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HomeNL-2011-02_New_Years_Paddle
New Years Paddle
Jan. 1, 2011
by Harmon Everett

Coleen and I started out from the Woodlands around 3:30 New Year’s Eve, driving for San Marcos. What better way is there to spend New Year’s Day than on the water?

We got to San Marcos River Retreat around dusk and told Tom we would spend the night, and then went to find a pizza in San Marcos.  It was very dark by the time we got back to setting up the tents. Since I usually set up my tent in the dark, it wasn’t that bad. Other than it got down near freezing, and I could have used mittens, a thicker night cap, thicker socks and a warmer sleeping bag.  And it would have helped Coleen if the improvised rain fly for her tent had also covered her window.  Other than that, we were toasty.  Not.

Not surprisingly, we were the only guests in camp.

They are rebuilding the bridge at Scull’s crossing, so that can’t be used as a take-out.  We don’t know if the plans for the new bridge includes a take-out or not, but that makes for a pretty long trip to the next take-out, and the other option was to put-in in downtown San Marcos, and paddle to the retreat. The starting-in-town option included several portages however, including Rio Vista, and a couple of dams. After some discussion, we decided to start in town, and paddle to the camp.

The air temperature was still nippy when we put in at City Park, but the water temperature was a balmy 69.7 degrees. The water was clear, the sky was blue, the thick seaweed was bright green and there were turtles on the banks and birds in the sky.

         

There is a group of people who have a tradition of swimming in the San Marcos every New Year’s Day. The water was warm enough.  The air, not so much.

At Rio Vista, there was a guy with a small board playing in the standing wave at the top drop.  We portaged around and Coleen decided she wanted to try going through the little drop at the bottom. She had no problem. I shipped a little water when I went through.
         

A half mile past highway 35 there was a fork in the river, with an 8 foot drop over some rugged old dam structure or something. We went left, and after a while came to another dam and had to portage for a second time down a 6 foot drop in a little park.

Turtles, birds, and fish were all around the whole way.  Coleen is an ardent fisher, and wants to take her fishing gear the next time she paddles there. She’s never been there before, but she’s already planning for the next time she’s going.

We came to Cumming’s dam and had to portage around. It’s a decently big dam. There was some water leaking through it in spots, and ferns growing in the wall where the water was leaking through.
         

The day was wearing on, the sun was bright and warm, and we stopped for lunch.

I had been told the upper part of San Marcos was pretty flat and somewhat boring, but there were several little rapids that were plenty of fun for a day we didn’t really want to get wet. There is also a tree with a sign that says: "Murray Jones Drinking Tree.”

   

We ended up at camp around 4, and since we didn’t have two vehicles, I brought my bicycle.  A short bike ride into town from the campground, and I retrieved my car.

This was so much fun, I'm considering making it an annual event.  Think about it for next year. See you on the water!




 
 The author,
Harmon Everett