Gather at the River -- in the Big Canoe!
Chickasaw Bluffs Full Harvest Moon
Chickasaw Bluffs Sunrise
17 miles on the Mississippi from Shelby Forest to Mud Island
Sept. 21-26, 2010
In the spirit of the Memphis Bridges “Gather at the River Conference” Quapaw Canoe Company is offering a series of special guided canoe trips from the 3rd Chickasaw Bluff (Meeman Shelby Forest State Park) to the 4th Chickasaw Bluff (Downtown Memphis). Everyone paddles together in one of our hand-crafted cypress strip voyageur canoes, which are very safe & stable. No previous paddling experience necessary. We provide all river gear including paddles, life jackets, and emergency gear. Legendary riverman John Ruskey will be your guide.
Schedule for Canoeing Shelby Forest to Memphis
Gather at the River Sunset/Full Moon and Sunrise
· Tuesday, Sept 21: Full Moon “Anticipation” Float, (The Moon will be 97% full), 5-10pm, $65 each potluck supper, International Day of Peace
· Wednesday Sept 22: Full Harvest Moon - Autumnal Equinox, 5pm–10pm, $105 each, supper included
· Thursday Sept 23: Sunset/Full Harvest Moon, 5-10pm, $105 each, supper included (This is the official night of the Full Harvest Moon)
· Friday Sept 24: Memphis Sunrise,6am – 12noon, $105 each, breakfast included
· Sunday Sept 26: Sunrise Service on the River, 6am – 12noon, $105 each, breakfast included
We are offering conference attendees (and anyone else interested) the opportunity to experience the power and spiritual majesty of the Mighty Mississippi. There is no other place to get closer to the heavens -- paradoxically on the face of the waters of the biggest river in North America!
We have purposely designed these trips to connect you to the river in its most inspiring and soulful times of day: sunrise and sunset -- with the added spiritual thrill of paddling the water in the light of the full moon.
Full Descriptions are below:
Sunset/Full Moon: The first three offerings (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) are Sunset/Full Moon trips. Put in at Meeman Shelby Forest and paddle into the rich undulating colors of sunset as the river swirls between islands and floodplain forests. Make a supper landing, maybe build a fire, and enjoy the rising of the moon over the Mississippi River. Set off again in the canoe paddling now by the mysterious undulating light of the Full Moon past the mouth of the Loosahatchie River, the Wolf River, and then down along Mud Island and into the Memphis Harbor at the foot of Beale Street. The sandbars are as bright as snowfields in the full moon and the river glistens like shiny steel.
Our first offering is a special trip in celebration of the International Day of Peace -- Tuesday, September 21. Potluck supper -- bring a dish to share in peace & harmony with fellow paddlers. Quapaw will provide enamel eatware & utensils. The moon will be 97% full. The next night, Wednesday, September 22nd, is the night of the Autumnal Equinox (10:09pm CDT), also known as Mabon in the Pagan/Wiccan tradition, and celebrated in Asia with the Moon Festival. Equinox literally means “Equal night” -- and equal day. In the Northern Hemisphere we will be leaving the throes of the long hot summer days as the earth rotates on its axis and will now be cooling off with longer nights and shorter days. This will be a spiritually charged night in conjunction with a Full Harvest Moon. Thursday, September 23rd is the official Full Harvest Moon, the moon will rise at sunset and will be at its brightest as we paddle the flowing waters of the Mississippi coming into Memphis, the Pyramid, the “M” Bridge and all of downtown Memphis reflecting melismatically in the curvy language of river boils, eddies & ripples.
Sunrise: The last two offerings are sunrise trips, for the early riser, or anyone who wants to partake in the truly awesome experience of paddling the river in the first light of the day as the world awakens around you, the effervescent colors of the sky & the river arranging themselves by degrees in blues, greens, yellows, oranges & reds down low on the horizon, as the angular light slowly increases, the first songs of the birds in the forest, the deer slipping away into the woods for the day, coyotes running along the banks, beaver finishing their last piece of willow and disappearing into a cut bank burrow. Put in at Meeman Shelby Forest and paddle into the rich colors of sunrise with maybe wisps of fog lingering over the water following the main channel of the river between Brandywine islands and Loosahatchie Bar. Make a breakfast landing on one of the big sandbars, maybe build a fire, and enjoy the intensifying light over the Mississippi River. Set off again paddling past the mouth of the Loosahatchie River, the Wolf River, and then down along Mud Island and into the Memphis Harbor at the foot of Beale Street, downtown Memphis now bathed in the full light of mid-day.
