Dean's Chute

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9/29/2012

            On a Saturday afternoon in early autumn, John Henry and I decided to paddle upstream on the Mississippi from the Shelby Forest boat ramp north to Dean’s Chute. The skies were sunny but hazy with temps in the lower 80s. There was even a “sun bow”, a shimmering halo around the sun. The water clarity was typical of the Mississippi, as clear as mud. The wind was out of the north, which made paddling upstream more challenging. I had not been on the water just for fun in some time, and I reveled in the freedom of open water. My paddle tore into the surface of the river and made good progress upstream.

We stayed close to the sand bar on the left bank (left and right banks are determined by a person facing downstream- an ancient law of the river) skirting the white sand on one side and the power of the Mississippi’s current on the other side. The bank was not a straight line but instead a series of bights, shallow bays. We traced the shoreline hoping that each point would shield us from the north wind. It did not but the protected water was free of the powerful river current. We had to round several points before we could reach the straight that led to Dean’s Chute. The surface around the points held curious patches of both flat water and choppy water. If I moved to far out into the river, I could feel the powerful current of the Mississippi pushing against my boat.

 After a mile of upstream paddling, we entered the bay with two chutes. Dean’s Chute on my right separated a treed island from the mainland and a second chute separated the island from a sand spit. The sand spit used to have a large wooden cross on the tallest sand hill. When we entered the straight to Dean’s Chute, we were relieved to find that the island provided protection from the wind. The chute appeared to be a straight, manmade canal with trees lining each side. However, it is said to be a natural feature.  Because of the low water, there was no current in the chute. While watching a flock of migrating birds, we steadily moved up the chute.  We stopped on a sand island in the middle of the chute to eat lunch. John explained that we were not half way through yet.

The banks of the chute consisted of crumbling clay bluffs and thick stands of brush. Beyond that, a hardwood forest rose above us. We continued north through the chute until we reached a sandbar that blocked the chute. The water was too low for passage. Except for a few pools of water, we had hit dry land. We left our canoes to explore the sand bar. In the distance, we could see an open space with a large sandbar. John thought this might be the junction of another chute. While we explored, we found an unusual pool. It was surrounded by an orange slime and there was clearly a spring issuing from the center. We conjectured as to the nature of the slime. We thought that it might be algae, bacteria or a mineral deposit.  About 30 yards to the west, I noticed another pool full of green slime. At first glance it appeared to be algae. However after a closer look, I thought that it might be of an artificial origin. One pool of orange and one of green, I hypothesized that they could even be the remnants of channel markers. At this time, I do not know the true origin of the odd slime. We returned to our boats and paddled back down the chute. I was glad that I didn’t see much trash. However, I am troubled that there are fishermen who use this area and leave their garbage behind.  We continued west into the setting sun and back to the Mississippi. I stopped several times to take video of passing birds. This flock was similar to the one before, except we were closer this time. I could not tell which species of bird they were, but they flew in a curved arc with some of the flock remaining in the middle. The formation looked like a bow and arrow. John thought the birds might be storks. They were large birds, so this may be true. The remainder of the float back to the ramp was quick thanks to the powerful river current.