Bald Eagles & Benzene

Q&A Discoveries along the Mississippi River, Low Water 2022

Paddling and Exploring as far as we can go, in Channels Normally Full Flow

Our Paddles Up to Liz & Boyce on the Morning of their New Orleans nuptials! Sending a resounding “Whoo-whoop!” down the low water of the Lower Mississippi River! Subscribe to Boyce’s southlands newsletter, also on Substack.

Low Water Update: 

You have probably seen the news, our country’s greatest river is currently in a historic low.  Our stretch of river below Memphis seems to have bottomed out, although maybe we are recovering a little now, an inch or two each day, a few feet over the past 2 weeks. On the horizon — forecasters say La Niña conditions means a dry winter, so it might be a long time. Then again, the river is anything but predictable, “she’s so full of surprises…. she reminds me of you” (name that music quote)

Drought river 2022 creates new attraction and zeal for those of us who can get out and canoe, or kayak, or paddle board, or walk the gravel bars — and exposed shore lines — in places we’ve never been able to explore before. Amazing discoveries are being made of river geology (rocks and fossils) and other objects long hidden by higher water levels (like shipwrecks).  

Contrary to what you might be seeing in the news, the river has not dried up! Not here anyway. Might be tough for towboats, but it is a wonderland for us paddlers. We are still running trips, our only change is less distance, and limited landing options.  Most landings are closed, or unusable for our big canoe trailers.  But fortunately the two closest landings to Clarksdale are still open (Helena and Quapaw Landing). These are the only two landings that actually touch the river in hundreds of miles of river!

At Quapaw Canoe Company, our goal is to share the profound experience of immersion in the wild beauty of the Lower Mississippi River.  We arrive as visitors, and respect the landscape and the river as such, the home of the richest biota in the heart of our country, including superlative birds, fish, crustaceans, and amphibians. Micro-biotas on the Mississippi include deep water, shallow water, forests, wetlands, sandbars, and meadows

Thanks to outdoor writer Jeff Moag for his illuminating story in the online Mag Adventure Journal about the low water conditions on the Mississippi River... no one quite understands the perspective of the river like one who has experienced the earth's wild places! Click here for Jeff’s story.

The Lower Mississippi River is a crossroads of Nature & Civilization

Bald Eagles & Benzene

We have been witnessing an enchanting extravaganza of weird and surprising objects, textures, landscapes.

One of our recent clients was amazed by the contradictions, and the great variety of polar opposites, and quipped it “Bald Eagles & Benzene!” as a way of describing the yin-yang nature of the Lower Miss, where seemingly incongruous things exist side-by-side in seamless harmony. Thanks Dr. Jeremy for ringing this poetic bell!

In this issue, we are running a series of photos as a Q&A. See below. #1 photo is a mysterious or surpising object (or scene) close up. See if you can guess what it is! Go to end of newsletter for bigger perspective #2 photo, and answers to the questions.

Numbered Photos: #1 First Make Your Guesses. #2 Then Scroll Down. Answers Found At End of Newsletter. Also Grading System.

#1 What is this texture?

#2 identify this wreckage

#3 What are these green spheres?

#4 What are these cliffs rising above the edge of the river?

#5 What kind of “parade” is this? What is their purpose?

#6 What is this flowing texture? (perhaps a human figure within?)

Answers to Photo Questions:

#1 Mud Wrinkles. Mud curls and wrinkles as it dries. Thin slips make thin curly wrinkles, soft to the touch. Thick layers make deep cracks that can dry hard as rock.

#2 Wreckage of Barge. This is the rusted steel corner of a 250 foot-long barge that sank here, and is now exposed by low water, below the middle pier of the Helena Bridge US49, connecting Coahoma County, MS & Phillips County, AR

#3 Unidentified Plant Form Growing On Mud. 2022 drought has exposed low-lying fields of hard mud, upon which a strange form of algae (?) or fungus (?) or alien protoplasm (?) — or something else? — where it has bloomed, and from the distance it looks like a green fuzz. You boatnists out there, and guesses? New conditions create the oppportunity for new growth. Perhaps these green spheres contain the elixir of life. Or the solution to climate change. Who knows, our great mother earth of full of endless surprises!

#4 Sandbar Cliff. Giant slabs of sandbar exposed during drought are sliced by the downstream current as the river gently rises several feet over a week, and carves highly-textured cliffs along the edge of the current. It takes a gentle flow, and a rising river to create this kind of phenomena.

Here’s a video view of the same scene:

#5 Piers from the now defuct Helena-Lula Train Ferry. This long line of piers can be seen at low water, descending from the bank down to water’s edge, on Mississippi side, near Lula. The wreckage of the Train Ferry, the Pelican, is visible nearby. A corresponding line of piers is now visible rising out of the corner of the Helena Harbor, on the Arkansas side.

#6 Tree Trunk Base River Rat Ride ‘em Cowboy “Fool on the Hill.” Appears to be a Giant Oak (?) Log Root Ball Base, Hollow, 6 feet in diameter, a remnant of ancient forests of giant trees that once thrived in the floodplain of the Lower Mississippi River. Teddy Roosevelt said these forest were populated by the biggest trees in the USA outside of the West Coast and Alaska.

Grading System:

6 — If you get 6 right, paddles up! you’re awake!

5 — bravo! (but pay more attention to the details).

4 — You’re on a roll… (but look closer next time).

3 — Wake Up! (time for stronger glasses?)

2 — You need to spend more time outdoors.

1 — Time to book an educational adventure with Quapaw Canoe Company!

Want to go spend a week off the grid, on a completely wild and remote island, with other artists and creative types? Click Here: Horn Island Artist’s Retreat 2022