River and Bayou

Well. Greenville was a bust. Or, more specifically, Warfield Point Park campground was a bust.

Warfield Point Park is a county campground just at the entrance to Greenville Harbor. It’s the only campground on my entire trip not behind the levees and right on the riverfront. So, theoretically, I should have been able to paddle right up to the park’s boat ramp, find a place to safely leave my canoe, unload my gear, get a campsite, shower, shave, load up on water, and enjoy a little rest. But none of that happened.

Greenville is a very busy and industrious harbor. Lots of smaller yard tows and tugs zooming in and out to the large barges parked outside the harbor in the river. And so there’s a lot of traffic in the harbor’s channel. And a lot of waves and wakes. And Warfield Point Park is right next to the harbor’s channel.

I found Warfield Point Park without any problem. Even found their boat ramp. Unfortunately, what I couldn’t find was a place to safely leave my canoe. The ramp was too narrow for me to leave it there overnight. And the entire Point was revetted with rocks and boulders, so with all that activity in the channel, there was no place to safely leave my canoe at the water’s edge either. Nope. If I wanted to camp the night in the Park, I would have to leave the canoe at the foot of the boat ramp (and hope no one else would want to use the ramp while it was there), get a campsite, unload the canoe and portage everything – gear and canoe – to the site. Of course, I’ have to do all those things in reverse when I was leaving. So, all in all, one hell of a lot of work for a shower. I didn’t take long to ponder whether it would be worth it. It wasn’t.

So I paddled past the Park’s boat ramp and stopped for lunch on a small sand bar just beyond, broke out the new charts I needed for downriver, and then paddled on. It was barely past 1 PM and had plenty of time to get a few more miles and find a nice sandbar to camp on for the night. Later tonight I’d filter a couple gallons of water. (Warfield Park was one of my planned water stops.) Tomorrow morning, I’d break out the soap, bath in the river, shave, and clean up. So everything I was going to do at the Park I could just as easily do from my sandbar campsite.

A few hours later, after passing beneath the Hwy 278 Bridge (the only bridge in two hundred miles between Helena and Vicksburg), I found a small spit of sand at the north tip of Lakeport Towhead and set up camp. The towhead is part of a wildlife refuge area and far enough away from the river’s main channel to avoid the usual noise and wakes from the barges. It was a nice spot.

After setting up my tent and making sure my canoe was safely pulled up out of the water, I sat down near the river’s edge and started to filter some water. I didn’t need to filter much as I have almost 9 gallons of my full 15 gallon capacity left. Which is more than enough to get me to my next planned water stop, Vicksburg (three or four days away.) But I do like the weight that a full load of water provides. It keeps the canoe trim and easier to handle in the wind, and the canoe rides better in chop and waves when she’sheavy. So, I was filtering.

Unfortunately, after filtering only about a gallon or so of river’s water, the filter cartridge became clogged. It wouldn’t allow me to pump water through it anymore. I couldn’t clear the clog (too much fine silt and sand in the river water, I guess) so until I get a new cartridge, the filter is now useless. Not a problem, though. My water filter was a backup-just-in-case sort of thing anyway. If I reload my water in Vicksburg, I should have enough to last for almost two weeks. More than enough to reach one of the two other planned water stops on my way to the Gulf.

So, with that bit of frustration behind me, I sat down to eat dinner and watch a couple deer grazing in the refuge area. Not a bad way to take the edge off a not-so-good day.

Then, as the sun set, I called it a day. Not sure what tomorrow may bring, but pretty sure it’ll be something good.