Day 97 - The Open Ocean
Camping on the Gulf of Mexico
My apologies for the late posting today. I’ve been busy eating my way through New Orleans and celebrating my accomplishment. In addition, a lot has happened! So it’s taken a while to write about it. Please enjoy the account of my last couple of days on the Mississippi River.
Day 97: Venice, LA → South Pass Island
Date: October 13th, 2022
LRM 11 → South Pass mile -13
Distance today: 24 miles
River Time: 7 hours
Local Gauge: 3.1 New Orleans Gauge
Today was the day. The culmination of the last 96 days of my life. Every paddle stroke was guiding me to this moment.
I was antsy in the morning, ready to get on the water immediately. Unfortunately, we had to wait for a line of storms to pass. How odd to have rain on my final day of the trip. I believe my last rain before that was in Cape Girardeau, MO. It’s been a dry trip.
Joining Joe and me was another through-paddler, Leland! I caught up to him over the last couple of days, and we met up in Venice, LA. He began his trip in August of last year, and is continuing it this year. He is 82 years old and on day 120 of his journey! The three of us departed as soon as it was safe to do so after the squall.
Destination Zero
Our first major objective was the Mile Marker 0 day beacon. This is an ordinary beacon to almost all boats in the area — just another to whizz by without another thought. But for paddlers it holds special significance as the last buoy on the Mississippi River.
Mile 0 is located at the Head of Passes, which is where the Mississippi River officially ends, and the three major passes to the Gulf begin. The Southwest Pass is the one that all the ocean ships use, so we crossed over to the east bank as soon as we could to be out of their channel. We then paddled leisurely down to Pilottown, and 2 miles beyond to Mile 0.
On this day, my final day of paddling, all the variables switched in my favor. There was a tailwind, and there was a bump in the flow, propelling us downstream.
Once we arrived at the beacon, I was on a mission. A few missions actually. First and foremost, I was going to climb to the top and get an incredible panoramic view of the Head of Passes. Because everything is so flat out here, standing 40 feet in the air gives quite a breathtaking view.
The second mission was to place a trail register for paddlers at this spot. This is now in place and will give paddlers arriving at Mile 0 a chance to enshrine their names in history. In 2017, RiverGator placed a register at this spot, but it has since disappeared.
The new one includes a note to the U.S. Coast Guard, so hopefully the same thing doesn’t happen and this register can remain here for years to come. If you know anybody paddling the Mississippi, tell them to be on the lookout and leave their signature!
And of course, anyone paddling to Mile 0, no matter where they began, is encouraged to sign. Whether coming from Lake Itasca, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Memphis, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Paducah, Three Forks, Tulsa, or anywhere in between, getting to Mile 0 is an accomplishment.
I really wanted to jump off the platform in celebration, however the currents and winds were too fierce, and it would have been near impossible to get back into the canoe safely. So I’ll have to save that for another day.
With both missions achieved, I sat with the thought that I had now paddled the entire Mississippi River. Some 2,300 miles were all behind me now. I had achieved one of my major goals for this trip, and now it was time to achieve the other.
Next Stop: The Gulf
Setting off from Mile 0, we entered a new phase of the journey. Technically, we were no longer paddling on the Mississippi River, but rather the South Pass. This pass takes 13 miles to get out to the open ocean.
About 3 miles into the South Pass, we stopped at a WMA campsite for some lunch. This place stuck out like a sore thumb from the surrounding terrain. Where normally we were seeing marsh grasses and muddy patches of sand, this was a raised spot, flat and dry, with picnic tables, grill pits, a mowed lawn, a dock, and a sea wall. It was so well-manicured compared to the wildness I’ve become accustomed to since NOLA.
We also saw thousands of crabs here, each one with a single oversized claw in the front, and enjoyed our time eating lunch on the dock.
In the afternoon, we had 10 miles to paddle to reach the Gulf of Mexico. As we approached, we saw more and more small outlets to the sea. Glimpses of the wide open ocean let us know we were getting close, and served to build the anticipation.
The last landmark we passed was the Port Eads Lighthouse.
Soon after this, we began to see crashing waves in the distance. Before we knew it, the riverbanks had fallen away behind us, and we had arrived on the open ocean. It was actually astonishing how quickly this transition happened. We went from being on a protected river to a wide open expanse with howling winds.
We pulled our canoes out of the water and savored our first moments on the Gulf Coast. The scenery was so dramatically different from even a quarter mile ago up the Mississippi. The debris brought in by the tides was apparent and prolific. Some waves were crashing 5 feet high, in no particular pattern, very chaotically. We had reached my ultimate destination from the last 96 days: the Gulf of Mexico. It felt amazing. I let the joy of the accomplishment wash over me.
At this point, the trip I began on July 9th had officially come to an end, and there was nothing more to do except celebrate and enjoy!
Exploring our Gulf Campsite
Very soon after arriving, I did a celebratory swim in saltwater! I was feeling very victorious and overheated.
Once we had established our camping area, I went off to explore. There was a long beach full of sea shells, crabs, sea glass, sea creatures, and all sorts of treasures. I went for multiple long walks as the waves crashed around my feet. I found some very neat treasures on these excursions.
In just another example of how the River and barrier islands are always changing, an island on the 2015 maps no longer exists. On the map below, the southernmost island does not exist. We camped at the red place marker, and we were on the open ocean. It’s wild to think about how this area of the earth is constantly shifting, growing, and eroding. It’s an area of constant flux and the maps can’t keep up!
In addition, the island we stayed at was much larger than the map showed. The blue dot is where I was at the end of one of my walks, reaching the far western side of the island. I was standing on solid ground of course.
A Rising Tide
It was really amazing just taking a victory lap and exploring South Pass Island. I wish I could have stayed longer.
When I came back to camp, it was time for dinner and then setting up tents. We had a slight conundrum in that regard, in that high tide was at 11 p.m. that night. Moving tents in the middle of the night is no fun, so we wanted to avoid that, but everything was flat out there, and all spots seemed at risk of getting swamped.
We ate dinner and pondered the matter. Eventually we decided to set up our tents beyond a prominent debris line, hoping the water wouldn’t come up past it. I slept with one eye open until about 10:30 p.m., then got out to do one last check. The water was about 4 feet from my tent, but not going to reach it! I slept soundly after that.
Day 98: South Pass Island → New Orleans, LA
Date: October 14th, 2022
Today was another day of reveling in the Gulf of Mexico. I had made it. It still didn’t feel quite real. We were treated to a beautiful sunrise, and I had a celebratory coffee.
Unlike most days on the River, we didn’t have to rush to decamp. We had a ride coming to pick us up at 11 a.m., so we took our time and just soaked it all in.
Soon enough, a friend of Leland’s came in his big catamaran to pick us up. His boat couldn’t land in sand, so we paddled out in the surf to reach him. We hauled the boats on deck, and soon we were whizzing away at 40 mph. I had almost forgotten boats could go that fast!
As we passed Mile 0 again, we stopped briefly to make sure the trail log was still there and do one last climb. I also got to check an item off my bucket list: jumping off the beacon!
With that beautiful experience behind me, I boated back to Venice as a happy man.
If we had been paddling upstream and back to Venice, which was the original plan, it would have taken us either one extremely full day of paddling, or two shorter days. In the catamaran? Forty-five minutes!
Back to New Orleans
All good things must come to an end, but in this case we just rolled on to more good things! We headed back to New Orleans where we had a celebratory dinner planned. We met Macon, and the amazing A-Team, and went to an authentic Cajun dinner. I was the newest to join the club, but this was a dinner where everyone was a source-to-sea paddler!
I went to bed, heart and belly happy, and with the marvelous thought that I was going to sleep in and not paddle the next day!
What’s Next?
Thank you for following along with my journey, this is the last “live” post I’ll make.
I am going to sleep for the next week or so, but expect a few wrap-up posts before too long!
Your mom and I are so proud of your achievement, Stephen, which we know took more than 3 months on the actual Mississippi River itself, plus several more months of pre-trip preparation such as testing gear and evaluating routes.
You overcame some tough obstacles, including gators, monster boat wakes, extreme fatigue, sunburn, blistered hands, and a broken water jug, to name but a few.
But you persisted through it all and achieved something great.
Well done, my son.
"Be bold and mighty forces (and River Angels) will come to your aid". Well done sir!!!!