With chores to do over the 3-day Memorial Day Weekend, I had to remain local, but needed to do a bit of paddling. So I posted on the HCC Paddling Forum and found 3 takers – Diana Cooper, Robert Killian, & Bruce Bodson.  Robert brought a friend also, but she had to leave early.

We met up at Dairy Ashford at the Buffalo Bayou (southeast corner of the intersection) and ran a four car shuttle to Briarbend Park, returning in one car. We put in right under the bridge.  There are wooden steps leading down to the water, which made for a reasonable put-in.

We took a really slow pace and lots of time to talk & see the sights.  We saw a number of snakes, turtles, and various birds. 

We only encountered one obstacle along the trip where had to get out and pull boats over an easy log.

It seems from our small sample that most people have paddled Buffalo Bayou, but not necessarily west of the West Belt.

The water was running ~ 130 CFS, which is plenty – when it gets to below 70 CFS it is still doable, but if it gets too low you may occasionally drag on the bottom.

For this trip, I was trying out my new Wenonah Argosy (Royalex).

On Sunday afternoon, I did a solo trip from Briarbend Park to Allen’s Landing to test out my 20’ solo Landick without the rudder and set up in a kneeling position.  It worked pretty well.