Most of us paddlers who have visited Sea Rim State Park have taken note of the availability of a floating campsite and thought “gee, I’d love to try that”.  Not only did Christy Long have that thought, she acted on it and by invitation to her more stalwart (??) female paddling friends, reserved the site and set us up for a go at it.  The chosen date was December 15, 2019 the Sunday evening following the Houston Canoe Club Christmas party.  Also important about the date this time of year, is availability only certain days as it is duck hunting season at the park.  You can only camp there by reservation.

Amy McGee, Fran Wilcox, and I answered the call and met Christy at the park putin.  Knowing space was at a premium and it would be challenging getting from boat to the dock, we paddled two tandem canoes.  Here we are at the put-in:

We took heed of the alligator warning sign as none of us wanted a run-in with those critters.



A fairly recent burn came right up to the edge of the trail for some distance. I believe these burns are for the purpose of ridding the marsh of invasive species and also as a renewal for the existing grasses.



The trail itself was quite narrow.



With the burns and short vegetation it was quite easy to spot the platform from a distance. The curious tall feature is a three-sided wraparound of the only “private” part of the platform – the location for the required 5 gallon bucket waste collection, which had to be supplied by us along with waste disposal bags and treatment. Here’s what the platform looked like from a distance, and the “throne” itself as set up. You can ask us privately how this turned out…





With potential for high winds, rain, and thunderstorm activity I was concerned about being a lightning rod out there in the swamp – the highest point and its steel superstructure. Thankfully our weather luck was with us and we did not have to test.

The platform itself is only 13’ x 20’ and suggested maximum capacity of two tents. We were concerned about being able to tie down our tents in case of high winds and were very happy to find the platform was designed with secure tie-down in mind. We actually squeezed four tents in, but two are one person tents and you can see how tight it was for the end with three tents:



We had a fair amount of wind which mostly kept mosquitoes at bay – until the wind stopped in the middle of the night. Fog and mosquitoes swept in and night time potty trips exposed us to the hungry hoard which followed us back into our tents.

In this photo you can see the railing that was available for tie-down and was inset at the level of the floor. It’s between the two black boots. Both canoes were tethered to the sides of the platform. Side rails extended most of the way around the platform, but not all the way.



We had plenty of time to indulge in some knot tying practice



And our own private dining area



Our weather luck was extreme. As we left the park and were dining at a local dive, all the weather radios went off with a tornado alert. We didn’t have any rain there, but it was torrential about halfway back to Houston on I-10. Clearly our trip was meant to be, and it was great fun. Thank you Christy Long for coordinating and setting this up.



Natalie Wiest

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The author, Natalie Wiest