In With The Old

At this point in my life, I have no idea how many times I have traveled Interstate 10 between Houston and the Louisiana border. I was raised in Lake Charles while my grandparents were still living in Houston, so that stretch of road was intimately familiar to the family station wagon. Now that I call Houston home and my parents remain in Louisiana, my RAV4 has traced the same path in reverse countless times. And on every trip, about an hour east of Houston, I have crossed a wide bridge bearing the legend Old and Lost Rivers.

In moments of idle fancy I have wondered which part was old and which was lost, but the flashes of curiosity never went any farther -- until I bought my kayak. Now I see the area with different eyes. The surrounding Trinity River basin is a natural treasure with countless options for paddling. Over the centuries, the Trinity has meandered over miles of bottom-land on its way to the bay. As it has wandered, it has left behind a maze of bayous, sloughs, and old river channels like the Old and the Lost.

I have already already written about my paddles in the Trinity National Wildlife Refuge at Champion Lake. This weekend I finally had the chance to to get better acquainted with the Old River.

We launched our kayaks at the Old River bridge on FM1409 and headed slowly upstream. The water was placid except for the occasional roll of a gar. The banks were lined with cypress, pecan and other hardwoods, often with an understory of palmetto. There were occasional signs of development: a ranch, a few houses around a golf course, a few pipeline crossings. But mostly there were heaping helpings of peace and beauty.

As we continued upstream, the channel slowly narrowed and the welcome canopy of trees closed in overhead. After a little over three miles we turned back toward the launch and enjoyed the scenery a second time on the return trip.

On some cooler day I still want to explore the area downstream section. And then of course there's the Lost River. And Lake Charlotte.  And . . .

More Pictures from the Old River

Seeking a Little Refuge on a Scorching Summer Day

I have been plotting a return to the Trinity National Wildlife Refuge since my first visit last year. At that time the drought of 2011 had already taken its toll on Champion Lake but we had a wonderful paddle on Pickett's Bayou on the last cool Saturday in May.

While I knew an August weekend was unlikely to be even remotely cool, I wanted to see Pickett's Bayou again and paddle Champion Lake for the first time.

The day started out warm and progressed rapidly to hot, relieved slightly by an occasional breeze and patches of shade along the bayou's banks. The water level in the bayou was a bit higher than on my last visit but otherwise the paddle south through the hardwood forest of the refuge had the same lovely character.

As we continued south past the sand bar and approached the Cut Off, the bayou narrowed and the trees provided a welcome canopy overhead. And we weren't the only ones who seemed to like the area. A whole colony of banana spiders had spun webs across the channel above our heads. A bit surprisingly, we also found that we were paddling against a current as we proceeded south.

Once we reached the Cut Off, we turned east toward the Trinity River. We found the gate closed at the the Corp of Engineers' "Structure A", but a fair amount of water was still pouring through, thus providing the current we paddled against coming down. We took the closed gate as a sign and turned around. We started back toward the launch with a respectable current helping us along until the bayou widened again.

It was approaching noon before everyone was back on dry land. By then, the heat had taken its toll on the group's enthusiasm for more paddling. Some packed up and headed out, while a few of us gathered in the shade for a picnic lunch.

By the time lunch was over, only two of us remained to take a look at Champion Lake. I had hopeful visions of gliding through the shady groves of submerged cypress trees but it wasn't meant to be. While the lake has plenty of water, it has been taken over by various types of vegetation. The only open water we could find was in the largely unshaded area of Big Caney Creek on the northeast side of the launch. We paddled until we ran out of water and then had to concede defeat. I fear that a full exploration of Champion Lake is going to have to wait until next spring!

More Pictures From the Trinity National Wildlife Refuge

Lake Conroe: A Visit To Wildwood Shores

The weekend brought the chance to visit a new area of Lake Conroe. This time we launched our kayaks along Stubblefield Lake Road and paddled south. We followed the old river channel as it made its winding way through the upper section of the lake bed. Eventually the channel reached slightly deeper waters and the lake opened up before us.

We turned east and made our way over to the only development on this section of the lake, the aptly named Wildwood Shores. After entering via a drainage culvert, we explored the canals of the subdivision and the lower section of East Sandy Creek before making the return trip to Stubblefield.

More Pictures From Lake Conroe

Lake Conroe: Cagle to Stubblefield

The key attraction of the northern section of Lake Conroe is the scenery of the Sam Houston National Forest which surrounds it. The plan for today was to launch at the Cagle Recreation Area, paddle up to the lake's northern edge, and then continue up the river channel to the launch near Stubblefield Lake. We shoved off from Cagle under an overcast sky a little after eight in the morning. A light breeze was in our faces as we turned north, passed under the FM1375 bridge, and crossed over to the west side of the lake. 

As we followed the shoreline northward, the sights and sounds of civilization began to fade away. The sounds of cars crossing the bridge were replaced by the calls of birds: the irritated croak of a blue heron as we disturbed his fishing, the cheerful song of a male cardinal perched near the edge of the lake, the trill of a pileated woodpecker deep in the woods. The morning clouds began burning away, leaving behind a clear blue sky and bright sunshine.

Once we reached the northernmost section of the lake, the shore became lined with a band of rattlebushes, a legacy of last year's drought. With its low point last year being almost 6 feet below today's level, much of the lake bed in this area was exposed and hospitable for growth. As we continued forward, the rattlebushes closed in and the open water disappeared completely.

We knew that the deeper and presumably unobstructed channel of the West Fork was nearby, but how could we get to it? One option was to backtrack and see if we could find the channel entrance on the east side of the lake, in the direction of Wildwood Shores. But retreat is always bitter. Instead we looked around until we found a spot where the rattlebush thicket was less dense and there was a hint of open water in the distance. From there we set off "cross country" through the bushes using a combination of push-polling and dragging ourselves from bush to bush -- all while being showered with bits of leaves, seed pods, and the occasional spider.

Then suddenly we were through into the open waters of the West Fork. After that it was an easy paddle up to Stubblefield Lake. We picked a shady spot on the shore to relax for a bit and eat a picnic lunch. Thus fortified, we returned to the water. We dodged the ever present fishing lines and crossed under the bridge at Stubblefield Lake Road to continue upstream. We'd only gone about a half mile more when the warmth of the afternoon overwhelmed our collective sense of adventure. We turned back to the launch where we found a group of butterflies were waiting to welcome us.

More Pictures from Lake Conroe

Cruising the Shaded Waters of Luces Bayou

After hearing good things about Luces Bayou from people in my paddling group, I finally got a chance to visit. It proved to be a great place to paddle on a warm summer day. The bayou is fairly wide at our launch point at Ponderosa Marina. From there you can either paddle downstream toward Lake Houston or upstream toward the bayou's headwaters.

We chose the upstream option and found ourselves in a gradually narrowing channel heavily shaded by cypress trees. We paddled beneath a couple of bridges and past a few houses and camps, but overall the setting is very natural and unspoiled. After paddling about three and a half miles, the bayou was obstructed by some broken concrete, an old metal culvert, and some fallen trees. We decided that was the right time to turn around, but I'll definitely be coming back.

Independence Day on Lake Houston

I marked this Independence Day with my very first visit to Lake Houston. A group of us gathered at Deussen Park to paddle, picnic, and celebrate the birth of our nation.

The water was fairly calm during our morning paddle and we explored a pretty little tributary off to the west of the park.

Later in the day the wind and and assortment of power boats stirred up the water but that didn't prevent us from making an afternoon voyage to the east, past the spillway and to the other side of the lake.

Mother nature even chipped in with some fireworks, as a little thunderstorm chased us back to the park a the end of our second paddle. Overall, it was a great July 4th!

More Pictures from Lake Houston

A Quick Trip to Sheldon Lake

It feels like I was everywhere but on the water during June. First up was a visit to my parents in Louisiana. Next was a fairly standard visit to the office up in Richardson, Texas. Then out of the blue came a trip to White Plains, New York. And just like that,the month was almost over.

Before the last days could slip away, I scheduled a quick outing to Sheldon Lake. I was a bit surprised to find the water level down a few feet despite the wet weather. When we talked to the ranger during our picnic lunch, we found they had intentionally lowered the level to enable some road construction at the new park entrance off Garrett Road.

Partly because of the lower water levels and partly due to the normal summer cycle, the lotus and other water plants had grown up significantly since my last visit, reducing the amount of water open for easy paddling.  Still, it was very welcome to get out on the water and enjoy the sight of the egrets, herons, ibis, spoonbills and other water birds that make their homes on this lake.

My resolution for July is spend many more hours on the water!