Hugo Point to Trinity Bay
Feb. 23, 2013
by Will Blumentritt
It had been about 8-10 years since I made this trip, so it seemed time to take the trip again. Four HCC paddlers put in at the Hugo Point Park boat ramp at 9:45 AM (Feb, 23, 2013) headed to Cotton Bayou. Our first brief stop was at the bunker along the 7-mile long abandoned Wallisville Lake Project, where we could see the tail of one owl in the bunker.
With a current and north winds we were making good time at 4-5 MPH. We continued down Cotton Bayou to Cross Bayou to Red Bayou and hit Trinity Bay right at low tide. Once out in the bay, the water was only a few inches deep and we had paddle\pole our way, way out into the bay just get to 6 inches of water.
Heading northeast in the bay back towards Cotton Bayou, we saw one motorboat make it out of the channel and and other boat get stuck in the mud. We showed them water depths at various places and then stopped for lunch. We watched them intermittently as we ate – finally one of the three in the boat took the plunge into the 6” deep water and began slowly dragging the boat to deeper water - taking them a good 30 minutes to get back underway.
Lucky for us the wind changed to light winds from the south while we ate lunch. We were still fighting a modest downstream current, but the south winds were a welcome surprise. Typical upstream speeds were in the 3 MPH range.
At Cross Bayou, we went west to catch some different scenery. Back at the bunker, we could no longer see any owls.
We arrived back at Hugo Park at 2:15 PM for total time of 4.5 hours (including lunch) and distance of 10.6 miles. Great trip and great weather.
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| The author, Will Blumentritt |