Magic on the Mississippi

Get ready for one of our famed week-long Mississippi Adventures, with a fleet of canoes and paddleboards, campfire stories and discovering a new riverbank home on sandy shores and islands each night.

Five days on the river are sandwiched between nights strolling the music-filled streets of Memphis, Tennessee and Clarksdale, Mississippi, two towns which have played an enormous part in the birth of the Blues, Rock n’Roll and the Civil Rights Movement.

If you’re seeking a unique break from daily life, and the headspace to explore new possibilities alongside a like-minded, thoughtful group, this adventure has been designed for you.

A little film from a September 2019 Mississippi adventure, with a crew of paddlers from Europe and the USA coming together as strangers and leaving as friends.

The Journey

The Mighty Mississippi flows 99 miles out of Memphis down to Clarksdale in giant meandering loops into the verdant and fantastically fertile Mississippi Delta, the former cotton kingdom that gave birth to the Delta Blues.

The river leaves the city behind, carving elegant S-curves through deep woods as it meanders through Commerce Bend, Mhoon Bend and Walnut Bend, and then wanders down through a floodplain fifteen miles wide to the mouth of the St. Francis River, one of several tributaries that adds to the feeling of wildness.

Hundreds of thousands of acres of protected bottomland hardwood forest rest alongside the Mississippi in an incredible labyrinth of islands, forests, bayous, blue holes and back channels. Its the largest roadless area in the mid-south and where the road ends, the trail begins for paddlers. Giant islands in the river adds to the experience and we will enjoy wild open places, deep forests, hidden back channels, rich wildlife, and spectacular camping throughout.

Experience required

None! This trip is open to everybody.

Trip Notes

Quapaw Canoe Company will provide canoes and all safety gear, as well as dry bags for each participant.

Quapaw Canoe Company will provide lunches, dinners, and breakfasts for each day of the journey, this is included in the price for the Artist Retreat. Meals are cooked fresh on an open fire.

Reserve My Seat

This trip typically takes place in autumn of each year. Check our calendar to see if the next one has been scheduled: