The Cutoff
Dec. 10, 2016
by Kent Walters

 

	The put-in from Roger's view

TRIP-AT-A-GLANCE (Statistics):
• Water ID: Old River & The Cutoff
• Put-In: 1409 Bridge at Old River
• Take-Out: 1409 Bridge at Old River
• Date: 10 December 2016
• Air Temperature: 48ºF - 56ºF
• Water Temperature: 56ºF
• Wind: Light (4-8 MPH) from E and ENE
• Clouds: Partial cover (mostly cirrus)
• Gage ID: USGS 08067252
• Trinity Rv at Wallisville, TX
• Gage Height: 14.8 ft
• Coordinator: Kent Walters

Our little group met at 9:00 AM at the Old River bridge on FM1409. The weather was great - it did not feel nearly as cold as the thermometer indicated when Fran Wilcox, Roger Swaney and I set off to the south on Old River. There were high, wispy clouds that covered most of the sky, and a light breeze on the still water as we snuck past cypress, yaupon, willow and oak trees in muted fall color. It was Fran who pointed out the colors were not nearly as vibrant as those in New Jersey, but here in the South we take what we can get. We paddled down the broad bayou and exited into the cutoff.

 

(Click thumbnail photos to enlarge.)
Fran - Happy to be on the water		Roger - alert on the bayou

We explored some interesting openings along both shores, completely missing the one we intended to take to Lost Lake (please see GPS track). Continuing on the Cutoff, a few miles later we took a starboard turn past a fallen tree into Dave’s Cut (don't use the fallen tree as a landmark, as there were many fallen trees across the Cutoff). After a relatively short distance on this promising tributary, we came to a log jam that went all the way across the bayou. Joe and Dave would have fought their way over the section that had only one log, but it was already past 1:00, and it was time to turn around anyway. So we took the easy path and had a nice, relaxing lunch in our boats at another fork as we were retracing our route. We paddled back out, accompanied by a few shotgun blasts, and arrived back to the combination take-out/ put-in at about 4:00 - a very nice day on the water.

Roger and Fran on Old River		Fran's picture of Kent in his new boat

 

SIGHTINGS:

• A few anhinga (darters) – one catching the rays in a tree top until we got too close, one swimming/diving, and three or four more flying overhead.
• A few little belted kingfishers kept dancing ahead of us at different times
• about 10 black-bellied ducks (whistling) sat on a log long enough for us to get a good. look at them and hear their unexpected (for a duck) song before they took off.
• a large raptor that looked like a harrier.
• a few ibis.
• quite a few great blue herons, pumping and squawking their disapproval of us.
• a large bird that we could not identify - looked like a golden eagle or large owl – most likely not an eagle - it descended slowly into a clearing (not typical eagle behavior)
• a turtle

ADDITIONAL CONDITIONS/OBSERVATIONS:

• We heard a few shotgun blasts – a couple at pretty close range
• Gage at Trinity River near Moss Bluff: 3 ft, 2.8 kcfs
• Water level was about 2 feet lower than normal, judging from the water marks on the trees and cypress knees (which is probably why we didn't notice our second turn)
  

MILEAGE: 14 miles – split the difference between the final readings of our two active GPS units

LESSON LEARNED: The GPS not only tracks time, distance and route, but if you think about it early enough, it can also be used to navigate (duh).

 

Photo album here.

The author, Kent Walters