re: BR to NO on the Mississippi by kayak. How long would it take?

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my uncle used to take us out on his boat in the river. My cousin and brother even went swimming near the casino (with vests on)

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here we go....

Dead

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Posted by Paul Allen How are there whitecaps? I've never seen the river that rough

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It was day after Joplin tornados and weather was still very bad. 25 mile hr winds. They almost and probably should have canceled the race. Race is called Bluz Cruz. Not sure the still do it.

My yak is only 20 inches wide and sits low in water. Waves were crashing over hull. Safety boats brought a bunch of people in that day.

Edit: after 35 min in water I got to shore, emptied the water out and got back under way. Finished the race.

Oh ok that makes sense

From what I hear, you want to avoid BR to Nola by kayak. It''l take 3-4 days. We used to do weekend trips from just north of BR to south of St. Gabriel, but we took our time and drank and smoked our way down.

We have some land in Carville on the river and we meet kayakers/canoers/rafters pretty often as we have a nice beach for camping. This past September we met several in a few days as it was about time all the guys starting up north were finally making it down here.

One was a crazy 20 year old kid from BFE British Columbia. He started at the top and was making his way down. I keep in touch with him still as he's a cool kid. He had already biked from the pacific to the Atlantic and was planning on running from BC to Miami. He camped out on the same beach with us and we stocked him up with beer and protein and sent him on his way the next morning. I talked with him after he made it to the Gulf. He said the stretch from BR to Nola was the hardest stretch because of the traffic and lack of good camping spots.

A few hours later a bad storm rolled through and around the bend came a homemade raft out of 50 gallon drums. It had two guys and their dog on it. The anchored on our beach to ride out the storm. They were floating the river Huck Finn style, though they had a motor to help navigate the current/avoid barges and for emergencies.

We found out there was a whole community of people who go from top to bottom. There's a good facebook group with info. I want to say it's Mississippi River Paddlers or something like that. They have people that live all along the route to help people out.

Best of luck. Wear your life jacket. That river is no joke. Coast Guard and Port Authority will flag you down, but they just want to make sure you're okay and will offer you water. Stay clear of the barges and don't go on the water at night, but I feel those two things are pretty obvious.

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Not long. Some friends of mine just kayaked from where MS River begins to the gulf.

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How long did that take and did they make a bad arse video?

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arrested

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Plan on getting arrested. You might be better off bringing a dog with you...the police generally won't mess with you since they'll have to do the paper work on the dog too. woof woof win win

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Plan on getting arrested.

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For what?

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How are there whitecaps? I've never seen the river that rough

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Back in 83 I was working on a scaffold crew at Waterford 3 nuclear plant in Taft. We were working on one of the adjacent buildings high enough to see the river when a terrific storm front came through.

It whipped up the river quite violently creating some nice white caps. I grew up just a few blocks from the Mississippi and spent a lot of time near the river and wouldn't have believed white caps were possible if I hadn't seen it myself.

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Lotta dumb comments in this thread People do it all the time without getting arrested, drowning, or run over by a barge.

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Yep. I've done St Francisville to New Orleans in a bay boat and saw all kinds of people. I did Amite River, across Manchac, Pontchartrain, Industrial Canal, locked into the river and all the way to Port Eads in a 46' houseboat I built. Just pull onto a sand bar at night and drop anchor. Great times and plenty of places to stop.

It is not illegal. Stay close to shore and have a great time. As above in a small vessel a low river is advisable and not on it at night. Although I've run from Venice to Port Eads at night and in the fog a hundred times. Cross head of pass at midnight in pea soup and see if you don't crap your pants.