Dickenson Bayou, Galveston Bay and Moses Lake
Nov. 19, 2011
by Dave Kitson
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Put-in
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Dickenson Bayou
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This was a
last minute trip organized by Natalie Wiest and attended by Joe Coker and
myself. Natalie had found this put-in spot and thought it would be a good place
to access the Bay and so it was. The plan was to put in where Dickenson Bayou
crosses FM146 and paddle downstream out the mouth of the bayou into Galveston Bay, checking out the small islands as
possible birding sites as we went. Dickenson Bayou discharges into Galveston Bay west of and sort of behind San Leon.
We knew that the wind might be high with projections of 12 to 17 mph so the
backup plan was to paddle upstream in somewhat more sheltered water. In the
event, the wind was around 12 so we decided to take the downstream route. It
was definitely spray skirt weather but the clouds kept the temperature down to a
pleasant level.
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White pelicans
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Galveston Bay. The 12 mph wind was almost directly in our face so, although it was work
paddling into the wind and chop, it was easy to keep the boat going in the right
direction. The spray skirts did their job on a number of occasions on this
tack. We passed a shell island which was the temporary home of a flock of 25+
White Pelicans as well as a few American Oystercatchers. This was a pretty good
birding day on which we saw White Pelicans, Brown Pelicans, Royal Terns,
American Oystercatchers, American Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Black
Crowned Night Herons, Laughing Gulls, a Northern Harrier hovering 10 to 20 feet
above the grassy dike between Galveston
Bay and Moses Lake and a pair of Loons. Bird
identification was by Natalie.
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Flood gate to
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Moses Lake
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As we approached the flood gate into Moses Lake we encountered a pair of kayak
fishermen. I had always heard that the kayak fishermen take great pride in
paddling long distances through rough, difficult and even dangerous water to do
their fishing. This pair was no different having parked their cars on the dike
and bravely fought their way at least 100 ft. into the Bay where they anchored
to do a little fishing and to rest up for the arduous trip back to the
cars.
At this point it was time to paddle though the flood
gate into Moses
Lake. The tide was flowing
out of the lake at a good 3 mph clip so we were just able to maintain headway as
we paddled into the lake. Fortunately, no motor boats came through as we were
trying to make the transit and no one got sideways and flushed out of the
channel.
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Beach on Moses Lake
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We stopped to stretch our legs on a shell beach a little
north of the flood gate. My spray skirt worked like a champ throughout the trip
however, as I took it off the boat in preparation to get out, the wind turned me
sideways and the waves shipped a couple of gallons into the boat in a matter of
seconds; oh well,best laid plans. It was here that we saw the Northern Harrier
trying to hover 15 or 20 feet above the grass; it seemed like an odd behavior
for a raptor with good eyesight. In any event, it was not successful because
the wind was blowing it down the dike at a fast rate. Moses Lake is surprisingly large, much larger
than it appears on Google Earth, and would be a good exploratory trip on a day
with less wind.
The route back was down wind and down wave so it did not
take as long, however, it was every bit as much work trying to keep the boat
pointed in the right direction as it was paddling into the wind. The trip ended
up at 9 miles and 3 hours and 45 minutes of very good exercise. The put in
under FM 146 is a good starting place for an exploratory trip upstream on
Dickenson Bayou to Gum Bayou. Joe has downloaded some excellent photos of the
trip to the web site so check those out. So many great places to paddle, so
little time.
Click here to see Joe Coker's complete photo album of the trip.
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The author,
Dave Kitson
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