Day L2 - Mississippi Trip Planning

Trip planning:

Q. How long will it take?
A. Plan for 100 days. You can do it in 60 days, but you won't enjoy it as much.

Q. Do I really need to be a good canoeist?
A. Not really. You will do fine even without any canoeing skill. Though I would say that any skill will help. My little brother can't canoe for squat and still can't canoe now and he made it thru.

Q. What kind of canoe do I need?
A. Any canoe will work. I've seen kayak making it work too. A P.O.S. $200 canoe work too. With that been said, I myself paddle with a Winonah Escape 17'"6 Escape, kelvar canoe. The weight and the speed of the Winonah was worth every penny, but if you don't have money, any canoe will do. Though I did invest in really nice carbon fiber paddle from Winonah. They are about $190 and they truely worth their weight in gold. Even if you go with a crappy boat, get a light strong carbon fiber paddle.

Q. How much does the trip cost?
A. Hard to estimate, minus the cost of bring the boat to the head water and picking the boat up at the gulf, minus the bar hopping that you will do. I say plan for about $5-$10 per day. The more money the more fun you can afford, but no more than $10 per day. That also include us hitting the diners and buffet every few days.

Q. Can I stay in hotel or motel or camp site?
A. Don't bother, the whole river only has less than 5 motel near the river and the few camp site along the river will charge you $20 for a piece of dirt that you can have for free a couple of hundred yard down river. You will be primitive camp the entire way. There is no problem finding a place to camp. A couple of note, plan to paddle thru the twin city and not have to stop there for the night. The last dam, Coon Rapid, you really can't find a good camping spot, but the park at the coon rapid dam didn't mind me camping there as long as I keep out of sight. Plan to paddle thru Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Primitive camping cost nothing. The upper upper Mississippi, the DNR already has a few place set aside for camping every 10 miles or so, it will be on the map. After that, just camp anywhere without houses or human development, which is pretty much anywhere you want.

Q. Is there other ways to get the boat to the head water?
A. Nope. You need some one to drop you off. I've seen people hire some help from Minneapolis that they found on Craigslist to drive them to the head water. I've talk to Winonah dealer who has no problem picking me up from the airport and drop me at the head water if I buy their boat. But really, have a family member drive you up there, they can send you off, afterward they can enjoy the "Mall of America".

Q. I don't want to do it alone, can I do it in a group?
A. Loneliness is not that bad, you will get a bigger head ache when planning for the group. No one wants to take the responsibility of the leader, but they are all waiting inline to reap it's benefit. Good leader put the group first and his/her wants second. Go by yourself if you can't easily find a compatible partner to go with.

Q. How do I find my way? Bring GPS?
A. You don't need GPS, heck you probably get by without a compass, but do bring a compass. There are 3 section of the river: the upper upper Mississippi, the upper, and the lower M. The upper upper part is un-navigable by barge. You can get a really good set of maps from the Minnesota's DNR for free, online or the Itasca Park office. The upper and the lower Mississippi maps can be purchase from the Corp of Engineer for about $35 each(lower and upper). Though if you google hard enough, you can find the electronic version of their map. The Corp are really cool, I've seen them mail it to the lock for one of the paddler I met on the river.

Q. No GPS? How about other electronic?
A. You will have cell service most of the way. The only 2 day I didn't have service was the first day and the day when I paddle into Memphis. Everywhere else, cell service works. I bring along a solar charger, it charge my phone very well with no problem. I use the "Goal zero" "nomad 7 solar charger" with their "guide 10 plus" battery pack. It keep my iPhone charge. I've seen people use the Solios charger, that work too, but I like my Goal 0.

Q. What about the locks and dam?
A. Well you will run into about 11 dams where you will have to protege your canoe. They are pretty easy to spot and easier to spot if you have the DNR maps to help. The longest protege is about 1/2 miles, most will be shorter than 300 yards. a portage wheel will help, but you then have to haul it around. You then have 27 dams with lock. The first lock entrance will make you very nervous, but afterward, you discover there is nothing scary about it and you don't think twice about going thru one.

Q. Safety. Bear? Gator? Red neck?
A. You are pretty safe out there. Probably more safe than you are at home in the big city. The bear don't really bother you. If they do, they would be bothering your food. This means, hang your food if you are concern. Gator don't bother you unless you are flopping around in the water like a wounded animal. And the red neck (the bad one), I don't really run into them. I'm sure you run into them more if you hang out at the bar. Which leads to the next question...

Q. Do you bring protections, like a gun?
A. No, if I bring one, it would be for hunting or to shot somebody. In either case, I don't really hunt and I prefer to avoid situation where I would have to shot someone. I do carry a decent knife, but that is just my camping knife.

Q. Food?
A. I ate mostly grocery bought food. There are usually towns or city every 2-5 days. Small towns or supply stop almost every other day. I don't eat the commercial made camping food, too expensive. My favorite camp food (purely for convenient and cost) are a the single packet of 4 oz. dehydrated mash potato. You can get them at Walmart for $1 a piece. Each is individual pack, which prevent them from going bad should my dry bag get wet which is pretty much all the time, weights 4 oz and only need 2 cup of water to rehydrate. I mix it with a packet of spam (or a can of spam if there is 2 of you), or a packet of chicken, or a packet of spicy tuna. They comes in tons of different flavor. I also like diners and buffet. I try to visit every buffet on the river.

Q. Water?
A. You will find water every other day on before St. Louis. After St. Louis, the longest I go without a resupply is 3 days. We carried a filter, but didn't use it at all. Also, before St. Louis, every 2-3 day we cross a marina. Great place to resupply ice for the cold drinks on the river.


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