Best of Spring
Sharing our favorite memories and best photos from 2024, starting with Winter/Spring!
Spring comes early in the Deep South. The river does not freeze over. The forests and islands are full of life. Winter birds (like snow geese) cloud the sky and others (like red winged blackbirds) fill the forest floor. Beavers stay active. Most of North America is locked down by arctic cold fronts. For us and our fur and feathered friends -- explorations and adventures run year round! I'm thinking about paddlers and adventurers who are normally locked up with cabin fever, their favorite canoe or kayak covered in a foot of snow. Down here on the Lower Mississippi River you can paddle and camp year round, down here in the Deep South, the last 954 miles of big river, with some great advantages: 1) for the most part warm days, cool nights, and clear skies 2) striking low-angle light, 3) the best star-watching around, far from light pollution, 4) no mosquitoes, sleep under the stars if you want, and 5) beach campfires never felt so good! In this issue I am sharing our favorite memories and best photos from 2024, starting with Winter/Spring! Included in this are animal sightings, unusual finds, spectacular skies and river scenes -- and the warmth generated amongst paddlers and the camaraderie of creation -- on one of the greatest paddling destinations in the world. Next issue: Summer. Followed naturally by Fall and Winter. Note: If any of these whet your appetite, scroll to bottom of post and check out some of the paddling opportunities coming up. If none fit your schedule, respond to email, or call, and we will customize a trip for you! *Note: I might have overloaded posting limit with photos! If you feel like this newsletter has been cut off, please visit our substack home page by clicking here on "River Time"
Above: Scenes from Spring 2024 Trips: Lees-McCrae College, Mississippi River State Park, PJ & Kalim, and others. Beach fun. Wetlands exploration. Big River Voyageur Canoe.
Above: Wood-shedding: when not on the river, we are in the canoe shop, making repairs, and preparing all of our canoes & canoe paddles for the upcoming year. This includes adding new ash gunwales (Junebug II Canoe), rawhide lacing seats, and sanding & varnishing all of our paddles.
Above: The Wild Kingdom is Alive: even in the coldest months of the year, the big river is alive with all layers of creation. Death is a necessary fact of life. Sandbar tracks tell the tale of life not seen. On cold days migrating birds are seen in the tens of thousands. During warm spells courageous insects, amphibians and mammals explore the oncoming promise of the procreative seasons to come. We see the tail swirls of fish as we paddle along, and the evidence of lives lost along the shore during low water.
2025 Adventures
~~~Quapaw Canoe Company 2025 Adventures~~~ Tributary Rivers of the South: top-to-bottom expeditions down the length of the Ouachita River, and one down the length of the Buffalo River, to follow the White River to its confluence with the Mississippi at Big Island. Red River Expedition TBA later this year. Connecting Shreveport and Clarksdale. Sign up for a section, or join in for entirety. 1154 Miles of Free-Flowing Water: 6 weeks July-August. Middle & Lower Mississippi from St. Louis to the Gulf of Mexico, in part to update the Rivergator: Paddler's Guide to the Lower Mississippi River. (I am working on a hard copy publication of Rivertgator, which will become available in single volume print form, with maps, in 2026). Magic on the Mississippi: Our annual collaboration adventure with Dave & Emma Cornthwaite is on the calendar two times in October. Magic on the Mississippi is life changing! If you are at a crossroads, and don't see a clear path forward, Magic on the Mississippi will help illuminate the way! Magic #1 Oct 19-26 and Magic #1 is 26-Nov 2. Adventures with Huck, James & Mary Jane: Wilderness Expedition with St. John's type Great Books seminars on the Lower Mississippi River, Oct 11-19 from Clarksdale, MS, 4 days on land 5 days on the river. Customized for St. Johnnies near & far. Led by St. John's College alums Jim Bailey (A83) and John Ruskey (SF90), for St. Johnnie's, but open to all.
2025 Popular Public Trips
~~~2025 Popular Trips Open to All~~~ Full Moon Trips, New Moon All-Nighter Trips: We will continue our popular Full Moon adventures in 2025. Go to online calendar and pick one out! In the summer months we will offer all-night paddles during the new moon, for experience of the heavens (some with Delta Astrophotography (Walt Busby) on board). Monthly Community Canoes are scheduled on our online calendar. One Saturday per month 1-6pm. First one is Sat March 8th from Clarksdale. April 5th is from Greenwood. May 10 is Helena. Scroll through the months and pick one out! Community canoe is for youth, families, and teachers. And anyone else who wants to paddle the big river, but never had the opportunity. Can't beat the pricing! Free for youth under 18 accompanied by parent or guardian. 1/4 price for educators. 1/2 price everyone else. Made possible by the Lower Mississippi River Foundation.
2025 Summer Camp
~~~2025 Summer Camp~~~ Overseen by Lower Mississippi River Foundation. One week for high school boys, one week for high school girls. Scheduled for May and June. Designed to foster long-term stewardship of the river amongst Delta youth. Students learn to canoe and camp, as well as the history and ecology of the Mississippi. Each day during the week, participants take on more responsibility as they learn the skills necessary for survival -- on the river -- and in their lives. Our Youth: Our youth will inherit the earth -- and the river; we want to make sure they have a deep and heartfelt relationship with their river!
Other River Outfitters
~~~Other River Services along the Mississippi River & Tributaries~~~ (that we've inspired over the decades) The Quapaw Canoe Company Vicksburg Outpost was stablished in 2016 by big river guide “Water Opossum” Layne Logue for access into the wilds of the Mississippi Delta Hardwoods, Loess bluffs and Northeastern Louisiana Floodplain. Educational adventures also conducted into adjacent oxbow Lakes, river chutes, back channels, and seasonally flooded landscapes. Canoe and kayak adventures & expeditions on the Lower Mississippi River including Greenville, Mayersville, Lake Providence, Tara Wildlife Preserve, Madison Parish Boat Ramp (Tallulah, LA), Vicksburg, Grand Gulf State Park, Claiborne County Public Boat Ramp, Natchez, St Francisville, Venice, LA to the Gulf of Mexico and the Atchafalaya River. Mississippi River Expeditions of Memphis founded in 2022 by Matthew Burdine provides high-quality custom guided adventures on the Mississippi River from Memphis, Tennessee. Access remote wilderness locations in our big Voyageur canoes and camp under the stars on river islands. We offer complete packaging: outfitting, guiding, cooking, and shuttling. All you have to do is arrive with your personal items and be prepared to paddle. No previous experience necessary. Choose your section of the river, and we’ll take you there and get you safely back. Big Muddy Adventures, St. Louis. Founder Big Muddy Mike and I are old friends and partnered on many continent-spanning adventures, including paddling dugout canoes from the Rockies to the Pacific and back to the Heartlands. BMA started as a partner organization. Now fully independent (and also now operating as a non-profit). Serves greater St. Louis on the Mississippi, Missouri and surrounding rivers. ~~~Opening Soon~~~ Iberville Landing. Opening March 2025 by our good friend, Michael Orr. Paddle in the shadows of Louisiana's indigenous tribes and French explorers. Explore historic Bayou Manchac and Alligator Bayou by canoe or kayak. Shuttles, camping, lodging and resupply. They do it all! Red River Canoe Company. Opening later in 2025. The Red River Canoe Company was established in 2024 by teacher, historian, naturalist, river guide Jon Soul. Based in Shreveport, LA.
Lower Mississippi River Dispatch No. 958 "Voice of the Lower Mississippi River" Vicksburg, MS ~ Memphis, TN ~ Clarksdale, MS ~ Wilson, AR Quapaw Canoe Company ~ Celebrating 27 Years of Service ~ ~Winner of the SBA 2024 Small Business of the Year Award~
About River Time:
River Time: The Lower Mississippi River Dispatch
Ready to get out of town? (Like Huck & Jim?) Ready for some river time? Warning: you may not want to return! Through personal stories, music, photos, news items, and realtime opportunities, seasoned Mississippi River Rats from the Quapaw Canoe Company will guide you over the levee, and then down the muddy banks of the river — and into the expansive forest and floodplain of the biggest river in North America! For some “river time!” The Lower Mississippi River is a thriving paradise just over the levee, where the waters flow forever wild and free — as they bounce back and forth between the big sky and the big islands -- and your imagination is set free amongst the whirlpools, eddies and boils, and the profusion of wild birds, fish, and mammals. We might have our feet in the mud, but our eyes are on the heavens. We call it "river time." This is our reality. You may not want to return once you get a taste of it!