Table of Contents
July 6, 2006 General Meeting Minutes
2nd Quarter Pool Session Report
Trip Reports
Marilyn Kircus: Lake Charlotte
Justin Ceterski: Pedernales River
Jared Davidson: Week of Rivers 2006
Christy Long: Week of Rivers 2006
by Christy Long
Sunday, July
30, 2006
From Highway 6 to Beltway 8
Goerge W. Bush Park to Terry Hershey Park
8 miles, 1800 cfs
Debbie scouted the putin and takeout on Saturday and she knew the water
was high and fast but did not know the official gage reading. This is
a busy place with hikers, bikers, and small number of fishermen. The putin
had a safe parking area, as did the takeout.
Sunday, we
launched about 9:40 am and the water was still high and moving very fast.
The bayou tested our technical skills because it flowed through strainers
and we choose not to go with the flow using lots of sweeps, draws, ferries,
and pivot maneuvers. A good thing about the high water was that it covered
most of the downed trees. We had to ooch over one tree and portage around
another.
Linda and I both missed a photo opportunity when a huge Cottonmouth slipped
behind the tree limb it was sunning on, just as we got our cameras out.
Most of the congested areas were bayou wide strainers. Some of the strainers
were dead tress in the bayou with vines (poison ivy) hanging from them,
live trees on the banks with limbs hanging into the bayou or, man-made
objects up against trees and shrubs in the bayou. Occasionally a submerged
tree limb would overcome the power of the bayou and pop up, startling
me and making the bayou seem alive with creatures. It was wild looking
and made me think of the jungle.
As we would come up on a congested area we would holler to the person in back so we could space out and not pile up. Each person had to choose their own line because the canoes could not go where the kayaks went. With the water moving so fast you did not want to get hung up on anything because you would flip and after seeing the snake and fishermen (hooks) I did not want to bump tree limbs or go through hanging strainers.
We, as boaters, were a novelty to the hikers and bikers that frequent this area. At one bridge crossing about ten hikers and bikers stopped to watch us as we made our way down the bayou. They waved at us and we waved back. It reminded me of the train that runs along the Nantahala River in North Carolina and the riders that wave to the boaters on the Nanty.
This is a great level for those with good boat control and self-rescue skills. The banks were steep and where they were level with the water, very muddy. At a couple of points along the bayou I measured the water depth with my single-bladed paddle while in my canoe. The paddle did not touch the bottom.
We did not stop for lunch. One reason for that, was lack of places to
get out, but we did find eddies when we needed to rest.
We reached the park close to the beltway around 2:00pm.
Get a feel for the water level by comparing these pictures to the pictures
of the same trip in the January HCC newsletter.