Winter Solstice, 2010 was a gift from Mother Nature to three HCC paddlers who spent the day exploring the West Fork of the San Jacinto River above Hwy 59. Joe Coker, Tim Garber and I paddled about 4 miles upstream from the 59 bridge and enjoyed a fantastic day with temps in the 70’s and sunny skies. While the fair-weather-challenged paddlers up north suffered through continuing blizzards, we enjoyed a late Indian summer day, with critters, birds, huge clean white sand bars flanked by beautiful stands of mature loblolly pines and river banks graced with Sycamores dressed in late season color. After enjoying a great lunch and a nap on the biggest sand bar I have ever seen, we reluctantly turned around and paddled back to our 4 million neighbors in greater Houston. We stopped on the way to explore a gravel quarry and pick some nice petrified wood.  Wish I could do this every Tuesday!

You can get a taste of this adventure from the attached photos courtesy of Joe Coker, so be sure to check out all his great pics on the HCC website, HERE.

The author, Ken McDowell