The weather was excellent for this paddle! Sixty-one degrees at the put-in and we were on the water by 10:10. Alice Nissen, Christy Long, Karen Suggs, Joe Coker and Fran Wilcox participated. For those of you who had done this paddle in the past note that there is a new put-in. It is concrete and much easier access. It is the middle entrance from TX 35. There is plenty of parking, but the restrooms are at the “old” put in.
Beautiful Day for Paddling
The water level was substantially down several feet but there was certainly enough water to paddle. We went right at the put-in, which is upstream, and paddled to approximately 2.3 miles to a man-made waterfall (by ConocoPhillips) which is a saltwater barrier. Right now, it’s more of a trickle than a waterfall but nevertheless a cool thing to see.
Along the banks there was much evidence of erosion, with huge trees turned over and their roots up. The houses near the river are built on stilts and we did wonder how high the water could get in a heavy rain event.
We did see a Blue Heron, Red Shouldered Hawk, Belted Kingfisher, Yellow Rumped Warblers, Cardinals and Woodpeckers - the usual suspects. There was also a lot of Bass in the water, more fish than we usually see. Joe suggested that maybe this part of the river isn’t fished that much.
We paddled back to the put-in and found a nearby picnic table for lunch. Then back on the water to go downstream past some of the very nice homes that border the river. The wind picked up and we decided to turn around t make our 3 o’clock take out.
Overall mileage was 7.4 miles. Perfect day on the water!
The Saltwater Barrier in Winter with Low Water
The Saltwater Barrier in the Fall with Higher Water Levels