Biking the Mississippi Levee

Hi Blog.  Today is Thursday.  We decided to take a day off from tourist attractions and get out and about on our bicycles.  Our campground is only a half a block away from the Mississippi River.  We can't actually see the river from the campground because of the huge levee built to control flooding.  However, it is pretty cool to see the large oil tankers and cargo ships go floating over the tops of the trees.

The Mississippi levee system represents one of the largest systems found anywhere in the world. It comprises over 3,500 miles of levees extending some 620 miles along the Mississippi, stretching from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, to the Mississippi Delta. They were begun by French settlers in Louisiana in the 18th century to protect the city of New Orleans. The first Louisiana levees were about 3 feet high and covered a distance of about 50 miles along the riverside. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in conjunction with the Mississippi River Commission, extended the levee system beginning in 1882 to cover the riverbanks from Cairo, Illinois to the mouth of the Mississippi delta in Louisiana. By the mid-1980s, they had reached their present length and averaged 24 feet in height; however, some Mississippi levees are as high as 50 feet. The Mississippi levees also include some of the longest continuous individual levees in the world. One such levee extends southwards from Pine Bluff, Arkansas, for a distance of some 380 miles.

On top of the levee is a bike trail known as the Mississippi River Trail.  The part of the trail that leads into New Orleans is paved with asphalt and lined.  It is actually in better condition than most of the roads we drove on.  Here is the view heading into New Orleans.  You can just make out the tall buildings at the end of the trail.

The first part of the ride took us past some really nice neighborhoods.  This part of the city is above sea level, so they didn't experience the flooding that large parts of New Orleans experienced.  However, they did have a lot of wind damage and even a tornado that touched down and wiped out a strip shopping center.  Looking down from on top of the levee we could see lots of new roofs. Some businesses left town not because of flood damage but because it was too hard to conduct business after Katrina.  It has been 8 years since the storm, but there is still work to be done.  There are still houses and business boarded up.

After about 9 miles on the trail, we ran into a levee reconstruction project and had to make the final mile to our destination through the city streets. Good thing we had lots of practice on the mean streets of Philadelphia. We'll take a trail ride over a city street ride any day.

The reward for our effort was Cooter Browns.  We heard about this place from our shuttle driver.  We drove past it two days in a row on the way into the French Quarter.  The first time, he told us they have great food.  The second time, he told us they have over 400 beers, 40 of which are on tap.  Once we heard that, we knew this was the place for us.  Here is Kathy enjoying a belgian strong dark ale - Delirium Noturnom.  Dave tried the Jackson Stoudt. We both ended up having an alligator Po'boy for lunch.  For those from Philadelphia, it is very similar to a hoagie. For everyone else, think of it as a submarine sandwich on French bread.

There are a few businesses on the river side of the levee, mostly shipping and construction.  However, much of the land on each side of the levee is just open space that the state keeps mowed.  This makes for great horseback riding.  We passed a number of stables and saw a few folks out riding along side the bike trail.

New Orleans is very proud to have one of the longest train bridges in the U.S. - the Huey P. Long Bridge. We stopped to watch a train go over.

We also stopped and waived to the crew of this tanker.

We were really surprised at how clean and well maintained the levee was.  We also expected to see a lot more old warehouses and junk - not so.  We were surprised that so much of the ride was along side residential neighborhoods and golf courses. We look forward to riding in the opposite direction next time.