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HomeNL-2008-08 Spring Creek

Spring Creek
August 24, 2008
by John Rich

On Sunday, August 24th, nine HCC members gathered together to paddle Spring Creek.


We met at 8:00 am under the Highway 59 bridge over the San Jacinto River, just north of Bush Intercontinental Airport. Southwest Paddle Sports arrived for the shuttle with a passenger van and canoe trailer. We loaded our boats and gear, and headed out. The first stop was Jesse Jones nature park, where two paddlers hopped out to make a short paddle from there back to Hwy 59. The remaining seven paddlers continued further north to the Riley Fuzzle Bridge over Spring Creek. (I don't know who Riley Fuzzle was, but with a name like that, I'm sure you just had to like him.) The put-in site there was pristine sand, and there was some current flowing in the creek to push us along.


It was an easy and enjoyable paddle, with occasional logs and stumps in the creek that gave maneuvering practice. The bends in the creek just about all contain beautiful white-sand beaches, some quite wide, and the surrounding riverbanks are dense woods. I think we saw only one home along the 14-mile stretch, so it feels like wilderness. You don't hear any motor traffic, and the only sound that drowned out the gurgling water was the jets flying overhead on approach into the airport.


The water was often shallow in places, so you had to seek out the deeper channel. Or at least I did, to keep my battleship afloat. I was using my 15'8" canoe, while everyone else had sleek, fast, shiny kayaks. The creek widens as it nears the juncture with the San Jacinto River, the current disappears, and the last couple of miles are like flat water. The total trip time was about 6 hours, and we stopped for one rest break for about 30 minutes.


It's a pretty stretch of river, and easy to get to. I'm sure I'll be doing it again some day. Those beaches would also make for great overnight camping.


For a photo album of my pictures from the trip, go here: Picasa


Click the "slideshow" button, and you might then want to increase the number of seconds for viewing each picture - the default of four seconds is inadequate in my opinion. There are 27 photos. Enjoy!





The author, John Rich