NO Adventure

Usually when people talk about canoe trips around New Orleans, they are talking about a beer-fueled float down the Bogue Chitto river above the northshore. The Bogue Chitto has its place, but it’s kinda like floating down a drainage canal  with garbage and a crowd of drunken tubers.

Not so on the Wolf River(at least not on the Tuesday I went).

The Wolf is a nice cool creek that comes from a spring somewhere around Poplarville, MS in the Wolf River Game Management Area and flows all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.

As you can see from the map, it only takes an hour to get to from New Orleans and this includes using Wolf River Canoes(outfitter) to give you a shuttle or rental.

I brought my own boats(which saves a little cash, but be sure to bring some food, water, and maybe a couple of brews as well. It’s 10.6 miles back to the take out from Cable Road Bridge so you may want to tap the Rockies a bit).

Another important activity on any southern river is spotting and utilizing rope swings. Keep your eyes pealed for small bluffs with outstretched trees. These are prime rope swing locations.

Ah-ha! Quickly, moor the kayaks.

Technique is not so important on these smaller swings. Just make sure the water is at least 3 feet deep. You’d be surprised what kind of falls you can take into 3 feet of water.

Here’s another one; I think we found 4 total swings of varying quality. The train bridge swing was pretty cool. The rope was actually a fire hose and the rednecks who maintained the swing left a big stick up on the landing for rope retrieval.

I also have some videos of the rope swings. In one of them, I lose a pretty sweet calculator watch to the river’s current.

Three things to look out for on the Wolf:

1 Dead dogs. Nothing kills your mood like a dead mammal in the water. Luckily for us, this guy had perished up in a tree; he probably drowned about a week ago in a flash flood.

2 Underwater trash. We found this old car under water. It was probably and old Land Cruiser or some 4×4 that an idiot thought he could drive across the river. What a dumbass.

3 River people. You come across some pretty freaky, meth-addled, rednecks in these parts. For the most part, they are harmless, but they love interacting with others.

We rode a 5 hour(with plenty of time for swimming and chillaxing), 10.6 mile  trip down the river. Maybe next time we’ll add another 8 miles or so and ride straight to the Gulf. Pass Christian is still oil-free!