works.
South of Minneapolis, the main channel is marked with buoys. These can be very useful because the tows are going to stay in the channel and the buoys identify it.
However, when the river floods, as it did during our trip, it uproots many of the buoys and drops them where it pleases. Usually this is on the riverbanks, where we saw large numbers of stranded nuns and cans. However, sometimes the river just shuffles the buoys around so they now mark what is definitely not the channel. We have no idea how long it takes the Coast Guard to replace and realign errant buoys after a flood.
Be cautious about assuming that all of the buoys are in the right places. The current forces them underwater and they disappear for varying periods of time, only to unexpectedly pop back up to the surface. Bouys weight about pounds, and getting hit by a rabbiting buoy is dangerous. We were actually nicked by one; fortunately, it just grazed our canoe as a direct hit might have been disastrous. From Minneapolis on to the Gulf, tows are a fact of life on the river. A tow is an array of cargo barges lashed together with cables and pushed by a specialized ship called a towboat , tugboat or pushboat.
Louis, where they must transit locks, tow arrays get no larger than 3 barges wide by 5 barges long 3 x 5. On the lower river, we passed tows that were 6 x 7 arrays.
We have read of even larger arrays. Since a standard barge is 35 feet wide by feet long, a 6 x 7 tow is feet wide and almost 1, feet long, not including the towboat. A typical fully loaded barge can displace tons, thus a 6 x 7 tow could displace 63, tons, which is greater than the World War 2 battleship Missouri did. These things are big and you and your tiny boat share the river with them. Tows are intimidating but actually not too difficult to live with. First, they are slow; 11 mph is about the maximum speed traveling downriver and they are much slower going up.
Second, at normal water levels, tows stay in the channel. Tow movements are generally extremely predictable as it takes a long time for them to make a turn; they do not dart around on the river. When one tow needs to pass another, either in opposite or in the same direction, much discussion ensues about who passes whom where and how.
Often a tow will slow down or stop to let a faster one pass, as there are limited places on the river where passing is even possible. If you have a radio, you can inform the tows that you are in the area.
Use channel 13 and know your position before you go on the air. Sharing the river with tows requires you to be aware of a few things. Most importantly: do not get in their way , and do not paddle in conditions where you might capsize in the navigation channel. Capsizing near a tow is well described in this report. Tows cannot possibly maneuver or stop quickly and the pilot probably cannot see you anyway.
If they run you over, they most likely will not even be aware of it. Cross the river in places with long views both upstream and downstream to ensure that there are no tows approaching. If you behave appropriately, you will not get run over. Tows create wakes as they pass. The first wake comes off the front corners of the leading barges and is usually not very big or turbulent.
There will then be a hiatus before the wake from the screws of the towboat arrives. These wakes can be large and very turbulent, particularly from tows going upriver pushing against the current. Keep in mind that a large towboat has three screws and 11, horsepower turning them. Finally, the wakes and turbulence will reflect off of the riverbanks and create random chop, particularly where the banks are steep and have been armored with rocks.
We found two things helped a lot in dealing with wakes. First, it is best to pass tows on the inside of a bend in the river as it is likely to be shallower, less steep, much less likely to be armored, and the current is slower.
The tows will be close to the outside of a bend as that is where the channel will be. On the inside bend you will be further away, the screw wake will be directed away from you, and there will be much less reflective turbulence.
This strategy requires crossing and recrossing the river as it snakes its way south, but we found it made life much easier to avoid the tow wakes. The eddy line, the point in the river where upstream and downstream currents pass each other, will absorb almost all the wake turbulence from a passing tow and in the eddy you will experience very little to no turbulence.
Sometimes, however, we were exposed directly to tow wakes at relatively close range; scary, but we were always able to ride them out without issue. So, pay attention, stay out of their way, respect them, and you should not have any problems with tows. Because tows can only pass each other in certain sections of the river, they often wait for periods so they are in the right place relative to the other tows, and they may stack up.
We would often go for a couple hours seeing no tows, and then have five or six pass in an hour. Our most congested area had nine tows in 90 minutes. When there are tows holding position while a string of oncoming tows passes, the combination of all their wakes bouncing off the riverbank can get fairly intense. There are also smaller towboats operating around docks. These are used to construct tows and move individual barges from here to there.
Their movements are less predictable than the large tows, but the pilots have reasonably good visibility of the river. On several occasions, the pilots obviously saw us coming and waited for us the clear the area before proceeding with their duties. Many recreational river users between Bemidji and St. Louis are weekend warriors with powerboats or jet skis. The powerboats are often equipped with huge engines and sometimes drunk captains. Anti-social and rude behavior on the river is unfortunately frequent among this group of boaters: generating huge wakes, unnecessarily close encounters, and occasionally deliberate harassment was not uncommon.
Note that this only occurred on weekends, especially holiday weekends, when the river could be crowded with boaters. If traveling in this section during a holiday weekend taking a couple days off is not a bad idea. We spoke with more than a few local river residents who commented about the weekend boaters in very negative terms. They often told us that they never use the river on weekends due to the morons and their behavior.
Although we were told that there are special police river patrols to mitigate bad and dangerous behavior, we never saw evidence of it.
We were extremely fortunate with the weather on our trip and experienced weather-related delays only a few times. You should not count on this and should not be surprised if bad weather prevents progress for periods of time.
At the extreme ends of the paddling season, April or November, you might encounter ice in the water. Otherwise, the biggest weather problem is mostly related to wind as its speed and direction can make or break a paddling day.
We experienced head winds far more often than tail winds. Most of the time these winds were annoying and frustrating, but did not keep us off of the water. For any particular wind speed, the topography of the river can change what it does to you.
If you are paddling into a long stretch of unobstructed water, waves will have a chance to build and can be much larger than those created by the same wind blowing up a short reach.
Sometimes the best solution for traveling on a windy day is to paddle immediately next the bank of the river. If you are lucky, the bank and its trees will provide shelter from the worst of the wind. The second significant weather related problem is lightning. If a thunderstorm is imminent, get off of the water as fast as possible and seek shelter. If there are only woods on shore, pull your boat out of the water, tie it up and get deep into the trees.
Remember that thunderstorms are often accompanied by localized high winds so be sure to secure your gear well or the river might take it away. The final weather issue that can keep you onshore is dense fog that can make it impossible to see other river traffic.
We did not experience fog of this intensity, but we read trip reports that described fog so thick paddlers could not see feet in any direction. Tows can be surprisingly quiet, so in dense fog it is better to stay out of the channel.
Other weather issues that can arise include rain of varying intensities, tornados, heat, high humidity, and cold. In other words, just like the weather anywhere else. In addition to the standard water-safety guidelines such as always wear a PFD, and not paddling while drunk, there are several additional safety factors that one ought to consider when paddling the Mississippi. There are three large lakes in the Headwaters section: Bemidji, Cass, and Winnibigoshish.
Although the lakes may appear to be calm, experienced paddlers recommend NOT taking straight-line routes across these. Very strong and dangerous winds can arise suddenly and produce large waves that have capsized and drowned other paddlers. Prudence strongly suggests following the longer route around the shorelines of these lakes. Capsizing into cold water is very hazardous. Since capsizing is not a planned activity, those paddling in cold-water conditions might seriously consider wearing a wet or dry suit.
Cold water hypothermia has fast onset and is frequently fatal. Flood stage flow can be hazardous, as described by RiverGator. There is faster river flow, more debris in the water, submerged obstacles, and rabbiting buoys.
Wind can create waves that may capsize a boat. One has the option of staying off the water in these conditions. This video was taken on the Missouri River, but there are big expanses of water on the Mississippi River that can have similar conditions.
Other than those factors, paddling the river is usually quite straightforward and there was nothing else that caused us significant concern. RiverGator also has a useful section about river safety. One issue that all river travelers must face is security of their person and their goods. At a personal level, we never felt threatened in any way by anyone we met.
There might be unsafe locations along the river, particularly in settled areas. As always, be aware of your surroundings and if things do not feel right, leave.
Security for your boat and equipment is another matter. Here we experienced a problem for which we never found a completely satisfactory solution. We had read stories before we left of river paddlers who have had gear or worse yet, their boats, stolen. In we know of at least three paddlers who had some gear stolen. Solo paddlers often hide and lock boats in the brush, away from public boat ramps and other places people are likely to be.
Our approach limited what we could do on shore. We did not take off together to visit stores, restaurants, parks, museums and so forth unless the boat was, in our belief, truly secure. In many places this meant only one of could leave the boat. The first important step in your equipment considerations will be choosing the right sea-worthy vessel for the big river. The word sea is appropriate here. Think wind, extreme weather, waves and wide crossings. Is your canoe or kayak capable of handling these kinds of conditions?
CANOE: For canoes choose an expedition style canoe with high ends to break waves, large capacity for your gear, and plenty of flotation in case of capsize. There are so many canoes available it is bewildering but in general you should go with a canoe sixteen foot or longer, and thirty two inches or wider.
The classic Grumman canoe is entirely appropriate for the Lower Mississippi River and has proven itself with many successful expeditions.
Even though its heavy and looks clunky an aluminum canoe has many advantages in a river lined with rip-rap and revetment, and you can pull it up to concrete landings without worrying too much about tearing up the hull. The Grumman company is now defunct, but the canoes last forever and are easily found in the classifieds or yard sales.
The basic shape has been adopted by Allumacraft. Of course there are many reasons to choose something lighter, more elegant, and more expensive. Any tripper or expedition canoe made by Old Towne, We-No-Nah or Bell is going to be excellent for the big river and you will cherish the beauty and quality of construction of the vessel for your lifetime.
Spend some time and do your research. Peruse the selections and find something that feels good. KAYAK: If kayaks are your vessel of choice keep the above requirements in mind and find a sea worthy-kayak of longer length and plenty of stability — and also enough stowage for your journey. A kayak outfitted with a rudder is handy for crossings, especially on a windy day. It provides some relief for the long-distance paddler, and is very useful to the photographer who might want to maintain direction while letting go of the paddle and grabbing the camera.
Lastly, if you plan on sailing your kayak you will want a rudder or a skeg. Large volume tandem kayaks perform superbly on the big river. SUP: Stand Up Paddleboards have become more common on the muddy waters of the Mississippi River in recent years and are proving themselves capable of anything the big river throws your way.
You will want a longer and wider paddleboard for the above mentioned rigors of the Mississippi, with attachments for gear. Towboat waves sometimes wash over the feet of a paddler on the SUP, and anything tied down, so wear appropriate footware in cold water seasons, and pack your gear in good quality drybags or the equivalent.
Everyone has their personal preferences and material. I like the feel of a wooden handle and wooden shaft, but I also like the way the carbon blade cuts the water and handles the abuse of rocks, rip-rap and concrete ramps.
Plastic is at the bottom of my list, aluminum second to the bottom. Get the best you can afford, especially if you are outfitting your children or a group of friends. If your cheap choice leads to future disaster you will never forgive yourself. Keep comfort in mind while purchasing a lifejacket, but be sure to find something with enough flotation for your weight and possibly long duration rescues. Look for the US Coast Guard approval and classification.
If you are a cold season paddler the full wrap-around flotation keeps you warmer. Frequent paddlers might keep two lifejackets, one for hot months, one for cold months. Pockets and attachments are nice for rescue whistle, radio, knife, compass and car keys.
Being prepared with the right equipment depends partly on the season. The big division is summer and winter. In the Summer you will need sun protection and extra water for hydration.
In winter you will need wetsuits, drysuits or other appropriate cold water clothing. The Mississippi runs out of northern climes, so even though it might be a hot spring day in March the river temperature might still be in the 30s or 40s, and your survival time in the case of a capsize is only minutes, much shorter than it takes to swim to shore! The modern dry bag makes river travel so much easier and drier! Bring all personal gear and stuff into waterproof drybags before launching.
These are backpack-style bags made of tough waterproof material — great for packing on a rainy day. Be sure to lock all buckles.
If you have any questions, check with your supplier. Be prepared for rain or intense sun UV exposure! Sunlight is surprisingly intense on the river, even in the winter you get the sun twice — once from above and once reflected from below. Sunburn is probably the number one complaint and has caused more than one Mississippi River paddler very painful days and sleepless nights. Be forewarned!
Sunglasses, sun screen, long sleeve clothing and a wide brim hat are all good ideas, especially for anyone particularly sensitive. Make your choices according to season: in summer a light bag and tent with lots of ventilation is best. The sandbars can remain broiling hot far into the night and you will want to maximize the breeze. In winter pack a 3-season tent with fly and a warm winter sleeping bag, preferably one rated to zero degrees fahrenheit or below.
In general hollofil or other water-resistant material is favorable over down. The Mississippi flows swiftly out of the northern states into this region.
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