| Where |
Colorado River, Main Stem |
| Put in |
LaGrange Buffalo Trail Park |
| Take out |
Columbus Business 71 |
| Distance |
36.99 miles |
| Gauge |
Approximately 1,000 cfs and 4.0 feet gauge height
|
| Participants |
Bruce Bodson, Brent Hwang, Greg Fan, Tyrone White, Taylor Foster, Doug Crum, Michelle Waterman |
A group of seven of us in seven boats did a longish paddle on the Colorado, partly for the heck of it and partly to evaluate the route as a potential race route for Houston Canoe Club’s prospective fall race.
For several of our group, this was the first time they had done over 30 miles as a day paddle and for a few of the others, this was the first time for quite a while.
The river had fallen considerably from earlier in the week and as a result the lower portion of the ramps and both put in and take out was a bit muddy and slippery. That was virtually the only hazard we encountered on this trip, other than the sheer distance. There was a bit of slipping and sliding, but no actually falling in the mud or sliding into the river.
Greg and Tyrone setting up boats to launch at LaGrange
Once we were launched, the river was beautiful. There are no real rapids on this segment, just a few riffles and the occasional snag or sweeper to avoid, so we were able to paddle on down the river without much concern.
Though this was a possible race route, this was not a race, so we ran it at a touring pace and had planned stops at 12 miles, 22 miles, 30 miles, and the end.
Tyrone, Greg, and Taylor, on the river
The rest stops were great places to have a snack, a cold drink and just flop in the river.
The crew cooling of at the 30-mile rest stop (Photo by Brent Hwang)
Michelle Waterman, at the 30-mile rest stop
Tyrone and Brent at the 30-mile rest stop
The 30-mile rest stop- note jug line buoys in the background (Photo by Greg Fan)
As usual for this stretch of the river there were plenty of birds and a bit of other wildlife as well. We saw two bald eagles, green kingfisher, belted kingfisher, red-shouldered hawk, red-tailed hawk, Mississippi kite, crested caracara, coopers hawk, spotted sandpipers, least sandpipers, green, little blue and great blue heron, great, cattle and snowy egret, yellow-crowned night heron, two white pelicans (possibly injured birds), barn, cliff, and northern rough-winged swallows, purple martin, white-eyed and red-eyed vireos, northern parula, northern cardinal, indigo bunting, painting bunting, dickcissel, mourning dove, white-winged dove, barred owl, scissor-tailed flycatcher, eastern kingbird, eastern wood peewee, wood duck, and no doubt a number of other things I am forgetting. There were deer here and there on the banks.
Despite the pleasant conditions I think people were about ready for the fun to end when at about mile 33 we came to the old pier for a demolished railroad bridge. Those of you who might remember the old Colorado River 100, this was the sign that you had reached the beginning of the end and needed only four more miles of paddling to reach the end.
The old railroad pier. Four miles to go! (Photo by Brent Hwang)
I think everyone was pretty pleased to finally hit the ramp at Business 71 in Columbus.
In order of appearance after Michelle, and I landed and I got organized for photos:
Brent Hwang, our HCC Commodore
Doug Crum (Old racing friend from College Station)
Greg Fan, our HCC Vice Commodore
Taylor Foster, a friend from the Brazos
Tyrone White, HCC member
Everyone finished within about 30 minutes, so while tired, no one burned out. Contrary to popular opinion, 37 miles is a pretty pleasant distance! I did offer Tyrone and Greg the chance to paddle back up to the SH 71 main bridge and back to bring the total to an even 40 miles, but they declined.
My final GPS, after everyone was in the boats were off the ramp. Pretty good moving average, and plenty of daylight to enjoy some nice breaks on the river!