The lowest Memphis gauge reading ever for the Mississippi River is -10.7 feet back in the summer of 1988. Right now, the level is about -9.4 feet. I went down there and paddled for an hour this morning, and I'm pretty sure it's the lowest level I've ever paddled at. The lowest level I can remember in the last decade or so is about -8.5 feet.
It's actually a great level for camping. With all the sandbars exposed, the choice of sites is just about unlimited. Martha and I should get out there soon to camp or at least to spend an afternoon exploring the vast expanses of sand.
Meanwhile, even at this near-record-low level, the Mississippi is a very big river. The French Broad River, which drains a sizable chunk of western North Carolina, is a pretty big river for that part of the world, but the section I paddled last Sunday is no more than a third of the current width of the Mississippi at Memphis, and nowhere near the volume of water.
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