Sunday 3/10/24, we (HCC) did a nice paddle out on Turtle Bayou. For those unfamiliar, that’s a fine spot about 40 miles East of Houston, near Lake Anahuac. It was actually the re-scheduling of the trip on Armand Bayou I was supposed to lead on Saturday. Unfortunately, we had to cancel that one due to high winds…NNW 20-30mph. Would have been nasty! As a point of interest, there was also an associated phenomenon occurring out there. Take a look at pics #1 and 2 which show what the put-in at Armand looks like on a good day (#1), and what it often looks like during and after strong North winds which totally blow out the water (#2)! That’s frequently accentuated by low tides leaving the put-in a muddy mess with low water and many obstructions throughout the area. Best to just stay away!
Anyway, we switched the paddle to Turtle Bayou on Sunday. It’s a great fall-back venue, heavily wooded and protected from wind. Turned out to be a great day…blue sky and high 60’s, and even better since we hooked up with our good friends at HASK (Houston Assoc. of Sea Kayakers) and enjoyed a great joint-club paddle. Our route took us up the North stretch of Turtle Bayou, a nice peaceful jaunt with lots of Spring green peeking out. Didn’t see very many birds, but we did spot a couple of the famous turtles for whom the Bayou was aptly named!
As another interesting aside, take a look at the last photo. It shows several large pieces of wood still lodged in the tree branches a good 30 feet up. Most probably remnants of Hurricane Ike 9/13/08 or Harvey 8/25/17! I paddled out there shortly after both storms. The quantity of stuff.…chairs, beds, desks, vehicles, all kinds of clothing, etc, etc, way up in the trees (particularly on the Albriton Trib) was incredible and appalling evidence of how violent those bayous can get.
A large fallen tree across the water blocked our passage a bit earlier than expected on our Sunday Turtle outing. So we clocked only about 6 miles out and back. Everyone agreed though, it was plenty for the day. We were hungry and happily all headed over to the Crawfish Place for a hearty post-paddle banquet and beverages!
Another great day on the water!
