Lake Pass
Feb. 17, 2013
by Dave Kitson
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| Area map |
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The planned trip was a Sunday put-in on the Trinity under the I-10 bridge with the route to be up the Trinity to Lake Pass, then up Lake Pass to Lake Charlotte, across the south end of Charlotte to the Mud Lake cut, south over Mud Lake to Ghost Bayou, south-southwest along Ghost Bayou, followed by a paddle west along the small lake to Miller Lake. No sooner had I posted the trip than the water level at the Charlotte gauge began to drop. It went from 8.5’ on Wednesday to 7’ by Saturday. 7’ is most likely not enough to do Ghost Bayou so I changed the trip to a put-in at Lost River and then a trip up John Wiggins Bayou. By Saturday night the weather included a 15-mph south wind which would have made the return trip down Wiggins and Lost River a real bear so it was back to plan A and a trip up Lake Pass as far as we could go. All these weather problems illustrates the benefit of waiting as long as possible before posting a trip.
Joe Coker, Paul Woodcock and I met at the boat ramp on the west side of the Trinity at 9:30 Sunday morning. We were greeted by a dead feral pig (sans head) in the parking lot which was putting out a considerable stink so we got on the
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Water line |
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White pelicans |
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In flight |
water as fast as possible. There were clear blue skies and perfect temperatures making this a great day to paddle. The Trinity was barely flowing so the trip to Lake Pass was easy. By the water lines on the trees we could see that the water was down a good 2.5’; this was as low as I have seen it on Lake Pass. We decided to stick our bows into Miller Lake but encountered a 15 mph wind from the south which was not appealing. We did see a huge flock of white pelicans, maybe 200, on the Lake.
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| Lake Pass |
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Blockage |
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Muddy frog |
Failing at Miller Lake we went back to Lake Pass and headed toward Charlotte. A hundred yards or so upstream we encountered a fallen log completely blocking our way. It would easily have been underwater in normal conditions but with the very low water it was not passable so we headed back to Miller to brave the wind. It was a slog against the wind all the way across, especially for Paul who was in a canoe. The whole way my paddle was in the mud; I don’t think the lake was even 1.5’ deep anyplace. I got to within 75 yards of the south shore and ran aground. I thought about getting out and walking but when I tested the mud with my paddle I found that we would have easily sunk in to our knees (or deeper).
So, back to Lake Pass. The low water allowed us to get out on the north bank for lunch and even walk a
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| Turtle |
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little way into the forest. Back on the water Joe found a large turtle that appeared very brave. He drifted over to within a few feet and it stayed on the log. Going around to the right side he discovered the reason for its bravery. There was a huge crack in the front part of its shell; no doubt the result of an encounter with a propeller. There was also a smaller chip at the rear. Obviously, this guy was not feeling too well and just did not want to get in the water. It was hard to believe it was still alive given the size of the crack. We ducked in to the little man-made lake near the mouth of Lake Pass and found a family camped there on the east bank. There was also an osprey hunting the lake. It would see something from maybe a hundred foot height, feather its wings and begin to drop, bring out its claws and then change its mind and climb back up. It did this about a dozen times before giving up and moving to the Trinity.
We paddled back to the bridge where Paul decided to take out and Joe and I elected to go a little ways down the Trinity. Unfortunately, the wind had increased to 18 mph or more, just too much for fun paddling so we turned around and headed to the cars. It was a great day on the water finishing at 7.1 miles and 4.6 hours even with the adverse conditions.
More trip photos from Joe Coker: here.
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| The author, Dave Kitson |