San Marcos River Cleanup and Campout
Section 2
San Marcos Retreat to Sculls Crossing
March 3 to March 5, 2023
Trip Report by Christy Long
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Put-in
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San Marcos River Retreat
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Take-out
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Sculls Crossing
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River Miles
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3.5 miles
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Fees or Permits
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Launch Fees and Camp Fees were waived for cleanup participants
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Gage
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On Mar 4 it was 85 cfs on
USGS 08171400 San Marcos Rv nr Martindale, Tx
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Temperature
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75 deg F
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Sky
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Cloudy, Sunny, Clear at Night
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Moon Phase
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Waxing gibbous to full moon
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Sunrise/sunset
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Mar 4 Sunrise 6:52am, Sunset 6:33pm
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Precipitation
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none
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Wind
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Little wind
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Coordinator
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Christy Long
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Participants
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Christy Long, Natalie Hansen, David Potter, Harmon Everett, Gary Masters, Fran Wilcox, Frank Ohrt, Pharr Smith, Steve Long, Robert Langley, Tom Douglas
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Shuttle
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Left Natalie’s truck at Sculls, Steve picked me up at Sculls, Frank picked up Fran.
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Craft
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2 canoe, 6 kayaks
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HCC Club Miles
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9 participants x 3.5 miles= 24.5 miles
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Road Miles
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340 round trip Pearland, Tx to San Marcos River Retreat
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Guide Book
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Rivers and Rapids, Canoeing, Rafting and Fishing Guide by Ben M. Molen and Bob Narramore. ISBN 0-9632403-8-2
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Photos
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San Marcos Clean up and campout March 4 2023
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Food
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Friday night group spaghetti, Saturday breakfast in camp, lunch on river, dinner provided by Cleanup Organizers. Sunday breakfast coffee in camp. Colmen stoves, electric plates, electric coffee pot, Jetboil stoves.
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The call was made to come help clean the entire San Maros River, from just below the San Marcos Springs to the confluence with the Guadalupe River, some 75 miles downstream.
Sandy Yonley's video of Clean Up
Clean Up Details
I chose to join Section 2 and volunteered to coordinate any other Houston Canoe Club members for the Section 2 Coordinator, Grace Arianoutsos. This section is from San Marcos River Retreat to Scull Crossing.
Map showing Section 2, San Marcos River Retreat to Sculls Crossing
The cleanup coordinators are very generous to the participants. They provide free camping, a free dinner, free t-shirt, and a free beer ticket to Roughhouse Brewing. It is well worth the time we spend on the river.
Friday, March 3, 2023
Several of us arrived Friday afternoon and snagged campsite 1 (one of the best sites in the campground). Natalie Hansen coordinated a spaghetti dinner for the HCC group. It was a lovely dinner with a lot of talking and eating.
Fran, Frank, Natalie, Gary, David, Harmon, Natalie, Steve, and Christy ate spaghetti. Robert Langley joined us but prepared his own meal.
Saturday, March 4
Early Saturday morning was cold, maybe in the 40’s but it warmed up considerably by 9 am, when we all met for the shuttle. We had mild chaos as paddlers and shuttle drivers figured out how to get from here to there and back again.
Grace came by with garbage bags for our group. We each filled up two to three bags with trash. The kayaks put their filled bags into the canoes. We stomped-out trash.
From Left Harmon, Christy, Gary, Natalie, and David
Frank, Pharr, and Fran shuttled together, Robert Langley paddled with Section 6, and Steve and Natalie shuttled the rest of us. Tom Douglas paddled with Section three. One hundred percent of the HCC paddlers return to the camp after the cleanup. So, I got a gold star.
There were close to thirty people cleaning Section 2 and several subgroups within Section 2. I expect each subgroup was having the same conversations about getting people from here to there.
We were off the river and cleaned up by 5:30, which is when the dinner started.
Fran Wilcox, Frank Ohrt, and Gary Masters helped with the dinner. They served food and drinks then helped with clean up. They get two gold stars.
Fran Serving Drinks
Frank Serving Salads
Gary Getting Ready to Clean up After Dinner
Natalie wanted a fire so she and David went to the huge pile of downed trees in the campground and loaded up. They started the fire (without lighter fluid) in no time. It was grand.
Sunday, March 5
We slowly got up and made coffee. This was a great morning watching birds, drinking coffee, and packing up our campsite. Wonderful way to spend the weekend.