Clear Creek Reconsidered

by Natalie Weist

It had been quite some time since I had paddled the upper reaches of Clear Creek, and I had the opportunity to do so right before Christmas. My companions for this trip were several novice paddlers and an out of town acquaintance who used to live here and wanted to see part of her old stomping ground from the water.

We scouted Randolph Park (off FM2351 where it crosses Clear Creek) for a putin, but decided it would be easier (a relative term!) from Bicentennial Park and got on the water by 11 a.m. after running a shuttle and dropping vehicles at Countryside Park where Bay Area Boulevard crosses the creek. As you can see by the first photo, the creek is quite narrow in those upper reaches .

It was a perfect day for December paddling; just warm enough, just cool enough. We did, however, encounter a downed tree completely across the stream. This could be very dangerous at higher water levels – if it is still there. We managed to get boats over the barely submerged trunk of the tree and I’m still amazed I managed to do the pulling/pushing standing on the trunk, balancing on a limb over deep water, and not going into the drink despite several close calls.

The downed tree

My recollection of a trip on the section several years back was that it seemed incredibly long. On that trip, we had paddled on to Challenger Seven Park. I’d hoped that taking out at Countryside Park would make the distance paddled more manageable. Well, I miscalculated on that – and I hope my librarian colleague Karen Wielhorski (library director for Univ. of Houston/Clear Lake) isn’t forever angry at me. That’s her on the yellow sit-on-top (and her husband on the other).

She and several others were really tuckered out by the time we got to Countryside Park about 4 p.m. I didn’t see and am not aware of better intermediate takeouts. The crossing of Hwy 528 is a possibility, but scouting it from the road, the nice grassy bank on the south side goes up to the road – but traffic is moving very fast and heavy there, and there is no place to pull off the road unless you want to go over a high curb. On the north side, there is a private community park with a long walk to/from the water.

Countryside Park continues to be a favorite putin/takeout spot. There are nice restroom facilities there, picnic tables, paved parking, and a circle quite close to the water that make loading or unloading boats relatively easy.

Several months later I got to see another segment of Clear Creek from a very different perspective – from the barges of the Clear Creek Environmental Foundation. With Rex Ward, the “Keeper of the Creek” at the controls of one boat, and myself and several others riding in the second one.We chugged upstream against a heavy current (for Clear Creek) thanks to heavy rains the preceding week. The departure point was Walter Hall Park here in League City, where highway 3 crosses Clear Creek. This is another very user-friendly putin with an even easier launch and parking for canoeists – but beware the high speed water craft in warmer weather. Considering the number of wake board jumps we saw on this stretch, it must be pretty wild on these warm days. In any case, I always enjoy seeing the creek from other folks’ perspective; and no tired muscles this time. We saw several nice restoration projects along the way and it was a pleasant day also for being on the creek, although you can see from the jackets it was a bit cool then in mid-March.

Clear Creek is in my relative backyard, or more accurately, my backyard drains to the creek, so it’s nice to have a body of water so close by to paddle and enjoy.

See ya on the water!

Natalie Wiest
League City Resident, Clear Creek Watershed
HCC Paddler