Double Bayou with HASK
January 19, 2013
by Natalie Wiest
Saturday Janaury 19, 2013 dawned crisp and clear – and warming. 19 paddlers met at Job Beason Park on Double Bayou for a trip upstream to Double Bayou Park and back. The trip was put on by the Houston Association of Sea Kayakers – an event open even to an elderly librarian in a green canoe pushing a dog upstream and down. That would be me; and my good friend Marilyn also paddled a green canoe so they were pretty well integrated with blondes and canoes.
It was a flat beautiful day for paddling with very little wind and not much current. Trip coordinator Paul Penning did the safety talk and set up the arrangements. False advertising proclaimed it a “Colder than %$#^! Trip”. I’m sure the temperatures made a run well into the 60s (66 at Anahuac), near perfect for paddling. The sleek sea kayaks of the bulk of the group went easily upstream and down.
The steep bank at Double Bayou Park, some 5 miles upstream, was incredibly slick and a challenge for everyone to get up – and back down. Some of the group found a more user-friendly takeout spot a little farther upstream from the “usual” spot. We provided much entertainment for a troop of Boy Scouts who were camped there in the park, their tents set up under the large covered pavilion. There was plenty of seating for all, however, at the long range of picnic tables.
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Snacking at
Double Bayou Park
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Kayaker Gus
demonstrating an
even more leisurely
repose than Dave
Kitson has (thus far)
been able to attain.
Love those
inflatable boats |
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Perfect end to the
day – the sun sets
over Trinity Bay
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The bayou seemed strangely more devoid of large shade trees than I remembered it; I think there have been additional die-offs since hurricane Ike worked over the bayou. There has also been some amount of new home construction although it remains mostly a pristine, deep draft bayou.
A leisurely trip back downstream ended again at Beason Park; and a fun dining experience afterward at the Channel Marker 17 eatery.
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| The author, Natalie Wiest |