Location map		Detail map

We picked a good day for a trip in the Turtle Bayou area, mostly blue sky with slightly cool temperatures. Joe Coker, Paul Woodcock, Mike Pollard, Stephen Page and I met at White’s Park at 9:30 and were in the water by 9:45. . Joe was in his brand new orange play boat. The plan was to paddle up Turtle Bayou to Albriton’s Gully and paddle up the Gully as far as we could go. We would then return to the Park for lunch and decide whether to head up White’s Bayou or downstream on Turtle to Lake Anahuac.

White's Bayou		White's Bayou

We left the park and paddled upstream, under I-10 and took the right turn into Albriton’s. The trip up Albriton’s was very pleasant with at least some greenery on the trees the whole way. The water was very high, higher than I have seen it there giving some hope that we could make it past the bridge at Highway 61, however, this was not to be as we found the same pile of fallen trees and concrete chunks as normal under the bridge with the water flowing through only a little bit higher. Mike Pollard trailed a fishing line most of the way but did not get a nibble. We encountered two fishermen sitting on the bank pretty far back in the forest who had not had any luck so I guess the fish were just not hungry. On the way back there was a substantial group of buzzards circling a thermal just off the stream. Looking closer I found 4 white pelicans circling in the group just like they belonged there. I never realized that pelicans did the thermal thing.

Paul on Albriton's Gully		Mike on Albriton's		Bayou namesake

Arriving back at the park we unpacked lunch and ate at the little picnic table on the hill, enjoying the perfect weather. After lunch Paul had to leave so the rest of us hopped back in the boats and headed up White’s Bayou. The last time I paddled here was in the summer and that day I found so much salvinia it was impossible to go more than about ¼ mile up the stream. I was greatly pleased to see that almost all of the evil weed was gone; just a few very small clumps remained. Due to the high water we were able to paddle about as far as it is possible to go before fallen trees blocked the way. Many of the holly trees had a full crop of berries and one tree had flowers which had attracted a large swarm of bees. You could hear the buzz from a good hundred feet away. The upper end of this stream actually runs through farm land but you can not tell because it has eaten a nice gully down a good 10 or 15 feet deep so all that can be seen is the walls of the gully and trees above.

Steve and Mike, What obstruction		Dave. Tight squeeze		Dave at the Holly Tree on White's

All in all we had a great day on the water, traveling 8.6 miles in 5.3 hours. We will save the trip downstream to Lake Anahuac for another day.

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The author, Dave Kitson