Sam loaded his kayak onto my truck at 09:00, and we each drove a truck to the takeout behind the Glenwood bone yard. Then Sam joined me to go to the put-in at Norman and we geared up for our Ides of March paddle.
Sam is modeling his new NRS PFD
The river was swollen from rain that brought the gage to 12.5’ at 4:45 this morning. By the time we launched at 10:45 it had already retraced to just about 9’. The water was moving pretty fast – probably about 5 or 6 mph – and many of the usual features (rocks) were under water.
The water was “active” as it punched its way around and over all of the hidden features. There were lots of wave trains and unpredictable currents. We covered the 6 miles to the Swinging Bridge at Caddo Gap in an hour and 15 minutes, where we went over a pretty thrilling drop and met Calvin Doody at high noon. He joined us for the remaining 10 and a half miles of the trip.
Calvin with a redbud in the background
Sam enjoying a peaceful moment between wave trains
Kent on cruise control
We bounced down the river as the weather went from misting to drizzling to sprinkling to a light rain. We saw egrets, great blue herons, a hawk, ducks, belted kingfishers, turkey vultures, ravens, a couple of squirrels and some LBJs. I heard cardinals.
Note that the photos do not accurately represent the level of activity on this trip. It was a good mix of bucking and slapping the water, plowing into and riding up waves until we tipped over the tops, looking around to check on each other and relaxing in the calm between the next roiling waters. It was a blast.
We came upon our take-out at 2:06 PM and did all of the usual post-takeout stuff – home just after 16:00.
Contrast with the Trinity River Takeout at Romayor
LESSONS LEARNED:
It is worth tracking the weather, gages and historical rates of gage dissipation to catch a trip like this.
The red dot is at our launch time, the black dot with dotted line is our takeout. It took almost 2 inches of rain to raise the gage to its high point at 4:45 AM
Not surprisingly, the flow data is very similar in profile, but with an exponential twist
The Author, Kent Walters
Link to Photo Album - Caddo River