Mississippi Canoe Trip
(Page 4 of 8)
July/August 1970
By CINDY COOPER
Another handy product is Sterno, or other canned heat. Although one can cook over Sterno exclusively, we mainly use it to start damp or wet wood on fire. A burning can of Sterno, placed underneath a stack of campfire material will dry the wood and start a fire. By the way, keep plenty of matches in watertight containers.
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Periodically, we pulled up on a bank and stopped to shop at riverside towns. We carried mainly canned food. Fresh foods spoiled too easily in the heat and the special dehydrated camping packs were costly and hard to purchase along the way.
There is a sizeable variety of canned foods and they are simple to prepare . . . just don't lose the can opener! Canned foods are heavy, though, so distribute the weight evenly and be careful not to overload your canoe.
Since we normally did not stop to cook lunch during the day, we made peanut butter-and-jelly-on-stale-bread sandwiches (I have not been able to stomach one since) for our daily nourishment. We also tried to buy a certain amount of "energy" foods, usually vanilla wafers because they are so cheap. No matter what rationing method we used, however, these goodies were inevitably eaten on the first day after shopping.
Although we are not meat (or fish) eaters we found some great fishing and hunting opportunities all along the way. On the smaller streams, the lower Ohio near Indiana and Illinois, and all of the Mississippi the fishing seemed especially good. Fishermen were particularly ample on the downstream end of locks, or in idle lock chambers (the lockkeepers being the prime fishers) and we noticed numerous traps and nets which farmers emptied frequently. The fishing was productive on the Mississippi as it entered Louisiana that the guard at the ferry to Angolia, the riverside prison farm, let inmates guard themselves while he checked his various traps. Many happy fishermen offered us part of their catch to cook.
As for game, there are numerous open-hunting state parks along the way in season. Gulls and other birds are easy prey, as are squirrels and a variety of other game. But be cautious. We met one game controller on the lookout for gun-happy hunters.
One of our greatest concerns was ample drinking water. We usually filled two of our five-gallon containers every two days at whatever was closest: Boat, home, dock or ferry. Mark Twain claimed you could always tell the true riverman because - after he dipped his cup in the muddy river water - he stirred it vigorously before drinking so as not to lose any of the grit through settling. Back in Twain's day that was, perhaps, OK but we were never quite convinced that the river water was anything close to suitable for drinking.
Finding a camping spot on the rivers takes keen observation and an ability to compromise. It is best to start looking for a site about an hour before you actually intended to quit for the day. Start looking while there is still daylight. On the smaller rivers and on the Ohio, the banks are solid ground - usually covered by heavy foliage - and often steep. The Ohio, because it is dammed, is extremely wide and it's best to concentrate camp hunting on only one bank. The best, and sometimes only camping spots are cleared areas. This occasionally means someone's lawn or boat ramp.
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