Oct 4 - bye bye big river

We left the big river today. For me (Amy) it is a relief. Although I was getting increasingly comfortable with the big river and the big tows, I still did not feel completely at ease, especially given a forecast for more wind. It was very beautiful, and in nearly every way exceeded my expectations. But I never quite felt like Little Miss Tuffy was the right scale for that big river (south if Cairo) and her giant tows.

See the second photo, taken just a day after we
passed the exact same spot. Credit: Layne Logue photographer. Kevin Lynch in the canoe, just before passing under the Vicksburg bridge, posted on Facebook's Lower Mississippi River Paddlers page. I love this photo for many reasons, especially the contrast between size of the tiny red canoe and the giant river.

The other photo is Jim with Randy the Old River Lockmaster.
Jim: Old River Lock, this is downbound recreational canoe requesting lock-through.
Response: did you say canoe?
Jim: correct, canoe.
Response: how many people?
Jim: two people, one canoe.
Response: meet me at the boat ramp, I'll bring my truck and we'll get you over.

Less than five minutes later Randy arrived at the ramp. He had two tows in the queue (commercial boats get higher priority), and was the only guy working the lock, but instead of making us wait he just loaded our stuff and the canoe on his truck and took us to the other side of the lock. Every single lock guy this trip has been courteous and helpful. Randy was cheerful, conversant, helpful, and good-natured. And his willingness to put our canoe cross-wise on the bed of his personal short-bed truck, saved us hours of waiting or a half mile portage.

So we now are in our final phase. Through the famous Atchafalaya swamp, final home of the possibly extinct Ivory Billed Woodpecker. Alligators. Cajun cooking. Friendly people. Smaller river and smaller tows.

JRY comments:
I'm both sad to leave the big river because in some ways the big adventure is now over and all that is left to do is few more days of relatively easy paddling down to the Gulf. However, I also feel that we have learned most of what the big river is about and need to move on to something more in scale with our little canoe. The river is just so huge that at this point it is hard to relate to it on a personal level. It is kind of overwhelming if you think about it too much. 500,000 cubic feet per second is a lot of water. We have now finished paddling 2000 river miles since putting in 54 days ago at the south end of Lake Itasca in Minnesota.

We are happy and healthy and camped at the boat ramp in Simmesport.

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