Ghost River Rentals

How can you get out and paddle the Mississippi River? If you'd like to rent a kayak and a guide, read about Ghost River Rentals below.

Mark Babb and Don Hailey started Ghost River Rentals in 2007. Mark is a physical fitness and outdoor enthusiast who grew up boating and camping on the Mississippi River with his father and brothers. He worked several years on Mississippi River Towboats and was a licensed Towboat Pilot. Also a sailor, he has explored all of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Barrier Islands on a seventeen foot catamaran. As a paddler he has explored over 100 miles of Mississippi River, Wolf River from LaGrange to Memphis, Horn Island and many others. Don is also a lifelong physical fitness and outdoor enthusiast. He is a PADI certified Rescue Diver, holds a Commercial Pilots license (non-active), and is an avid Harley rider. As a paddler he has explored many miles of the Mississippi and Wolf Rivers, as well as an overnight trip to Horn Island. Mark Babb & Don Hailey are both career Firefigher Paramedics with over 30 years combined experience in Emergency Services, so safety is never a worry when touring the rivers with these two.



Most of their kayak/canoe trips are Wolf River focused due to demand, but when interviewing Mark, he mentioned that he would love to see more of a demand for Mississippi River excursions, and would offer weekly tours if the demand increased. When asked why he thought there was less demand for paddling the Mississippi River he stated that many people feel it is not safe to paddle because of the strong current and scary reputation. Education and safety are the keys to overcoming these fears, and as long as the river is respected, paddling it can be especially rewarding. While Ghost River Rentals offers guided tours of both the Wolf and Mississippi Rivers, he recommends contacting Outdoors Inc. (www.outdoorsinc.com) or Memphis Whitewater (www.memphiswhitewater.com) for courses on kayaking technique for those who wish to become kayakers on their own.



Bluff homes overlooking the river and Mud Island are creating new demand for and interest in the river, instead of just seeing it as dangerous and polluted. He also mentioned that he personally feels safer on a kayak than a power boat on the river, because if the motor goes on the power boat, you're stranded, but with a kayak, you have more control over the situation. His personal (and experienced) preference for kayaking the Mississippi is a 17’ sit-in touring kayak.



For additional information on Wolf River excursions and pricing, please visit their website at www.ghostriverrentals.com or contact them via email ghostriverrentals@yahoo.com or telephone: 901-485-1220. Their Mississippi River excursion prices are not on the website, but were quoted at prices of $45/boat and $100/guide. There is a minimum requirement of 6 boats and typically 2 guides for more inexperienced paddlers to book a Mississippi River excursion. The boats they use for the Mississippi River are sit-on-top kayaks which have no spray skirts nor require any bail-out if cap-sized and they float and can be flipped back over for ease of use. Their most requested Mississippi River excursion is the all day float from Meeman-Shelby Forest to downtown Memphis, and they also offer sunset floats where they launch from the north side of Mud Island, paddle across the river to Loosahatchie Bar and then back to Mud Island around the south bend and into the Wolf River Harbor. He stated that these trips would be much easier with better access to the river, because he believes the Auction Street boat ramp is currently closed, and he has been turned away from the Mud Island Marina in the past. So, be a part of the demand, and let's ensure we all have access to our river. For those who are interested in a more robust experience including camping, they also offer the chance to kayak the river from Golddust, TN (in Lauderdale County) to an end point of either Memphis, TN or Tunica, MS.

2009 Greenways & Trails Forum

2009 Greenways & Trails Forum
"Connect with Tennessee"

Thursday, April 2, 2009 – Saturday, April 4, 2009*

D.P. Culp University Center
East TN State University
Johnson City, TN

Featured Forum Speaker: Dan Burden

*See PDF brochure or visit their website for a detailed schedule of events and additional information.

Dan Burden is a nationally recognized authority on bicycle and pedestrian facilities and programs, livable communities, healthy streets, traffic calming, and other design and planning elements that affect roadway environments. Time Magazine recently listed Dan as "one of the six most important civic innovators in the world." The Transportation Research Board (National Academy of Sciences) honored Dan by making him their Distinguished Lecturer in 2001, the national Smart Growth Coalition awarded Dan its first Lifetime Achievement Award and the League of American Bicyclists lists Dan as "one of the 25 most significant leaders in bicycling for the past 100 years."



Experience: Dan has thirty years of experience in the livable communities field. He served for 16 years as Florida DOT's first State Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator. This program became a model for other statewide programs. In 1996, Dan founded Walkable Communities, Inc. This nonprofit group has been assisting North American communities to become more walkable. Then in 2005, Dan and Walkable Communities joined Glatting Jackson, where Dan now works as a Principal and Senior Urban Designer. Glatting Jackson is a firm recognized for its excellence in livable communities design and innovative urban transportation planning and design services.


Method: In the past 11 years Dan has personally photographed and examined walking, bicycling and transportation conditions in over 2,500 cities in the U.S. and abroad. He worked as a bicycle consultant in China for the United Nations in 1994, and he has also worked in Australia, Canada, the Caribbean and many European countries. His pictures have been published in such diverse publications as the National Geographic, New York Times, Better Homes and Gardens, Sierra Club and Weekly Reader. Presentations given by Dan are always richly illustrated with examples from near and far. Dan's visual, information-rich workshops, with National Geographic quality images, showcase the most modern and best ways to plan and design better streets, town centers, and neighborhoods. Today many state and national organizations select Dan as either a featured or keynote speaker for their annual conferences.


Goal: Dan uses his experience and photography to teach people to speak one common language; his goal is to bring many professions closer together, to retool and rebuild for present and future urban living. Common professions and groups that learn to speak one universal community building language include the following: engineering, planning, health, development, placemaking, architecture, advocacy, historic preservation, and landscape architecture. Designs that incorporate this process lead to highly engaging activity centers, prosperous business districts, quiet, pleasant, well connected neighborhoods, and great waterfronts, parks, trails and open spaces with an emphasis on people and active living.

Wolf River Boardwalk Hikes

Boardwalk Hikes this Saturday, February 7, at 10:00 a.m.

Please join Allan Trently, a state biologist, on two Boardwalk Hikes w/The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation's Division of Natural Areas. TDEC Biologist Allan Trently will lead two, short guided hikes on Saturday, Feb. 7 at the William B. Clark and the Ghost River Natural Areas in Fayette County. Participants should meet at 10 a.m. in the parking lot at the William Clark Preserve located about one mile north of Rossville on State Highway 194.

The first hike will begin at the 460-acre William B. Clark conservation area, which features a 1,600-foot interpretive boardwalk that meanders through bald, cypress-water tupelo forest in the Wolf River. Participants will then drive approximately 10 miles to the Ghost River State Natural Area situated just outside of LaGrange. While at this 2,220-acre natural area, hikers will walk along the 600-foot boardwalk that crosses through a very scenic stretch of the Ghost River section of the Wolf River.

Both hikes will be guided by the Division's Stewardship Ecologist Allan Trently, who will interpret the ecology of the natural areas, which occur along un-channelized reaches of the Wolf River. A variety of aquatic and terrestrial habitats along the boardwalks offer opportunities for observing snakes, turtles, amphibians, beavers, wading birds and aquatic vegetation. Participants can expect to see cypress knees protruding from the moist forest floor and shallow water.

"The Wolf River and its sloughs provide excellent habitat for rare and endangered freshwater mussels and other aquatic organisms," Trently said. "Additionally, the Ghost River Natural Area includes other ecologically significant uplands and sandy hills adjacent to the floodplain."

Reservations are required for the guided hikes and can be made by contacting Allan Trently by phone at (731) 512-1369 or by e-mail at allan.trently@state.tn.us by Feb. 6. For directions to the William B. Clark Natural Area, please visit: www.tn.gov/environment/na/natareas/wbclark.

Recreation on the Mississippi River

One of the projects we are working on here at the MRCT is a proposed Blueway on the Mississippi River between Meeman-Shelby Forest and downtown Memphis. We hope to encourage additional recreation on our mighty river and believe that the more we foster recreation on and access to our river, the more our community will grow to love and care for our river, because there is work to be done to make it cleaner and healthier. Please read the article run in today's Commercial Appeal about our proposed Blueway.

We had a trial run of regular folk kayaking down the Blueway back in 2007 for our Paddle & Float event, and great fun was had by all.



We even had a catered picnic lunch on Hickman Bar, which is a beautiful sandy beach along the river with excellent camping potential.



Joe Royer and Outdoors Inc. has been a pioneer and an incredible force in advocating a recreation river for us here in Memphis & west Tennessee. Every year Outdoors Inc. has a Canoe & Kayak Race on the downtown portion of the Mississippi River, and they celebrated their 27th year last May!



If water sports are not for you, there are also opportunities for walking and bicycling along our river.



Outdoors Inc. produces a Cyclocross race annually for those who enjoy a more challenging bicycle race.



And the Mississippi River Bicycle Trail extends along the entire western coast of the river in West Tennessee with beautiful bluff vistas available to enjoy along the way.

Chickasaw Bluff No. 2 - GPS Coordinates: N 35° 30.539’ W 089° 54.375’


Chickasaw Bluff No. 1 - GPS Coordinates: N 35° 37.047’ W 089° 52.961’


Researchers from Illinois and Wisconsin have paddled past our port in order to study the health of the river (see our blog post with the details of that expedition)...



...and photographers such as John Guider have paddled the river to document its mighty nature and unabashed romantic allure. Stay tuned for more information, as we are bringing his incredible photo exhibit to Mud Island this spring!

Now get out there and enjoy our Mississippi River!

Loosahatchie Bar

Congratulations!
Every once in a while, we like to congratulate and showcase one of our Partners in a significant accomplishment for our great river and the Mississippi River Corridor – Tennessee.

This month we've chosen The Lower Mississippi River Conservation Committee and their recent completion of the Loosahatchie Bar Conservation Project. Directed by Dr. Ron Nassar, in consultation with the Memphis District Corps of Engineers, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and several federal, state and private sector partners, this project is part of a landscape-scale conservation plan – "Restoring America's Greatest River."

Location
Loosahatchie Bar, located in two counties in two states (Shelby County, Tennessee and Crittenden County, Arkansas), is located on the west bank of the Mississippi River directly across from the city of Memphis.



History
In the 1960s it became necessary for the Memphis District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to construct rock dikes to divert flow from Loosahatchie Bar back to the river to maintain a safe navigation channel.



Sedimentation has increased within the Loosahatchie Bar, causing the loss of aquatic habitat and restricting the passage of fish through the area.

Although parts of the channel have a water depth of 10 feet during the spring and early summer, much of the area often dries completely later in the year.


Conservation Success and Benefits
In the fall of 2008, the LMRCC constructed 12 notches in eight of the stone dikes, and restored the flow of the Mississippi River through more than 11 miles of the Loosahatchie Bar.



The project will benefit the Least Tern, Pallid Sturgeon and Fat Pocketbook Mussel, which are federally endangered species found in the area, as well as improve habitat for recreationally and commercially important fish species.

Revitalizing the Lower Mississippi River ecosystem and providing outdoor recreational opportunities will improve our quality of life in the Memphis region. It will also promote nature-based tourism, one of the fastest growing segments in both the international and national tourism industries, which provide an economic stimulus of $2 Billion/Day worldwide.



The project will also restore aquatic habitat for wetland-dependent birds using the Mississippi Flyway migration corridor and provide additional opportunities for conservation education.


Our great thanks go to our valued partners, The Lower Mississippi River Conservation Committee, for their wonderful work in conservation and restoration of the Lower Mississippi River.

Scenic Byways Historic Assets

As part of the process to apply for a National Scenic Byways designation for our Great River Road in West Tennessee, we were to select up to 15 assets in our 5 counties bordering the Mississippi River which reflect intrinsic historic qualities per the definition they provided:


Historic Quality encompasses legacies of the past that are distinctly associated with physical elements of the landscape, whether natural or manmade, that are of such historic significance that they educate the viewer and stir an appreciation for the past. The historic elements reflect the actions of people and may include buildings, settlement patterns, and other examples of human activity. Historic features can be inventoried, mapped and interpreted. They possess integrity of location, design, setting, material, workmanship, feeling and association.


Listed from North to South, our 15 selected assets:


1) Jones Chapel Church of Christ Cemetery, Great River Road Tennessee, north of Tiptonville, Lake County, Tennessee



© Dr. Carroll Van West


This National Register-eligible cemetery is the resting place for the mass burial of 75 Confederates from the Island No. 10 battle during the Civil War, the oldest identified marker dates to 1838.


2) Island No. 10 Battlefield Memorial, Great River Road Tennessee, north of Tiptonville, Lake County, Tennessee



© Amie Vanderford


This state-developed marker for the Battle of Island No. 10 interprets this pivotal
Civil War battle for control of the Mississippi River and was erected c. 1960 as part of the state's Civil War centennial.


3) Reelfoot Lake, White's Landing Boardwalk, Great River Road Tennessee, Lake County, Tennessee



© Amie Vanderford


This lone fisherman is an example of the fishing activity that takes place in the
midst of beautiful old cypress trees in this natural fish hatchery lake created as a result of the New Madrid earthquakes which occurred in the early 1800s.


4) Heloise Landing and the Mississippi River, Great River Road Tennessee, Dyer County, Tennessee



© Amie Vanderford


This access point to the Mississippi River port was once a prominent stop for
agricultural trade during the time between the Civil War and World War II eras.


5) Alex Haley’s Boyhood Home, Great River Road Tennessee, Henning, Tennessee



© Amie Vanderford


This one-and-one-half story weatherboard bungalow where Alex Haley lived from
1921 to 1929, was the house of Alex Haley's grandfather, Will Palmer and his time there served as inspiration for his popular book Roots: The Saga of an American Family (1976).


6) Fort Pillow State Historic Park, Great River Road Tennessee, Lauderdale County,
Tennessee



© Amie Vanderford


Civil War re-enactments are periodically held at this historic site to remember the
events that occurred at Ft. Pillow during the Civil War.


7) Lauderdale County Courthouse Ripley, Great River Road Tennessee, Lauderdale County, Tennessee



© Amie Vanderford


The Lauderdale County Courthouse has a unique design among Marr and Holman's Public Works Administration (PWA) courthouses due to its use of buff-colored glazed brick as the main exterior material and its cruciform plan.


8) Tipton County Courthouse, Covington, Great River Road Tennessee, Tipton County, Tennessee



© Amie Vanderford


This late nineteenth century Victorian-styled Courthouse and gazebo in Covington serves as an anchor to surrounding historic commercial and public buildings ranging in age from the 1870s to the 1970s.


9) Canaan Baptist Church, Covington, Great River Road Tennessee, Tipton County, Tennessee



© Amie Vanderford


Built from 1916 to 1917, the Canaan Baptist Church has played a significant role
in the social history, religious history, and the ethnic heritage of African Americans in Covington and Tipton County.


10) Randolph, Great River Road Tennessee, Tipton County, Tennessee



© Amie Vanderford


Randolph was founded in 1823 and undoubtedly occupied the best potential site available for water-borne commerce, due its direct access to the Mississippi River, and as such provided an excellent harbor for steam and flatboats at all stages of the river.


11) National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis, Great River Road Tennessee, Shelby County, Tennessee



© Amie Vanderford


As showcased at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, the struggle for civil rights continues to play a major and historic role in our society. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was cut down by an assassin's bullet in 1968 at this shrine to his life's work and quest to secure the rights of equality, liberty and justice for all people in the world.


12) Mud Island River Park & Museum, Memphis, Great River Road Tennessee, Shelby County, Tennessee



© Mud Island River Park & Museum


The historic Mud Island River Park and Museum is a unique 52-acre recreational,
educational and entertainment facility dedicated to telling the story of the Mighty Mississippi River and its people. The River Walk on Mud Island is a 5-block long replica of the lower Mississippi river, from Cairo, IL, to New Orleans, LA.


13) Beale Street, Memphis, Great River Road Tennessee, Shelby County, Tennessee



© David Richtmyre


Beale Street, while primarily known for being the home of the Blues, is also steeped in African American history. In the late 1870's Memphis was fighting a Yellow Fever epidemic and lost its city charter in 1879. At this time, Robert Church purchased land around Beale Street which eventually lead to his becoming the first black millionaire from the south. In the early 1900s, Beale Street was filled with clubs, restaurants and shops, many of them owned by African-Americans. In 1889, NAACP co-founder Ida B. Wells was a co-owner and editor of an anti-segregationist paper called Free Speech based on Beale. Beale Street Baptist Church, Tennessee's oldest surviving African American Church edifice built in 1864, was also important in the early civil rights movement in Memphis.


14) C. H. Nash Museum & Chucalissa Archaeological site, Memphis, Great River Road Tennessee, Shelby County, Tennessee



© Amie Vanderford


Operated by the University of Memphis, the Chucalissa site and museum serves as a gateway into understanding the science of archaeology and the interpretation of Native American history in the mid-south.


15) National Ornamental Metal Museum, Memphis, Great River Road Tennessee, Shelby County, Tennessee



© Amie Vanderford


The National Ornamental Metal Museum is located on the grounds of a former U.S. Marine Hospital on the Memphis bluff over looking the Mississippi River. This bluff was originally the site of Native American Indian mounds, then in the 1600s was the site of a French fort, and eventually the site became Ft. Pickering during the Civil War.

Happy Holidays from the Mississippi River Corridor - Tennessee!

Dear Friends,

2008 was an incredibly good year for the Mississippi River Corridor - Tennessee! We are so very grateful for our dedicated supporters, donors and advocates, whose contributions have enabled us to accomplish much towards advancing our mission to identify, conserve, and interpret the region's natural, cultural, and scenic resources to improve the quality of life and prosperity in West Tennessee.

Highlights from a few of our projects this year include the production of a new film, "The Fort Pillow Story," for the Ft. Pillow State Historic Park in Lauderdale County; participation in a 10-state Geocaching event with the Mississippi River Parkway Commission, that brought numerous visitors to the unique sites we selected to hide caches for the event, and we completed and submitted a milestone Corridor Management Plan to the Federal Highway Administration and TDOT for a National Scenic Byways designation. During this process, TDOT Commissioner Gerald Nicely designated our Great River Road - Tennessee as a Tennessee Parkway! Thanks to the regional effort and work done by all six of the MRCT counties, we have much to celebrate and be thankful for in the coming year.

While our work as a non-profit organization continues to grow and evolve, along with our influence and public outreach, we need your financial support now more than ever to keep the momentum rolling into the New Year! Next April 2009, we will be hosting a Conference for the Mississippi River Parkway Commission that will bring all ten Mississippi River states to Memphis. We will also be working toward the implementation of strategic plans created to help us all enhance and develop our Corridor resources for increased economic and community development in west Tennessee.

As we enjoy this holiday season and look forward to a exciting New Year, we ask that you consider the Mississippi River Corridor - Tennessee in your holiday gift giving and end of year financial support for charitable organizations. Please visit our website at www.msrivertn.org and click the "Donate" button to make a donation online, or just give us a call at (901) 278-8459. We would love to discuss the many donor options available to you.

Please support the only regional organization in west Tennessee dedicated to the restoration of our mighty Mississippi River, the enhancement and preservation of our most treasured resources, and improving the quality of life for our present and future generations.

Have a wonderful Holiday season!

From the Staff, Board of Directors and Advisory Council members, we thank you and Happy New Year to us all!