The Lower Mississippi River creates one of America's greatest wildernesses - and wildest - a land subject to chaotic weather and the unpredictable character of Old Man River. It is a landscape of water and sky, broken only by a horizon of willow and mixed deciduous forests. Everything is big about it. Imagine floating a bend of the river that takes twenty miles of delta to complete, skirting around swirling eddies the size of several city blocks, camping on a sand bar that stretches to the horizon, and swimming in pristine blue holes. It is America's major waterfowl fly way, and central artery of barge shipping. Three-screw tugboats pushing tows a half-mile long are common. Deer, coyote, beaver and possum abound, and bears still inhabit the bottomlands. It is the flood plain of the second biggest river in the world, and water levels might fluctuate fifty feet from Spring high to Summer low. As such, each adventure is slightly different, and itinerary is dependent on river conditions and prevailing weather.

Quapaw Canoe Company offers wilderness expeditions on the Lower Mississippi River, its backwaters, bayous, oxbows, and floodplain between the levees. Tours can be arranged by the day or the week. Float trips available on any section of the river between Cairo (Illinois) and its outlet into the Gulf of Mexico, as well as its tributaries the White, Arkansas, Big Sunflower (subject to river level), and Yazoo Rivers. By canoe or kayak only - no motor power used. Clients must be willing to paddle, and to endure extremes of nature. Storms on the river can be furious at times, and may temporarily stall a journey, or change the itinerary. Typical Menu: Bar-B-Que, Hoe Cakes, Roasted Corn, Gumbo, Raft Potatoes, Shiskabobs, and other entrees of Southern cooking.

Glossary: Quapaw = "downstream people, " an Indian tribe of the Lower Mississippi Valley; Blue Hole = a lake created when raging floodwaters gouge a hole out of delta mud; Oxbow = a semi-circular lake formed by the river cutting off one of its own bends; Eddy = a slow whirlpool found on the river's edge when the current hits some large obstruction.

EXPEDITIONS OFFERED:

3 Days - Memphis to Helena, Arkansas
Mud Island, Ensley Sand Bar (destruction of "The Raft"), Ship Island ("The Pennsylvania" exploded here), mouth of the St. Francis River, live blues in Helena

1 Day - Helena, Friar's Point, Quapaw
sinking of the "Montezuma", Old Town whirlpool, Island 63

2 Days - Friar's Point to Rosedale, Mississippi
Live blues in Clarksdale, Mississippi, Jackson & Sunflower Cutoffs, mouth of the White River, White River National Wildlife Refuge

2 Days - Rosedale, Mississippi to Greenville, Mississippi
Mouth of the Arkansas River, Big Island (moonshine), Napoleon, Arkansas (destroyed by flood), Mounds Crevasse (created an inland ocean 60 miles x 100 miles during the 1927 flood)

2 Days - Greenville, Mississippi to Lake Providence, Louisiana
Live blues in Greenville, Highway 82 Bridge, Grand Lake

2 Days - Lake Providence, Louisiana to Vicksburg, Mississippi
Ajax Bar, Willow Point Cutoff, mouth of the Yazoo River

EXTENDED EXPEDITIONS:

1-2 Weeks - Cairo, Illinois to Memphis, Tennessee: 225 river miles

4 weeks - Memphis, Tennessee to new Orleans, Louisiana: 730 river miles

TRIBUTARIES:

Call or write for more information about adventures on the White, Arkansas, Big Sunflower and Yazoo Rivers.

ARRANGEMENTS:

For more information or to arrange your Mississippi River expedition, please contact:

Quapaw Canoe Company
291 Sunflower Avenue
Clarksdale, MS 38614
Phone/Fax: (601) 627-4070
E-Mail: www.island63.com

Standard fee: $200.00/day - includes river equipment and sustenance. Charges for extended journeys depends on the section of river covered. Although Spring and Fall are the best seasons in the Mid South, expeditions are available year-round.

YOUR GUIDE:

John Ruskey is a veteran of the Mississippi River and the waterways of America. He has navigated the Mississippi from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico and resides in its former floodplain in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Although he was born and raised in the Rocky Mountains, he "would rather drink muddy waters and sleep in a hollow log."