Mississippi Canoe Trip
(Page 5 of 8)
July/August 1970
By CINDY COOPER
The forested areas can be miserable. I will never forget that sleepless night on what was later dubbed Mosquito Island. By the way, bring a good deal of mosquito spray as well as Calamine lotion if you wish to sleep at all. Other than bugs and animals, it is sometimes just impossible to find a square foot or two on the timbered banks in which to set up a suitable camp. The areas aren't exactly the local metropolitan parks.
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On the Mississippi, though, the camping situation vastly changes. The banks are often mucky and swampy - even, deceptively so - but there are numerous sand bars and "beaches". These are shown on the maps so you can decide early where you might camp. The sand bars are the best and most comfortable spots providing you use long sticks, instead of pegs, to hold down the tent. On the islands there is usually plenty of dry driftwood for a fire and few bugs.
Remember to pull your canoe out of the water when camping or else you'll wake up stranded some morn. It's best to load the canoe with rocks or to turn it over, and then tie it to something - even if you have to drive a stake. When stopping at a town, tie the canoe well or you might, like us, stroll back from Columbus, Kentucky to find your transportation in the middle of the river. Incidentally, don't get uptight about things being stolen - it just won't happen.
I mentioned that the Ohio River is dammed - is it ever! From where we entered the Ohio at Marietta, to Cairo where the river ends - 800 miles - we passed through about 19 locks and dams. One every fifty miles. And we had already gone through nine locks on the Muskingum.
The Muskingum locks, which lower boats to the next "pool" of water created by a dam, are very small and operated by hand-cranking the lock doors open and closed. They are used solely by pleasure craft. Since there are no maps for this river, it is best to ask motorboaters or the lockkeeper for the distance to the next lock. Then watch carefully for the dam since it will be marked only by two buoys and being whished over even a six foot drop is not good for one's welfare. However, the main problem with these small locks is finding the lockkeeper who is usually asleep, fishing, grumpy or interested only in a fee.
The Ohio River locks and dams are in a different league. They range in heighth from 10 to 100 feet, are open nearly all year and at all hours, are built for commercial boats and the chambers range from the size of a football field to three or four times that. They make a canoe look pretty puny.
Maps are highly useful in approaching these dams because it is necessary to determine in advance which side of the river the lock is on. The Ohio is between a half and one mile wide and if you come too near the dam on the wrong side of the river, the current may push you over.
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