Mississippi River Adventure

there he must know something [Music] and this is the headwaters of the Mississippi River these people are walking across the Mississippi River you another look from the other side of the bridge just north of the headwaters you the Mississippi River as it exits Lake Itasca Minnesota and you can if you look real close you can barely see the river but if you look real close you can see some of the leaves in the river flowing at this point North so the river starts at Lake Itasca the headwaters and flows north to Lake Bemidji and then it heads permanently south but if you look here you can see the river moving ever so slowly amongst these tall reeds and as I said it's heading north at this point and all this plant life and reeds and whatnot make it really hard to navigate the river video of the river from the bridge just above the headwaters inside the park shuttle thirty in the hood you we're just arriving at Bemidji this is Lake Irving you can see it's pretty choppy this has been a good day 21 miles since our last campsite we're at our first big city which is Bemidji and we've got a room or two rooms that hotel here so I'm happy about that finally get a shower but this is Lake Bemidji this is our second portage of the trip around a dam on our way south so we loaded up our boats on wheels and carried them up this way to the other side of the dam this is the other side of the dam that's the river and my boats right now that are ready to be loaded into the river not a neat little resort here and we're checking it out maybe we can get something to eat or a beer [Music] this is Cass Lake this is the portage at Lake Wendy exiting Lake Winnie into the Mississippi River [Music] and we're having lunch at this nice little Park you here's Jeff about ready to take off from the portage as a dam up there pretty fast moving water looking good so far you you [Music] Maryana here and this customer appreciation party this is my put end point below the st. Anthony dam in Minneapolis the dam is up that way today I'll be encountering my first tugboats first couple of Lock and Dam so that's gonna be exciting coming up on locking dam number one and my first one ever so I'm a little anxious about this I know I'll get through okay they're now opening the lock and dam for me so I can get down river this is great so I'm pulling into my first luck and damn the drop is 38 feet never done this before so it's kind of exciting I pull all the way forward and hold onto a rope and down we go I'm being lured at this point I can pull down to the rope and sliding down the rope with my hand on it and we're going down and here it okay the gates are opening that lockers openings for me soon I'll be on the other side of the dam downriver have fun [Music] these are all apart just parked on the Mississippi my first barge [Music] you here's the signal cord just tugboat pushing nine barges I've been racing to get ahead put in twenty miles upstream I got to the lock at least 45 minutes before this tug but the lock master said that yes priority because he has the channel they always have priority over pleasure boats so I have to wait an hour and a half for this tugboat and its barges to lock through and good news is I'm going to film it [Applause] [Music] [Music] so the barges have been loaded into the lock and a tugboat which can't fit in the lock with the barges Marge's will go down come back up again [Music] there you can see the locked gates closing behind the barges the control room there lock master is in there [Music] is a lock shut [Music] the lower the water and beside the lock barges move it and other side of the dam rock is opened and John Dean Nugent is entering the lock [Music] rgeous hook up and be on their way and then I'll be on my way thank you sir right now I'm being lowered down and left number two I think the drop is that far hanging onto a rope and as the water goes down my hands slides over the rope the tech they're opening the gates I guess I'm down thanks again thank you very much this is the giant like Pepin and the left pink is Wisconsin the right bank where I'm standing is Minnesota you you you [Music] [Music] you this toe is pushing 15 barges out of lock numbers well moving upstream [Music] [Music] this is a great little Park I'm watching this while I wait for the tow to finish moving out of the lock so I can move in I've got this great swing set here to sit [Music] this is what I was paddling on going into the beautiful [Music] [Music] you this is very cool you see a swing bridge here just south of Davenport Iowa these are train tracks and this fling bridge opens this way to make room for the barges and push boats or tugboats whatever you want to call them it's pretty cool so I'm coming up on Andalusia Illinois straight ahead pulled off the main part of the Mississippi River and I think I'm going to stay here somewhere tonight not sure where it's really pretty here it's Labor Day that's the Iowa side of the Mississippi River this is the main channel of the river and being Labor Day there's a lot of people having fun these folks are all parked on sort of an island [Music] and then that little Inlet there leads to Andalusia Illinois it's the Illinois side of the river and that's where I'm gonna stay you [Music] [Music] you you I'm headed into Grafton Illinois and then the next stop after grafting should be a border st. Louis you you coming up on Carol Illinois's which is where the Ohio River converges with the Mississippi River it's been a really wonderful beautiful day of paddling I think I've done close to 50 miles of not more Rapids shoots you out fast coming up on the confluence of the Ohio River on the left and the Mississippi River which is what I'm on right now Mississippi right up here bend around right and beyond the Mississippi which will have been and you can see the difference in the color the Ohio is clear you you Memphis Tennessee you [Applause] [Music] [Music] you [Music] south of Memphis my campsite you tenth cap on a what looks like a desert but it's Arkansas huge sandbar south of Memphis but I don't know 70 miles I'm sick I'm cooking some chili there and that's really beautiful here there's the Big Muddy you well I'm glad to see your head I bet you thought you got rid of me so here's a passing barge you can see how close they are - when they park they pull that barge right up on the bank here's my little campsite it's raining right now it's not sprinkling very close there's David Evans awaken frozen water waves and it's like that miles back it really makes it hard to battle [Music] as in the stateroom of that riverboat right now the American Queen you Vidia just north of Vicksburg Mississippi which is where I'm gonna stop tomorrow but it's just beautiful here this is the channel I came down the tow boats don't go up and down this channel cuz the waters not deep enough but it connects to the Mississippi River in fact it is the Mississippi River got a great campsite here got in early so my gears all dried out I got in about 4:30 that's my tip and I'm cooking spaghetti a really good day you expert homecoming parade you you the tomato place just outside really fun place you natchez probably two hours out upriver from Natchez and this is about the best paddling conditions you can ask for the sun's out keep me warm and the river is like glass and a nice current going - this is gonna be a good day big tow boats passing each other want to go north and one going south driving and Natchez you can see the raw homes up on that Bluff looks like a really nice city in Mississippi a couple of river boats dark there in the bridge room above the hill saloon in Natchez so it's really a great room overlooks the river I've got my own balcony struck gold here you walk out on the balcony now you see the riverboat American Queen and the river [Music] and help that silver stream [Music] greatness now leaving matches we sad to see it go vicksburg you you Greenville plantation just outside of st. Francisville really beautiful you this is the kind of current you want on the river this big barge and toboe just parked here and I'm not paddling look how fast I'm moving this is really great this is what you want a nice glassy water this is at least three miles an hour without paddling and I can bump it up to six or seven by paddling I'm on my way from st. Francisville to Baton Rouge Rouge can't believe I made it here so fast today this looks like a stadium up here I'm not sure but I'm gonna check it out I think I'll camp up there tonight it's about five o'clock that's really more larges starting to Sigma first tankers it's much busier you really a great campsite I just love it here look at that beautiful rumor the mighty Mississippi this has been one of my favorite camp sites you you this may be where I stopped today we the toughest day paddling with all the weights on the wakes Whitecaps you can see them out there you see the barge you can see the Whitecaps [Music] stop here for as long as I need to until the wind dies down and I can get back out safely it's just scary book with the Whitecaps down by that barge or caused by the water running into the barge as it goes downstream and then going directly back into the incoming waves and it creates those Whitecaps I figure that out and I paddled out to the middle of the river and got through fine so I was able to run the gauntlet and I'm back this is the most scenic gaps that I was saved looking at across from my campsite what's being pumped into that tanker is definitely not green just hope it's not a toxic chemical like they're dread Jean River there I'm gonna flush a paddle under that get a fresh shower you clean you you [Music] [Music] [Music] you Bourbon Street [Music] and it's early and already likely [Music] can't wait for Lisa jab [Music] you you you you get up here and smile pretty come on [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music] [Music] you here comes Brandon with my canoe you this is kind of exciting I was sitting here at my campsite I mean my dinner and this giant ship pulled up it's a US Army Corps of engineer ship pulled up right in front of my campsite right near my canoe you can see it there it's red and it's a it's hard to explain but they use this crane to pile some rocks on there they lured a ramp and they drove a pickup truck off that ship there drove it up to my campsite the guy came up and talked to me and told me they're gonna pick up some supplies here at the nearest city and they'll be gone in the morning you it's a giant container ship loaded you reached Venice yet but why does this feel like the Gulf look at the water is still in calm currents running well the river is a couple of miles across so it's huge which is good because it's not going to be crowded with ships and that get out of the way there's one coming up right now really easily so it's I feel super safe here and if you look at the horizon there it's hard to tell where the water ends and the horizon the sky begins this is first time I've seen anything like this the entire trip so really close this is the cutoff to Venice and then this is the way to the Gulf three hours ago it's getting a lot more open as I reached the Gulf I think I'm about four miles from the Gulf which is that direction the whole area is getting very open you can see that boat there that little boat that's Larry tracking me you so we are now at the head of basileus you are and if the head of pass is the end of our Mississippi and point out the passes again Larry Southwest Pass South Pass pass a Loutre beyond that as the goal there but this is the last end of it Mississippi has it you stand fantastic well thank you made your journey fantastic that companion all you power live like that then it was journey together [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music]

Channel: eightsummits

Views: 4,484

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Id: 8hifTBhRLf4

Length: 58min 43sec (3523 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 27 2019