Goliad Flotilla
November 3, 2018
by Fran Wilcox

Participants – Paul Woodcock, Alice Nissen, Sandy Rushworth, David Risch, Natalie Hansen, Cyndi Cannon, Fran Wilcox

Total Mileage – 5.2 – Originally, the mileage was estimated to be 6.6 but Hurricane Harvey destroyed the takeout that was in the State Park.  On Saturday, we took out at Commercial Street.  

What a fun day!  We all had elected to camp at Goliad State Park so we were ready to go to the put in on Saturday morning.  There were volunteers who off loaded our boats, carried them down the metal steps to the San Antonio River and steadied the boats as we boarded.  Then we were off.  The river was up due to the rains and was flowing considerably fast.  I think that we decided that all we had to do was steer!  Paul, Sandy and Dave left first with their canoes and Alice, Natalie, Cyndi and I started after that.  The morning was relaxed and fun.  The flotilla is along one of the Texas Paddling Trails and we did see a few birds and one turtle (we think).  We leisurely floated down the river and there were more volunteers to “catch” us at the take out and carry our boats up the stairs to our cars.  This take out has an ingenious system of PVC pipes on metal rods like a conveyor belt so that one can pull their boat up the mechanism as you walk up the stairs.   

After we secured our boats, we walked a few yards over to the park for an excellent lunch of chicken salad sandwiches, chips, fruit, and lots of cookies.  

We visited and went on to check out the missions, hike and go back to the campground.  Goliad is a quaint small town with interesting things to check out.  There is a Brewery, a Rodeo, the Missions, hiking trails and shops.  There are several good restaurants, La Bahia (BYOB) and The Empresario that we had tried before and recommend.

The author, Fran Wilcox