Labor Day Float Trip

by Mary Ellen Zaborowski

Back to Index

This wonderful river divides the states of Texas and Louisiana. This river has a good flow from below the Toledo Bend Dam at Hwy 63 down to the Anacoco Bayou, which gives us a good 28-mile float trip camping on beautiful white sand beach type bars. The weather was overcast with the threat of rain, yet this gave us protection from the UV rays of the burning sun reflecting off the white sand.

The shuttle to the take-out was provided by Leesville Parrish School District School Bus. This gave all the option to have your car/truck at the take-out when you wanted to float either two days or three days.

The first day out was filled with excitement of paddling and in the water to play to keep cool as we drifted on our journey down the river to the waiting campsite. Then that afternoon the tarps and large blue parawing provided us shelter from any sun or rain showers while camping on this white sand bar.

Finally in the evening the smell of T-Bone Steaks and fresh corn on the cob filled the air to temp all that were hungry. The darkness of the night came upon us, with sounds of the frogs and owls along the river banks. Then this was interrupted briefly by a firework display that was fantastic. This gave an evening of joy to all ages. Then the quiet came upon us again with the night sounds drifting us back into sleep.

Morning came with the smell of coffee, eggs, tortillas, salsa. After packing, we headed off down the river for our next campsite in 14 miles. Others in our group opted to paddle out to the take-out Sunday Evening. After lunch we all had to gather under tarps with our children very near, against the approaching bad weather. The storm only lasted about 20 minutes, with hard beating rain, and strong wind shears. The storm passed and we continued paddling down the river to the second night of camping and the start of the " Red Neck Games " for the children and adults.

For the second night adults could enjoy the benefits that a "Margarita Barge" can give. All had a great time and we started back to camp with the smell of sizzling beef fajitas on the grill.

The evening rains passed with the stars coming out for our view of Mars and the moon before we drifted back into a peaceful sleep.

We were all awakened at 5:00 a.m by Danny Rowzee telling everyone the water was coming up real high and to get boats to dry ground. In the distance we heard the thunder and saw the lightening stikes. So we made sure everything was tied down to weather out this bad storm with high winds. Heading back to our tents was the safest thing to be in with this storm coming.

It finally struck, then blew out about 7:00, so we could have a good breakfast for a bunch of hungury people and kids. We had pancakes, sausage, coffee, milk and orange juice. After packing up for the last time, we had an easy good flowing paddle of 6 miles to the take-out about 11:00.

Packing the gear,canoes, sandy , tired happy kids, we then headed back to Houston, yet in our minds we will never forget " The River".

Back to Index