The weather has been perfect lately, so we decided to overnight - not a simple task with a small BR. Our favorite place to hook is in a sand and gravel quarry, above Cordova, IL. It's off the river, quiet, cleaner water.
Since it's a quarry the shores are steep, but usable. The sand/rock is dredged and barged downriver via an outlet to the Mississippi.

This is my favorite channel marker on the way up. Someone puts this flag out every year.


These are a couple shots of the quarry, basically it's a small lake.




On hook.



Pretty nice sunset.



Full moon risin' (and my redneck camper screen).


Nice breeze, no flies, no mosquitos, what a great night.

Looks like fun. And a popular place for others to do the same overnighting.

Looks fun. Since you are almost beaching it, why wouldn't you use a tent instead of the "redneck camper screen" and sleeping on the boat?

My son wants to camp on one of the islands in the lake we use, but the power company recently banned it. That is a bit of a bummer, but I have to admit the islands are cleaner now. Yahoos would leave their camping trash behind.

Couple reasons. The beach is too steep, and I hate to camp in sand. At least this way, we wash the sand off before getting into the "tent".

Looks nice Philr...at the risk of topic drift Cycle, Duke has always banned camping on the islands of Lake Norman. They just bought some new signs this year and claim they are going to step up enforcement according to this article. I've still seen some camping so maybe enforcement is still spotty.

http://www.huntersvilleherald.com/articles/2008/05/30/news/local/local01.txt

We anchor near a few islands and swim ashore to play on the shoreline or "explore". As someone w/ some backwoods camping experience it is a bummer to come across trash, a dirty diaper or toilet paper and human waste just laying there. I understand "emergencies" but a simple "cathole" is not that hard to make.

Yep, like you say, as usual a few "Yahoos" ruin it for the many...and it really only takes a few to make an area look trashy. I had to chuckle at this comment though: "There's a fear of (island campers) completely burning down the islands," says Lancaster. "It would look really bad to see bald islands all over the place." Like they would all accidentally burn down on the same weekend?...and rules would stay static untill all were burned down! The risk of fire is real though and the danger from broken bottles as well...most that beach or swim in are of course barefoot.

Looks like a cool time! That would be fun to do.

Nice shots of the camping. Looks like everyone had a good time and the weather cooperated.

Great looking shots! What mile marker is that located at? Also looks like the water level was down quite a bit from recent based on the fresh water line in the sand.

You moored your boat from the stern. How deep is that area?

MM 508.3

http://www2.mvr.usace.army.mil/NIC2/Documents/MissRiver/Map053-505-512.pdf

The quarry is ~35' deep. The shoreline falls away quickly so I can get the SP in to <3' of water. I drop anchor 50' out, and back into where I can swim ashore and pull the boat to my shore anchor.

Cool shots. I understand sleeping in the boat. I used to tent camp all summer but after sleeping in the boat this summer no contest. You had the best of both worlds there with your camp fire.

Thanks for sharing the pics and story.
Sounds like a great time

That's a great way to do it. Camping in the BR isn't as hard as it seems, but a bit more difficult than in, say, a 24' pontoon. I've slept a few nights on mine on an anchor just like that at Mohave and Mead.

No mosquitos. That ain't camping.

Thanks for the pics.

Semper Fi 75

Are the boats in the background here high and dry?



That looks like a nice place to ski/board. Is it big enough to do that w/o causing problems with the people anchored along the shore?

Not sure what you mean by that ... they've powered their bows up on the shore.



No. Except for some #$%^& jet-skiers, common courtesy prevails and it's treated as a no-wake zone. People anchor/raft all over. There's a huge river for the watersports.