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Why Clarksdale?
Quapaw Canoe Company is underwritten by Lloyd’s of London through Worldwide Outfitters & Guides Association.
All expeditions are outfitted with first-aid kits, rescue ropes, life preservers, cellular communication, and VHF marine radio. We use the best quality US Coast Guard approved type III Life Jackets. Guides stringently practice safe canoeing and are knowledgeable in all aspects of wilderness survival and canoe rescue. Please remember that river travel is always somewhat dependent on river level and prevailing weather.
Guides undergo rigorous training in learning the ins and outs of safely navigating the biggest river in North America and the tradition of the voyageur canoe. Founder/Owner John Ruskey has been paddling the river since 1982, and is probably its most knowledgeable guide.
Quapaw Canoe Company provides custom-guided canoe & kayak expeditions, day floats and other paddling adventures along the Lower Mississippi River from Cairo Illinois to St. Francisville, Louisiana.
Things to do in Clarksdale
The Lower Mississippi River creates one of America’s greatest wildernesses – and wildest – a land subject to chaotic weather and the unpredictable character of Old Man River. It is a landscape of water and sky, broken only by a horizon of willow and mixed deciduous forests.
Everything about it is big. Imagine floating a bend of the river that takes twenty miles of delta mud to complete, skirting around swirling eddies the size of several city blocks, camping on a sand bar that stretches to the horizon, and swimming in pristine blue holes. It is America’s major waterfowl flyway, and central artery of barge shipping. Three-screw tugboats pushing tows a half-mile long are common.
Deer, coyote, beaver and possum abound, and bears still inhabit the bottomlands. The flood plain is the second largest in the world, and water levels might fluctuate fifty feet from Spring high to Summer low. As such, each adventure is slightly different, and itinerary is dependent on river conditions and prevailing weather.
Accommodation in Clarksdale
Adventures by canoe, kayak or paddleboard be arranged from simply experiencing an afternoon to spending weeks on the water. Trips available on any section between Cairo (Illinois) and the outlet of the river into the Gulf of Mexico. Other options are explorations of tributaries like the White River, the Arkansas, the Big Sunflower, and the Yazoo.
No motor power used - clients must be willing to paddle and to endure (sometimes) extremes of nature. Storms on the river can be furious at times and may temporarily stall a journey or change itinerary.
Juke Joint Camping
Spectacular reaches include the Kentucky Bluffs
Bessie”s Bend (20 mile bend of the river to go one mile)
The 4 Chickasaw Bluffs
Memphis to Vicksburg (300 miles of remote river, only 2 bridges, only one town)
Confluence of the Arkansas River & surrounding wilderness areas (rich habitat for the Louisiana Black Bear)
Vicksburg to Natchez-Under-the- Hill
Natchez to St. Francisville.
