photo by Steve VanGunda

Ben Cochran leads the way during the kayaker’s trip from Vicksburg and was the first to land at Under-The-Hill Saloon onWednesday, Aug. 13.

Kayakers float from Vicksburg to Natchez

By Steve VanGunda | The Natchez Democrat

Published Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Natchez — With summer coming to an end, Drew Burns and his friends decided to take one last trip before heading back to college. With that in mind, the group drove to Vicksburg with their kayaks where they intended to launch from.

“It’s a 90-mile float from Vicksburg,” Burns said. “We planned on doing it five days, but got back in four.”

The plan was to float each day and then stop at night and make camp somewhere along the river. The first night they were to land at group member Daniel Gasguet’s hunting camp but missed the north shoot and had to paddle up the south shoot to make it back to camp.

“Paddling up the river is a lot harder than going with the current,” Burns said.

The next three days wouldn’t be any easier for the group.

“It rained so hard on the river the last few days that it was hard to see anything,” Burns said. “We had to land early one afternoon because we kept losing sight of each other and we didn’t want to run into any barges.”

Thankfully Burns and his group made it safely to Natchez.

“Floating the river was a lot of fun. We got to see some interesting things. The biggest of which is the nuclear power plant in Vicksburg,” Burns said. “We also met some interesting people. There was a couple floating who started in Minnesota back in June and plan to float the whole river.”

The group plans to do another trip later this year when they all have a break from classes.

“We were thinking of doing a trip from Natchez to Baton Rouge or maybe doing a float down another river,” Burns said. “We just have to figure out when everyone will be on break.”