| Village Creek 1 - Ken McDowell's Report |
| December 13, 2009 |
| by |
| Ken McDowell |
By now, I trust you have seen John
Bartos’ fantastic photos (click this link) of the HCC trip
to Village Creek, Sunday Dec. 13. I am thrilled to say that 15 people
participated in the 10 mile trip, and even more thrilled to say that
everyone who said they would show up, did.
Participants included Sophie Lopez, Joe Coker, David Martin, Milton
Robertson, John Bayduss, Harmon Everett, John and Cindy Bartos, David
Caddy, Ben Amos, Cassidy Johnson, Halcyon Learned, Coleen Connelly, Ken
Anderson and me, Ken McDowell.
What the weather man promised as 72 degrees and sunny looked more like
60 degrees and foggy! The creek was up, but safely so, registering a
little over 7 ft. at the Kountze gauge. At this level, logjams were not
present at all, but still enough sugar sand point bars for pleasant
stopovers. David Martin, who runs Piney Woods Outfitters in Lumberton
helped us with the shuttle, and once again took very good care of us.
We saw several large hawks, otter slides, a tiny little crawfish ~ 1
in. long and very little trash. Much of Village Creek is now part of
the Big Thicket National
Preserve and the scenery is spectacular. After 4 hours paddling,
most of us hiked around the Nature Conservancy Larsen
Sandylands Preserve. Within this 5600 acre preserve lies one of the
last remaining stands of long-leaf pines in Texas. This crossroads of
ecology has spectacular botanic diversity, with post oaks, pine trees,
yucca, prickly-pear cactus and yaupon holly brambles all living in
perfect harmony.
Joe Coker also took a bunch of photos and others too, so watch this
space. Words can’t do it justice.
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The author,
Ken McDowell |
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The End ~~~
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