La Grange 71B to Columbus 71 B
36 miles
The trip route is outlined in "Rivers and Rapids" book.
Water gauges:
USGS LaGrange 8160400
USGS Columbus 8161000
Howell Canoe Livery, 804 Robson Street, Columbus, TX 979-732-3816
Saturday was a fine day. We met at the river and 71B in La Grange and ran shuttle at 9 am.
Boat launch at La Grange 71B
Eleven cars left for Howell Canoe Livery. Michael brought us back to the put in.
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| Packed in like sardines (click to enlarge) |
Thanks to Michael for running shuttle
The fifteen of us got together for a group picture. (click to enlarge)
From left, back row: Kelly, Malcolm, Michael, Ken, Harmon, Sandy, David, Mark, Fran, Duane, Craig.
From left, front row: Christy, Terry, Sandra, Elizabeth
Last minute stuff to do
We launched around 10:30. We floated, paddled, ate, and swam the twelve miles to our campsite, which was just passed Williams Creek.
Cooling off
Eating
We arrived at the island around 3:30. The sun was high in the sky, so it was still warm. Several decided to stay on the lower portion of island while others moved gear to the top of the island.
The Green dry bag marks the lower portion of the island
Christy’s tent (orange) is on the far left and Malcolm’s tent (green) is in the middle of the picture
Saturday evening we gathered on the top of the island under the trees and talked until supper time. Then we watched as Ken and several others demonstrated cooking techniques, high-tech cooking equipment, and specialty camp foods. It was very interesting.
My dinner was a can of soup. I cooked at my campsite, on the lower tier, and then went to the upper tier to eat with the group. My husband made a wind break from our old license plates, for my camp stove.
Stove windbreak
Sunday, we launched at 9 am for a predicted 18 mile paddle. At the eighteen-mile mark on my GPS, there was no island in sight. I was wondering if we had missed the planned campsite. At the TWENTY-ONE mile mark the lead paddlers beached on the island.
Beaches along the way
Note the flags on the boats
That evening while sitting around talking about the day, I mentioned the miscalculation and apologized for the long paddle. The group started talking about the PR (personal record) for the day and laughing. Now, that is a good group of paddlers.
Duane smiles most of the time
We had no rain until Sunday night after 10 pm. The light rain lasted only a couple of hours. But the lightning and thunder woke me a couple of times.
Sunday evening and into the night several of us received warnings from family and paddling friends about the prediction of a storm in our area.
Monday morning was a little wet
Monday morning brought another light shower. Everyone decided to get out at 71B in Columbus. So we ended the trip on a high note and got home early.
I want to thank the folks that contacted our group about the storm coming our way.
It did not rain on us while packing up so everyone got home on the dry side. Because of the shuttle arrangements I packed up my gear and boat at Howell's. I used their shower; it was so nice to be clean for the drive home.
Please go to the HCC website for more pictures of the trip.