Mississippi Canoe Trip
(Page 7 of 8)
July/August 1970
By CINDY COOPER
Once paddling is mastered, about the only other skill necessary is learning to get into the canoe from deep water (i.e. after a swim) without swamping the craft. This might take some practice, but merely involves pulling one's body up over the canoe with a pushup-like maneuver, and then sliding in.
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When paddling, the only stops we made other than shopping trips or special visits were basically what we termed "pit stops". Otherwise, we became fairly deft at doing just about anything and everything from the canoe. I, for instance, became particularly adept at sleeping.
Before we saw for ourselves, we heard numerous horror stories about the big, bad barges. They were mainly tall tales. The barges are flat, rectangular slabs which sit only a few feet above water level. Anywhere from two to 54 are pushed by a "towboat" which, unlike lake and ocean tows, is square both front and back. When these "trains" pass, they create waves - but rarely problems - for a canoe. Motorboats, which ride the waves like surfboards, have more trouble.
The only time problems arise for a canoe is when it comes too close to the barge or when the water is already particularly turbulent. For example, where the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers meet there is considerable turbulence and eddies and a passing barge jolted us harshly and emerged us in some good river water. It was a wonderful greeting to the Ol' Miss'. At any rate, barge crews - which one mate told me were composed of "lunatics, criminal, beatniks and malcontents" - are extremely friendly and very generous with handouts. At their worst they continually scrutinized us with high-powered binoculars, which only occasionally give us a sense of paranoia.
Every now and then we undertook night canoeing. This can be both fun and dangerous. Although the barges have radar, a canoe looks like a piece of driftwood to them. If they do catch your canoe on radar, the barges will use brilliant carbon beams to search the area but, more than likely, never find you. Normally, though, a string has only two small colored lights on the front end of the first barge and they move very quietly. Thus the canoeist beware! Between Baton Rouge and New Orleans huge freighters travel at night at deceivingly fast speeds and they can't see a canoe if they try. We did, however, meet a barge mate who had made a somewhat similar journey in a rowboat years earlier and he preferred to travel mainly at night to avoid the intense heat of the day. So the final choice is up to you.
We had one major disaster about 4/5 of the way through our journey. It all stemmed from committing a Super no-no: Never pull (paddle) the canoe up to another boat, especially a large one, on the river side, especially in fast current. Otherwise - like us - you are likely to be sucked under the barge by the swift current and - like us - overjoyed to come out alive even if all equipment (except the canoe which always floats) is lost. Therefore, it is extremely important to follow this simple rule of the river. And by the way, if you ever reach Rosedale, Mississippi, revere it - a small fortune lies there at the bottom of the river.
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