December 31 - A small contingent of three hardy HCC souls braved the cold, determined to find new [for us anyway] paddling frontiers. Putting in off Roman Forest Road we began by paddling upstream on Peach Creek. There was a significant current running and after about 3o minutes of hard work we rested and enjoyed the downstream ride.
The stream is interesting, much more so than I thought it would be. Steep banks interspersed with some really nice sandbars allowed us to paddle and rest. The current was brisk and required concentration to avoid some small strainers. Lots of shallow spots make me think this is not a summertime trip when water levels are down.
When making the shuttle we failed to walk down to the takeout to see what it looked like so we probably stopped a few extra times just to be sure we hadn't passed up the Lake Houston Park take-out. [They are getting up a petition to change the name - leading the pack is Peach Creek State Park- if you would like to drop by the ranger's office and sign it].
Those extra stops proved unnecessary as we eventually hit a nice footbridge over the creek that made the take-out point quite obvious. Completing the shuttle, I drove up HWY 59 and found that it crosses over Peach Creek at Patton Village. One could take the side road to a putin visible from the highway. This would probably double the trip we took [about 2.5 hours]. The condition of the creek that far up is unknown. I hope to find an exploring type to go with me sometime to find out how passable that upper section is.
January 4 arrived damp, muggy, warm, and overcast - a perfect day to paddle. About 10:30 AM, six people, set out in one canoe and four kayaks [pesky little critters, ain't they] to explore the upper Stubblefield Lake area.
Putting in at the boat ramp at the park, we paddled up the west fork of the San Jac. It was a very pleasant trip until we hit our first fallen tree. All successfully managed to do the "limb"-bo rock and glide beneath the obstruction. A little further on, we all had a successful encore performance at another fallen tree.
By the time we hit the third one, the channel had narrowed down to about ten feet wide and
we just didn't feel like climbing out and hauling the boats over the multiple fallen trees. This is an out and back trip so we had double the opportunities to see several varieties of woodpecker and one really big red-tailed hawk.
After the take-out we had a late lunch in the near-by park then headed out for Houston and the weekend was over.