Using US Army River Charts

J

journey on

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OK, I'm gonna go down the Mississippi River (someday.) Now, NOAA doesn't have any charts for the US rivers, but, lo and behold, the US Army Core Of Engineers has FREE downloadable ENC charts here: Inland Navigation Charts.

I've looked at these charts, with Fugawi, and they don't look as detailed as the NOAA charts I've used. For example, there are no depths on the charts at which I've looked. And no comments, note or anything but red/green channel markers.

Any comments on these charts? What charts do other people use on the Mississippi?

I do understand that the river changes from time to time. I have read Mark Twain and was mightily impressed. But haven't things changed since then?

Boris
 
Hi Boris,
We've only cruised on portions of the upper Miss., and the chart I generally use is the "Upper Mississippi River Navigatin Charts" published by the US Army Corps of Engs. This covers Miles 0 to 866. I doubt if you will find charts showing any kinds of water depths, as the water depths outside of the main channel change almost weekly. However, the main channel which carries barge traffic will always be of sufficient depth to comfortably float a C Dory. Leaving the main channel and poking into sloughs and beaching on sandbars along the way is to be done very slowly with a careful eye on the depth sounder, and with the OB tilted up. Watching what the locals are doing is very helpful....and the same goes for entering some of the smaller marinas along the way. The Mighty Miss is a fun river; I hope you make your "some day" trip!
Paul aboard the Joni Lynn
 
We live and boat on the Mississippi.

Navigating is very simple if you stay in the channel.

Stay between the red markers (called “Nuns” with pointed tops) and the green markers (called “Cans” with a flat top) and the Corp. Of Engineers “guarantees” a nine (9) foot depth to support barge traffic.

Note: The channel is flanked by wing dams which are perpendicular to the channel.

We go off channel all the time, know where we are going but are well aware of the risks.

See both slide shows at www.guttenbergbedandbath.com which has some river/C-Dory photos.

Regards,

Ron, Connie & Bear Fisher

PS: Why not plan your trip later this summer, with a stop at the first annual, C-Dory Gathering in Guttenberg, Iowa (in September 10/11, see calendar)?
 
Navionics electronic charts have depths. I printed out the USACE charts in color and kept them in a three ring binder to flip the pages. I also used the electronic chart all the time. Just remember it is right descending bank and left descending bank. Great cruising.

Mark
 
Boris, the USACE IENC charts are all you can get, as stated above just stay in the channel. We used Navionics on our PC with Tiki Navigator and CMAP on our chartplotter and they really are just renditions of the IENC charts.

There are few services on the river below the Grafton area, no way to stop in St. Louis, and only one stop below St Louis at Hoppies. From there its 400 miles with no waterfront available fuel, you would have to try to beach the boat and walk into one of the towns and jerry can fuel back to the boat.

Read these guys story - its pretty interesting - http://bacshortly.wordpress.com/

Eric
 
Thanks for the comments on Mississippi navigation. I'll continue to learn about USACE charts for next year.

Judy wants a land cruise this year, seeing all the western National Parks, so the river trip should be in '11. Looking forward to it.

Boris
 
You can still get the chart books from US corp of Engineers. I have most of the river systems--mostly used. You can up date the chart books from the ENC. The charts, along with guide books (such as Skipper Bob's, Quimby's) allow you to do planing.
 
I too use the "Upper Mississippi River Navigation Charts" but watch out. Mine, which I bought in 2004, has some incorrect latitude/longitudes. Sorry, I don't recall which pages. The ACOE charts for the Illinois Waterway used to have some bad lat/lons, but they've corrected them.
 
The chart books are good with plenty of details. Get them now and start looking them over, It will get you excited about the trip. I like the chart books a lot better that the online images. If I remember they were $35 each for the upper and lower from the COE office in Vicksberg, MS. We ordered them over the phone with Mastercard. We did the whole river from Lake Itasca to New Orleans 2 years ago.
This year, planning the Ohio in late May and Powell in Sept, and starting to think seriously about the Big River again in 2011.
Every one says to side step to the Tenn-Tom and avoid the lower Mississippi because of no facilities, But we loved it, no annoying boaters, just us and an occasional tow.
Best of luck,

Tex and Sharon
 
Hey Tex, fill us in on your trip down the lower river. Where did you stop? How did you refuel and reprovision. Would love to here about it.
Eric
 
The upper river is a series of pools, with locks and dams, so the flow is minimal. The neat thing is that after you pass St. Louis the river really flows. We were on it in August in a historical low water period and we still got an average 3 mph push. This gave us a low power cruising hull speed of around 7-8 mph. Pretty much solves the fuel problem. We could motor at low power, sipping fuel and still make 60-80 miles per day. I would guess at higher flows one might get a couple of more MPH push.
Our houseboat only goes 8 mps in still water at max cruise. In the longer stretch without on river fueling, if you need it you can fuel in portable cans and other supplies with a short walk at New Madrid, Mo or Hickman, Ky. Some folks take a folding dolly or cart. We took a moped with a large basket and rack.

It was the busy summer boating season and from Minneapolis to St Louis we got tired of being buzzed and rocked by cigarette boats and large cruisers. It was really bad on weekends if we were near a major population area.

The lower river was a welcome relief. We had stops at Hoppies, Vicksberg, Natchez, Greenville, New Madrid, Bator Rouge, and a nice side trip up the Kaskaskia River, where fuel and groceries are also available.
 
OK, I'm looking at the ENC charts and can't find any labels displayed, i. e., bridge, lock names, town names, etc. They appear in a small window if I use the query icon, but that is not very convenient. As you scroll down the charts, you don't have a clue as to where you are.

Am I doing something wrong? Is there a way to display place names directly on the charts? Do the chartbooks have geographical names printed on the charts?

Tex, how long did you take for the trip? I'd love to go all the way down the Mississippi. I take it, from your comments, that you didn't use Bixby's Cub for the trip. How hard was it getting a Texas passport so you could enter the US?

Boris
 
I was on the headwaters from Lake Itasca to Minneapolis solo in a 10' aluminum boat, 5 hp Merc with a self engineered bicycle wheel package for the 16 portages around small hydro dams for 2 weeks. The very first portage was a beaver dam. About 500 miles from Itasca to Minneapolis.

Returned to Minneapolis a month later towing the small houseboat "Becky Thatcher" with my wife to pick up where I left off. The headwaters part involved sleeping in a tent and my wife out grew that a many years back. Our first long cruise, she was very apprehensive about doing a month on the river, but loved it.
Left the Truck and Trailer at a Marina in Minneapolis, and rode the Amtrack train "City of New Orleans" back to Minneapolis to get them a month later.

The part from Minneapolis to New Orleans took 30 days, we averaged 60-90 miles a day at 7-10 Mph. 28 dams and locks. Spend a couple of days each in Hannibel, Memphis, and Vicksberg. Did day trips in several other towns. We took a prehistoric 1972 moped that was worth its weight in gold for sight seeing, doing laundry, getting groceries.

The chart books have every detail, locks, towns, bridges, Bridge details with drawing of the bridge for easy ID, which span is the channel, (not always the middle span), The name, location of every commercial facility, and locations of wing dams. and locations of all daymarks and night lights with mile markers every mile on the charts.
Did not need a passport, in fact, I was not sure I even left Texas, I was in northern Minnesota near the headwaters and saw more rebel flags on jacked up 4 wheel drive pick up trucks and and Ron Paul for president bumper stickers than we have in the entire state of Texas.
Bixby's Cub is new to us and was "rode hard and put up wet". To put it mildly the boat suffered from extreme deferred maintenance and is presently undergoing work to bring her up to seaworthy condition, We hope to bring her to Powell for the Brat gathering in Sept 2010.
The printing schedules and availability of the COE Chartbooks were hit or miss when we bought ours a couple of years back so get them several months prior to your trip.
The river charts for the part of the river in Minnesota are free from the Minnesota DNR and you can order them online or by phone and will get them in the mail in about a week

Best of luck,
Tex and Sharon
 
Tex, going all the way down the Mississippi sounds great. I take it gas was available all the way down, even if you had to go to town to get it?

Wonderful trip. I've got to do it. Maybe I can go down the Miss and up the Tombigbee.

Most of my in-laws are from Minnesota, including the kids grandparents and my present in-laws. Ya sure, you betcha. They all came off the farm to California. No profiling, just a factoid. Someday I'm going to jack up the Ford and put 4-wheel stickers on it. Fit right in.

Boris
 
Wow ! Tex is my neighbor - kinda like being a neighbor of Marco Polo ! Sounds like a great trip, maybe 3-4 months worth of poking around....
 
journey on,

Chart programs that view ENC charts should have 'preferences', a place where you can check off what features (or layers) you want to show. An ENC chart is a collection of features such as location and type of bouys, other nav marks, and so on. A raster or paper chart has all the info in plain site as none can be hidden.

Check all the tabs, buttons, or menus on the chart program to see if you can get more info. Also, the 'help' menu might actually help. :teeth
 
You are right Dave, to do it right is is several months of poking around.

The main part after the 2 weeks I spend on the headwaters, was from Minneapolis to New Orleans.....We did it in 30 days. We hit the high spots.....saw alot..... but many more places that we wanted to explore, we blew right by.

Thats why we are starting to think about a rerun in 2011 on a more leisurely pace.

And we still want to do the trip up that you guys did up the Hudson and the Erie canal.
And there is the Missouri River
And the Arkansas, etc.
So many rivers...so little time.
 
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