The Lower Mississippi River Water Trail

RBD 767 Island 35 Boat Ramp

Abandoned ramp.  No access.  Island has been privatized by landowners in an exclusive hunting club.  On river’s edge you might notice an off-white ramshackle dwelling whose porch is collapsing over the rip-rap just upstream of landing.  This is the site of a legendary honky-tonk (now closed) where wild clientele could carry-on their bacchanals and other decadences at all hours of the night straight through ‘til sunrise — with no fear of repercussion since the Tipton County Sheriff would have to drive three hours to reach!  Island 35 is a piece of Tennessee migrated to the Arkansas side of the river.

 

Back Channel of Island 35

Entrance RBD 767.6

Exit Behind Dean Island RBD 761.5

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=217859314001592865582.0004e43a6af952f1925d3&msa=0&ll=35.52105,-89.955711&spn=0.086065,0.180931

http://goo.gl/maps/53RC8

 

An unusually long back channel can be accessed here for the adventuresome canoeist or kayaker if the river is high and you are ready for an extended run on old river channels.    You will have to paddle twice the distance (16 miles) than you would on the main channel (8 miles), and in much slower water.  Is it worth it?  Are you prepared for a difficult (and potentially hazardous) portage?  Do you want to see wildlife and trees? If yes then it’s probably worth it.  But be forewarned: you will probably have to portage over a giant log jam which has accumulated at a low bridge six miles downstream!  Using the Caruthersville Gauge: Below 20 No flow.  25 slow flow.  30 gentle flow.  35 good flow.  40 strong flow, bridge submerged.

 

After leaving the Second Chickasaw Bluff at Richardson go right bank descending, if necessary with a strong ferry crossing.  The main channel of the river gets concentrated and explodes fast and furious past the 2nd Chickasaw Bluff in a powerful downstream tongue.  Stay RBD until the Island 35 Back Channel opens up and then dive in going due north.  If you see good flow going in, there will be good flow throughout.  The channel enters swiftly through a couple of tight bends crowded by tall hardwoods (a mixture of willows, cottonwoods, sycamores and silver maples) and then relaxes as it curves northwestward into a series of long open channels with scattered views back into more forests and isolated fields and grassy hunting plots in between.  Watch for turtles and snakes on sunny days, and birds of prey.  Eventually the Arkansas levee comes in from the right, as the channel becomes westerly.  Curiously, there are many dead big cottonwoods standing RBD bone-white, dry and denuded of bark like ghostly druid giants along the channel and seen over bank by the levee (but only the big trees, the young trees and vegetation are all looking strong & healthy).  What caused the demise of these green giants is a question to ponder as you paddle along the endless lengths of back channel.

Leave A Comment

SECTION MILE ACCESS CITY
Middle Mississippi & Bluegrass Hills / Bootheel 195-0, 954-850 ST. LOUIS TO CARUTHERSVILLE
Chickasaw Bluffs 850 – 737 CARUTHERSVILLE TO MEMPHIS
Introduction  
Caruthersville to Osceola
850 – 737 LBD Options for Paddlers in the Caruthersville Stretch
Above Caruthersville  
Below Caruthersville  
850 RBD Caruthersville Harbor Boat Ramp (1/2 Mile Up Harbor)
849 RBD Mouth of the Carutherville Harbor
849 RBD Trinity Barge Fabrication Plant
847 RBD Blaker Towhead
846.5 Caruthersville
846 RBD Isle of Capri/Lady Luck Casino and Casino Inn Suites
845 – 840 LBD Caruthersville – Linwood Bend
850 RBD – 840 LBD Day Trip: Caruthersville to Booth’s Point
840 LBD Linwood Bend Boat Ramp
839 Caruthersville Bridge
Bridges and Mud: How Deep is the Mississippi Mud  
Several Routes Around Islands 18, 20 and 21  
838 – 835 LBD Island 18 Towhead
829 – 832 RBD Island 20 Dikes and Towhead
823 – 829 LBD Island 21
Routes for the Paddler Around Tamm/Barfield Bends  
820 – 815 RBD Wright’s Point – Tamm Bend
819.3 LBD Mouth of the Obion River
Moss Island WMA  
817.7 LBD Tamm’s Landing and Ed Jones Boat Ramp
817.7 – 801.8 LBD Chickasaw National Wildlife Refuge
No Levee?  
814 LBD Nebraska Landing
815 – 805 LBD Barfield Bend
809.3 RBD Barfield Boat Ramp
806 RBD Tomato Arkansas
805 – 801 RBD Island 25
Paddler’s Options in the Island 30 – Osceola Area  
800 – 796.5 RBD Island 26 and Forked Deer Island 27
803 – 787 RBD Ashport-Keyes Gold Dust
796 – 791 RBD Ashport Gold Dust Dikes
797 LBD Shoaf Landing
797 LBD Lower Forked Deer River
796 LBD Ashport-Keyes Boat Ramp
793 – 785 RBD Island 30
796 LBD Ashport-Keyes Boat Ramp
Neark (Jacksonville) Landing  
786.5 LBD Back Channel Island 30
785 RBD Osceola Arkansas
783.5 RBD Sans Souci Boat Ramp
Osceola to Shelby Forest
785 RBD Osceola Arkansas
783.5 RBD Sans Souci Boat Ramp
782 LBD Driver Island
779.8 LBD Old Mouth of the Forked Deer
779 – 778 LBD First Chickasaw Bluff
Alternate Paddler’s Route Around Hatchie River & 2nd Chickasaw Bluff  
778 – 773 RBD Sunrise Towhead – Island 34
777 – 773.5 LBD Hatchie Towhead
773.5 LBD Mouth of the Hatchie River
773.5 LBD Lower Hatchie National Wildlife Refugee
771 – 772 LBD Angelo Towhead
771 LBD Randolph Landing
771 – 769 LBD The Second Chickasaw Bluff (Richardson Bluff)
768.9 LBD Richardson’s Landing
768 LBD Randolph’s Landing/Duvall’s Boat Ramp
766 – 763 LBD Below Richardson’s Landing Dikes and Bar
Dyess Arkansas, Birthplace of Johnny Cash’s Five Feet High and Rising  
Five Feet High and Rising  
767.6 – 761.5 RBD Island 35
767 RBD Island 35 Boat Ramp
Back Channels of Island 35  
767.6 RBD Entrance
761.5 RBD Exit Behind Dean Isand
Memphis Gage  
Dikes and Water Levels  
Reading Google Maps  
761.5 – 757 RBD Dean Isand
761.5 – 757 RBD Back Channel of Dean Isand
Third Chickasaw Bluff  
758 – 754 LBD Denseford Bar and Dikes/Hen and Chicks
752.7 LBD Shelby Forest Boat Ramp
Shelby Forest to Memphis
Memphis Gage  
Dikes and Water Levels  
752.7 LBD Shelby Forest Boat Ramp
Hen & Chicks Round Trip  
754 – 745 LBD Meeman Shelby Forest State Park
754 – 747.5 RBD Back Channel of Brandywine Island
Buoys and Dikes  
Paddling Into Memphis: Three Distinct Routes  
749 – 742 LBD Hickman Bar
Picknicking and Camping on Hickman  
746 LBD Upper Hickman
745 LBD Middle Hickman
744 LBD Lower Hickman
743 LBD Below Lower Hickman
740.6 LBD Loosahatchie River
743.5 – 740 LBD Redman Point Bar
Memphis Upper Waswater Treatment Plant  
M.C. Stiles Waterwater Treatment Facility  
739 LBD Conoco Lucy-Woodstock Memphis Chemical Terminal Dock
740.6 LBD Wolf River
738.4 LBD Mud Island Upper Boat Ramp
740 – 737.5 Loosahatchie Bar
737.5 Ferry Crossing to Memphis From the Bottom of Loosahatchie Bar
737 Memphis “M” Bridge (Hernando De Soto Bridge)
736 LBD 4th Chickasaw Bluff: Memphis
736 LBD Memphis Mud Island Harbor
Mud Island Riverpark & Museum  
Memphis Yatch Club Marina & Boat Ramp  
Coast Guard Boat Ramp  
Memphis Conveniences Useful to Paddlers  
Several Challenging Round-trips From Memphis  
The Lossahatchie Redman Figure-Eight  
The Loosahatchie Roundtrip  
Hickman Bar Roundtrip  
Upper Delta 737 – 663 MEMPHIS TO HELENA
Middle Delta 663 – 537 HELENA TO GREENVILLE
Lower Delta 537 – 437 GREENVILLE TO VICKSBURG
Loess Bluffs 437 – 225 VICKSBURG TO BATON ROUGE
Atchafalaya River 159 – 0 SIMMESPORT TO MORGAN CITY
Louisiana Delta 229 – 10 BATON ROUGE TO VENICE
Birdsfoot Delta 10 – 0 VENICE TO GULF OF MEXICO