December Holiday Party

Trip Reports

Brazos River
by John Rich

Lake Charlotte
by John Rich

Labor Day on the Sabine
by Paul Woodcock

Labor Day in the Hill Country
by John & Anne Olden

Lake Charlotte
by Paul Woodcock

Lake Charlotte
Houston, Texas
July 2007

by John Rich
JohnRich3@sbcglobal.net

Lake Charlotte is east of Houston, Texas, along Interstate Highway 10, northeast of the Trinity River bridge. The lake is about 1.5 miles in diameter, with several other nearby features worthy of exploration, like Lake Miller and the Trinity River.

History: The early inhabitants of Lake Charlotte where Bidais and Orcoquizas Indians, which lived largely off of the clams in the lake. A Spanish mission and presidio (fort) was established south of there in 1756, to try and keep the French out of the area. And in 1833, Dr. Nicholas Labadie moved there, naming it Lake Charlotte after his mother, and established a plantation. By the early 1900’s, two-masted schooners were bringing supplies from Galveston to families in the lake area. In 1910, the Sherman family moved in to Cedar Hill, and lived there until 1969 when they sold the land to the Army Corps of Engineers.

I set forth on Sunday, July 29th, with a plan to paddle in Lake Charlotte, amidst an “iffy” weather forecast for isolated thundershowers. I started from Cedar Hill Park.

For directions to Cedar Hill Park, see my previous report on Lake Charlotte in the April, 2007, Houston Canoe Club Newsletter, here: http://www.houstoncanoeclub.org//waterline/2007/april/lake_charlotte.htm

First up for this report, is a map of the area:

The dotted blue line was my intended ambitious “Plan A”, which was to cross Lake Charlotte to the west, paddle north up Mac Bayou, then south on the Trinity River, floating with the current, and finally, back north up Lake Pass and across Lake Charlotte again.

Read on, to find out why “Plan A” didn’t work out. What I actually ended up doing was an impromptu “Plan B”, as represented by the dotted red line.

The water level was extremely high, compared to normal, at over 13 feet, as shown by the water gauge chart, below. On my two previous visits to Lake Charlotte, the water level was at 9 to 10 feet.

The online water gauge info for Lake Charlotte can be found here: http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?08067118

I didn’t expect this high water level to be much of a problem, and thought it would provide swift current on the Trinity to give me a casual, effortless drift downstream to Lake Pass.

I drove through a heavy rainstorm on I-10 on the way east, but popped out the backside into clear skies again, just before arriving at the lake. The put-in location at Cedar Hill Park was right under the edge of the rain cloud, and receiving light mist, so I waited a while and watched the cloud. The cloud was producing rain only, and no lightening. It was also moving northward, out of the lake area, taking the rain with it. So that threat was solved.

The put-in:

The high water level in the lake actually made the put-in more pleasant. You could launch into the water directly from grass, rather than from the usual muddy shoreline.

To get from Cedar Hill Park to Mac Bayou, you just paddle straight west. The opening is not obvious as you approach, because it is hidden from sight around a bend, behind trees. There is a large dead tree (below) that sticks out like a sore thumb on the shoreline, which can be used as a guide to the correct area. This dead tree is visible all the way from the launch point. The opening to Mac Bayou is just around the corner to the left from this dead tree. Or, for fun, you can cut the corner and just paddle right past the dead tree landmark, through the trees, into Mac Bayou.

Unlike Lake Pass, which is obscured almost invisible in the trees, the opening to Mac Bayou is several hundred feet wide, and very obvious. There was some kind of fishing jug line strung across the opening, with bobbing plastic jugs:

The view from inside Mac Bayou looking back out onto Lake Charlotte:

I proceeded north up Mac Bayou, headed for the Trinity River. The scenery inside Mac Bayou:

There was a little bit of current flowing against me here, but I was making steady, if slow, progress. Two fishermen in a small motorboat whizzed past me, making me momentarily envious of their internal combustion engine.

There were numerous large wasp nests, teeming with wasps, in the tree branches hanging on both sides of the channel (photo below). You want to be careful not to disturb these fellars.

At this point, my “Plan A” turned sour. I reached a location about two-thirds of the way up Mac Bayou, where the channel seemed to narrow a bit, funneling the water. There is also a pipeline there about two feet in diameter discharging water into the channel. And in addition, there is a creek off to the right through the trees (per the map) that also spills water into the channel. The combination of these factors increased the current so greatly, that it was like level-1 whitewater rapids. I struggled greatly to make progress upstream, and managed to get just to the bottom end of the worst part. There, I tied off to a tree to rest and survey my problem. There didn’t appear to be any path through the trees on either bank around the rapids, and the current was swift all the way across the channel, with no “line” available to be taken to avoid the fast-moving water. The only choice was to face it head-on. So I decided to see what I could do, mustered my resolve, untied from my tree, and charged ahead into the rapids!

I paddled like a madman for about 10 minutes straight, giving it everything I had, and progressed upstream all of… oh, about 10 feet! Nope, this wasn’t going to work. Where was that motorboat when I needed him? Since I needed to move about 100 feet upstream to get to relatively calm water again, I resigned myself to the hopelessness of the situation. I don’t like being beaten, but I had no other choice but to give it up.

So, exhausted, I turned the canoe around in the swift current, and just let myself drift back downstream through Mac Bayou, and back out onto Lake Charlotte, which was as calm as a bathtub.

This is where I formulated “Plan B”. I’ve tried once before to get to Mud Lake, by going through Lake Pass to Lake Miller, but could not find the opening, as indicated on maps. A local kayaker, with whom I had spoken on a previous visit, told me that when the water is high, you could paddle right through the cypress trees at the south end of Lake Miller into Mud Lake. So I headed for the southeast corner of Lake Charlotte to check out this possibility. I skirted the shoreline there looking for routes, and found none. The water level was so high, that the bottom branches of the trees were at the water level, creating numerous obstacles.

Also, by this time, another storm cloud was moving into the area, and this one contained a lot of ugly rumbling thunder. It was off to the west, and headed north like the last one, but it seemed to be getting too close for comfort. And with me holding a metal paddle on open water, I didn’t like the idea of lightening being that close. So I made a beeline back north to Cedar Hill Park.

This is the Lake Charlotte water gauge (below), which is located in the southeast corner of the lake. It was occupied by several terns, which were perched on the railing. It’s amazing to me that with a few gizmos in a box, a battery, a solar panel and an antennae, I can then sit in the comfort of my home and look at the water data from this location on my home computer, as seen in the beginning of this report.

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The paddle back to Cedar Hill Park was a slog, as the wind and/or current kept pushing my bow to the right. I had to paddle exclusively on the right to maintain a straight line, which didn’t give my “right” muscles any reprieve by allowing me to switch to the left side. I arrived back at Cedar Hill Park, safe and sound from the thunderstorm, which was still about a mile away, over the Trinity River. But as if on cue from someone above who was watching out for me, as soon as I pulled the canoe up into the grass, the wind kicked up to about 20 mph, and the treetops started swaying in the wind. Off the lake, just in the nick of time!

I didn’t see a lot of wildlife this time. No gators, and even the birds were scarce. My wildlife highlight was a cormorant that came flying down Mac Bayou, just above the water, and soared down the entire length of my canoe just a few feet out. He didn’t even break his stride when he saw me. He was so low to the water, that sitting in my canoe, I was looking down on his feathery back from above.

I loaded up the canoe and gear, and still had time to kill. Since I didn’t get the nature-time I had planned on the water, I decided to hike the trail in the park to get some nature-time in the woods. I grabbed my sandwich, and headed south along the east shoreline, on the trail to the boardwalk/fishing pier. I found the boardwalk, sort of. It was under water, with only the railings sticking up to show where it is!

From there, I followed the meandering trail back through the woods, and was attacked by hordes of bloodthirsty mosquitoes, and man-eating spiders that string their webs between trees. Hint: if you hike this trail, pick up a stick with which to knock down the spider webs before you walk into them face first. Also, don’t go shirtless! To beat off the mosquitoes I used my hat, swishing it back and forth, left and right, up and down, and over my back, like a horse’s tail, to swat off the hungry horde. The trail was also flooded in many places, and I gave up trying to go around the flooded spots, and just sloshed through them with my boat shoes. The trail ends back at the open grassy area of Cedar Hill Park by the restroom and picnic area.

My goals of exploring Mac Bayou and Mud Lake remain unfulfilled. I’ll be back again, someday soon, to try again. When the water level recedes!

=== The End ===