Table of Contents
Tigards Awarded Lifetime Membership
Trip Reports
Christy Long: 2006 New Year Guad/San Marcos
Ken Anderson: 2006 New Year Clear Creek
Christy Long: Jan 07, 2006 Surfside
Natalie Wiest: San Antonio River
Natalie Wiest: North Shore of Galveston Bay
Natalie Wiest: Remember Goliad!
John Bartos: Buffalo Bayou 01/15/06
Mark Ittleman: Anahuac Harborfest
Mark Ittleman: Nov 2005 Sierra Club Paddle
by Natalie Wiest
New
Year’s Day found me out and about early in the day to watch a dog
event of all places, on the campus of Rice University. I knew that would
potentially put me too late for Rick Brunson’s trip on Clear Creek,
but resolved to paddle a short stretch I’d never been on instead,
and figured I could do that later in the day. Sure enough, it was 2 p.m.
until I was loading my boat and heading for the Creek, practically in
my backyard, with my faithful (and equally wacky and determined) friend
Marilyn Kircus. The chosen segment was putting in at Walter Hall Park
(highway 3 crossing in League City) and taking out at Clear Lake Park
on NASA 1. The distance is about 6.5 miles.
The water was noticeably low, exposing miles of mudflats along this section of the stream. That opened a virtual smorgasbord to the plentiful wading and shore birds, and they were there in great numbers feasting on tasty crustaceans or whatever else they could find. We thought it a good omen that a roseate spoonbill flew across us right at Walter Hall Park, and crisscrossed us several times beyond. We saw several osprey, and all manner of gulls (ring-billed for sure), Royal terns, white ibises, great blue herons, snowy egrets.
I thought this day would be a good one to traverse a segment known for high concentrations of high speed motorboats, jet skis, and yes, even water skiers. Well, I guess the two we saw on tow weren’t technically skiers, looked to me like wakeboards they were on. At least one of them had the sense to be wearing a wetsuit, but it was (for those of us not immersed) a quite pleasant day on the water temperature-wise.
Much
of this land is too low for building, but where it has been bulkheaded
are some of the biggest houses imaginable. Sad to me was one nice tract
of undeveloped land, at this water level obviously a Native American campsite
with the telltale shell midden, and the “For Sale” sign and
lot designations posted all over it. You can bet it will be bulldozed,
bulkheaded, and turned into megahome lots with little of the natural world
left behind. Farther upstream from the lake, I understand my home town
of League City is developing a nature walk and eco-tourist attraction.
I’d
never paddled across Clear Lake, and we ran into two sea-kayaking men
coming our way from the boat launch as we were approaching it, so obviously
there are other people who do. There was a veritable traffic jam at the
boat launch – we just threaded our way through the motor crowd and
had a big-enough sand beach to the right of the cemented launches to safely
take out. We were off the water by 5 p.m. – a very pleasant 2 hour
paddle to bring in the New Year!
Natalie Wiest
HCC Paddler, League City