A trip around The Bar in pictures

I don't do as much "overdistance" training as I used to, but with several sort-of-long races coming up I want to get a few longer paddles in.  This morning I paddled around the Loosahatchie Bar.  This is something I've done at least once or twice a year for many years now.  The Loosahatchie Bar is the big island in the Mississippi River shown on this map here:



Starting and finishing at my marina in Wolf River Harbor, a trip around The Bar typically takes me a little over two hours--it took me two hours and five minutes today.  I think I once did it in an hour and 55 minutes or so.

The water level needs to be over 16 feet on the Memphis gauge, or else you'll end up hiking over some sandbars up at the north end of The Bar.  Today's level was 20.3 feet, and I hit the bottom with my paddle several times up there.  The big flood of 2011 deposited a bunch of sand in that area.

As I prepared to leave the dock I set my Go Pro camera to take a still photo every 60 seconds.  The resulting pictures might not be the best quality, but I hope they'll give you some idea of what I saw and did today.

Heading south toward the mouth of the harbor.

Paddling out of the harbor and up the Mississippi River toward the Hernando DeSoto Bridge.

Still paddling upriver, just above the Hernando DeSoto Bridge.  You can sort of see the Loosahatchie Bar off to the left of my bow.

Still heading upstream; now I'm just north of the Maynard C. Stiles sewage treatment plant.  The barge rig in the left side of the photo is one of only two I saw while I was out.

Not long after the last photo got shot, I started ferrying across the river.  The northern end of the Loosahatchie Bar lies ahead.

Approaching "the summit" of the bar.  It's some tough paddling here because this area is fully exposed to the Mississippi's current.

Now I'm headed back downstream through the chute between The Bar and the Arkansas bank.  This piece of the river is one of my favorite places in the whole Mid South: just a couple of miles from downtown Memphis, it has the look and feel of remote wilderness.  Of course, by the time I get here I'm always really tired from all the upstream paddling and the ferry across the river.

Eventually, the Hernando DeSoto Bridge and the Memphis skyline come back into view.

I think my city on the river is just lovely.

Heading back up into the harbor.

And at last, I'm back on the dock.  Yippee!