River Travel Tips

• Navigation
  • Maps
    Excellent, inexpensive maps of the Minnesota part of the river are available from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR). They include launching sites, campsites, river features, and more. For the rest of the river, the Army Corps of Engineers' maps are a must.

  • Water levels
    Water level is a serious concern mainly in the headwaters area where low water can make navigation difficult. The DNR's River Level Reports web site provides frequently updated reports on river levels from Lake Itasca to the Twin Cities area.

  • Portages
    The headwaters is also the main area where you'll have to do any portaging. In the first few miles down from Lake Itasca the principal obstacle you'll encounter which may require a portage will be the beaver dam. I had to cross dozens of them during my first day out. After tediously portaging around the first couple of them I learned that there is an easier way. Beaver dams are amazing engineering constructions - they are extremely strong. I found that with most of them I could just gingerly float up to the upstream side, step out on top of the dam, slide my loaded canoe over the top and re-board on the lower side.

    Besides beaver dams, between Itasca and the Twin Cities there are probably not more than about a dozen places where portaging is required. Most of them are around dams, but occasionally you'll encounter a culvert going under a road which doesn't have enough space to float through. I can only remember one place, in my first day out from Lake Itasca, where there was a small stretch of rapids going over what appeared to be an old dam or bridge, that required a portage. Between St. Paul and the Gulf, the Chain of Rocks, near St. Louis, is the only place that might require a portage. I did portage over the spillway at a lock and dam a couple of times to avoid a long wait for the lock.

  • Locks
    Starting at St. Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, there are 29 locks on the Mississippi. The lock personnel treat a canoe exactly the same as they treat any other vessel. When you approach a lock, the first thing you'll see is an entry channel. Out near the end of the retaining wall there will be a rope you can pull which rings a bell notifying the lock master that you are there. Near the actual lock gate, you'll see a stop-and-go light. When the light is red, wait for it to change. A green light is the signal to enter the lock. Once you're in, the lock master will hand you a rope to keep yourself tethered to the side. Strong currents can develop in the lock, so it would be unwise to let go of the rope. When the water level is finished dropping, the lock gates at the lower end will open and you will hear a horn signaling that it is safe to exit. On the majority of the locks I passed through, I was the only vessel inside.

  • Tow Boats
    For most of my trip, towboats were the only companion with whom I shared the river. Since I rarely had a chance to talk to any of the people on board, the boats themselves, with their barges, took on a life of their own and became like living entities. They are big and powerful and the main advice I can give about them is to stay out of their way.

    A person in a small boat or canoe has both advantages and disadvantages with regard to towboats. First, towboats have to stay in the navigable channel, which makes it easy, most of the time, to stay out of their way. Secondly, they are loud - often you can hear them coming before you see them. On the other hand, you have to assume that they can't see you. Occasionally, when I was trying to take advantage of a strong current, I would find myself in the channel when a towboat would appear from around the corner. At least twice I had no choice but to pass within a few yards of one between it and the river bank. It is a sobering experience. An interesting thing I found out from one towboat captain is that news of my presence was being passed up and down the river between the towboats via their radios. I was either famous or a notorious fool!

• Wind & Weather
  The wind is going to be a constant presence in your trip down the river. No matter which way it is coming from it will seem to be against you most of the time. The Mississippi is a powerful river, and there are places where the current runs relatively swiftly, but in its effect on the canoeist it will rarely overpower the wind. There were times when I had no choice but to battle against it for literally hours nonstop, gaining only inches with each paddle stroke.

  There are, however, things that can be done to avoid some of the wind. The most important one is to get on the river early, before the wind comes up, particularly if you're starting out with a big pool or open area to cross. Secondly, whenever possible, stay along the lee bank. Neither of these will get you out of the wind completely, but they should help.

  Down the length of the Mississippi valley there are numerous other weather hazards - thunderstorms, hail, tornadoes....A weather radio could come in handy to help avoid these. The time of year you choose to make your trip can also make a difference, but there are other factors to take into consideration when planning when to go that might be more important. Given the size of the Mississippi and the amount of time you'll be spending on it, there is no way to avoid some severe weather. Being prepared with the right equipment and using common sense are probably the best two suggestions I can give.

• Equipment
  The following is a list of items of equipment that I either consider vital (marked with a '*') or that I found to be useful or handy or that I wish I had thought of (marked with two '*'s):
  • *Rain gear
  • *Tent and/or hammock
  • Mud boots
  • *Life jacket
  • *Extra paddle
  • Waterproof bags
  • **Portable phone
  • **Weather radio
  • Folding beach chair
  • Folding camp saw
  • *Extra rope
  • *Mosquito and tick repellant
  • *Sunscreen

• Supplies
  One of the nice things about a trip like this is that you'll be passing by or through a small town or city every day or two at the most. It's not like a backpacking trip where you have to pack and carry everything you need for the duration. Conversely, for the bulk of the trip you will not have any portaging to do, so you can carry as much as you want with you. Re-supplying is easy, and it gives an excuse to get out and stretch your legs and make contact with some of the people who live along the river.

• Food and Water
  Just as with any other supplies, food and water will be fairly easy to find along the way. Before I left, I stocked up on a few staples to last me for most of the trip - macaroni and cheese, oatmeal, instant rice, hot cocoa, tea, and coffee. But whenever I wanted to spice up my evening meal I could stop in a little market, if I passed one along the way, and pick up something special.

  Water was somewhat a different story. With the special food, I could wait until I came to an easily accessible town and stop. Water could not wait. In the headwaters area I carried a Swiss-made Katadyne filter and drank filtered river water. Once I passed below the Twin Cities, however, I felt I couldn't trust even filtered water (due to chemical pollutants that might be present), so I carried a collapsible 5-gallon water container which I refilled at every opportunity. In the course of the trip there was only one time when I ran short of water and had to ration for a day or two.

• Camping
  Camping is one of the joys of a trip like this. I felt blessed to be able to spend such an extended length of time living out in the elements and sleeping under the stars. I had very few difficulties finding places to camp. In the Minnesota section of the river, the DNR has developed a series of beautiful campsites all the way from Itasca to the southern part of the state. These campsites are rustic, with a "throne" toilet in the woods, and usually with a picnic table. Once I got on the Upper River below St. Paul most of my camping was done on sand bar islands created by the dredging of the channel by the Corps of Engineers. These sites are all primitive with no tables or toilet facilities, but most of the spots are beautiful. Down below St. Louis the islands disappeared and I had to find places to camp along the banks. I got to be pretty good at reading the Corps of Engineers' maps and foreseeing where the nice camping spots would be.

• Health
  Here are some common health issues. Contact your physician and your Department of Health for more information:
  • Sunburn
    Be sure to carry and use sunscreen with a high solar protection factor.
  • Windburn
  • Dehydration
  • Insects
    Coping with insects will be an important factor in the success of your trip. Mosquitoes and flies can literally destroy the trip or at the least make it extremely unpleasant. I chose to leave St. Paul in September for this very reason, and it paid off. I had very little trouble with mosquitoes until near the end of the trip down in Louisiana.

    The other insect to worry about is the deer tick, which can cause Lyme disease.

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