Trip Report: Old River
by Natalie Wiest
December 29 I started out on an exploratory trip to Champion Lake/Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge, a brand new facility. Unfortunately, what I found was that the access road was gated and locked, so on the suggestion of my intrepid paddling buddy Marilyn Kircus, we put our sites on the Old River instead. What we found was a very nice trip, suitable for novice paddlers, with a good access point and conditions that would appear to make it paddle-able year-round, so I am sharing for your edification and planning purposes.
To get to the put-in, exit Interstate highway 10 east of Houston at exit number 803, which is FM565 and labeled “Cove, Old River, Winfree”. Travel north on 565 about three miles to the traffic signal that marks the intersection with FM1409. Turn right (east) on 1409 and follow it about a half mile to its crossing of the Old River. You will see an historical marker for Old River just before the crossing – SLOW down and pull off onto the easement on your right, just before the crossing. This rutted area is used locally for launching johnboats and other small craft. It is totally unimproved, so I don’t suggest using it if it’s been raining for a while and with the ruts left behind by those who have, approach with caution. You will see a nice wide area for launching on the river. Heading upriver (to the left, under the bridge and beyond) is the trip described here. Heading downriver (to the right, there is so little current it is sometimes difficult to tell), gives access to The Cutoff, or to more open waters of Old River Lake and Lost River before rejoining the Trinity River farther downstream.
Heading upstream on this day, with my mother, two daughters, Marilyn and Ashley Kingsbury, we observed at our lunch stop that the flow of the water in fact was upstream, or so it appeared from items floating on the surface. Perhaps it was wind direction, but in any case, the current was not noticeable for paddling purposes. Most of the way is a wooded bottomland, with cypress trees lining the banks and pines or oaks behind them with palmettos under the trees. Noticeable at the lower reaches are some open pastures that are testimony to the earlier settlements of ranchers and farmers here as early as 1827. Signs of far more recent activities are large homes and a golf course along the left bank of the river (when you are heading upstream). The right bank is pretty much as nature created it with few improvements and only a few stretches of open pastureland or clearings. The usual number of pipeline crossings are not very intrusive. Like all our local waterways, this one meanders to all the points of the compass but generally trends northwest to the limits of our canoe navigation, perhaps three miles upstream from the put-in. Two large downed trees block the waterway at this point. At this turnaround, trees touch overhead and a large part of the way has tall timber, giving this good potential for a shaded summer trip as well as a delightful midwinter trip as it was on December 29.
Click on image to enlarge.
Interesting natural features include many vining plants, at least in the upper reaches. As the day became more overcast and late afternoon moved toward dark, a pair of barred owls began calling. One was within 30’ of the river, up in a tree, and we got close enough to see it wink at us before it retreated farther into the forest. Kingfishers flitted from bank to bank, and robins and cardinals were numerous.
We were later than we would have liked to the put-in, so it was 11 a.m. until we were pulling away from the bank, and arrived back to the same point to load and depart by 4 p.m. We took one break and a lunch stop to make this a very easy 5 hour out-and-back trip.