February 12-14
Angelina River, Texas
Put In: Bevilport at the end of FM 2799
Take Out: Martin Dies Jr. State Park, South of Hwy 190
Attending: Todd Womble, Earl Atnip
Thanks to my friend Todd Womble for putting this trip together for us. This was new water for me and a trip I have had on my list for some time. Todd reserved the campsite via the website below.
http://www.swf-wc.usace.army.mil/townbl ... vareas.asp
Todd and I met Thursday evening at Martin Dies Jr. State Park at the primitive area south of Hwy 190. It took me right at 4 hrs to make the drive from Plano but stopped once for gas and once for a burger at a nice little shack along Hwy 69 just on the north end of Colmesneil, beats the other guys any day of the week. Todd had a great site by the water and I found a tree suitable for my hammock and tied the other end to the rack on top of my truck. After a some talk about the next day and a few sips of whiskey I called it a night. A light SE wind and warm temps made for some great sleeping.
I awoke at my built in time of 4am took a few sips of water, and a bio break then crawled back into my hammock, next thing I knew it was 5:45 the extra sleep felt good. Todd and I downed some breakfast, loaded his canoe and gear in my truck then our shuttle driver showed up about 9am. His name is Charles Hubbard, (prefers Chuck) he is the assistant park superintendent. He rode with us up to our put in then drove my truck back to our campsite and locked it up for me. A really nice fellow and Todd made a donation to the park as we cannot pay Chuck. We were paddling our first strokes by 9:30 with a bit over 5 miles to get to our campsite, Moonlake #1.
Lake Sam Rayburn was releasing about 4500 cfs so the water was cool and relatively clear for east Texas. Of course there are no rapids in this stretch but the river had just a gentle current to it. About 20 minutes into our paddle a game warden passed us by then came by about 30 minutes later and chatted a bit then was no his way. He did not ask to see my fishing license just asked if I had caught anything. The fishing was not that good as I believe it is still early for the white bass run and the cold water from the release probably took its toll on the bite.
We made camp by 11:20 then set up and ate some lunch. After lunch we set off to see if we could find our way through some sloughs. We paddled upstream about 0.3 miles then entered a larger slough which quickly necked down. This was a path that Todd paddled in prior years, there were many paths to choose from and one could really get lost back in there if you did not pay attention. Todd spotted a ~5ft alligator which quickly went under as we paddled by. We came to a pretty significant y and went left and paddled until it necked down to a very narrow path then turned around. We paddled back to camp logging 11.8 miles for the day. . I took off toward the confluence of the Neches in search of white bass or crappie. After about an hour of nothing I paddle back toward the camp and entered a little slough that angled back behind our campsite. There were numerous Spanish moss covered cypress trees in there which made for some great pictures.
Once back at camp it was time to kick back enjoy the sunset, lite the fire and cook an awesome dinner. I cooked us some steaks and baked potatoes on the fire and some green beans in a pot. We saw bunch of bats in fluttering up and down the edge of the river against the last bit of daylight in the western sky. Todd pulled out his axe and made short work splitting up of some oak slices that someone left. After some fireside chat about past trips, trips to come and some neat gear that Todd had we called it a night about 9:30. The owls were busy with their concert and were joined later by some distant coyotes and made for some excellent river side hammock sleeping with a lot of stars and some crisp in the air.
Up at 4:30 and the fire ressuscitated I sat and listened to the forest sounds drinking my coffee and just enjoying my time away. Todd and I decided we would spend some time paddling back into the sloughs again but this time we would try to find a path back to the west northwest and hopefully empty us into the Neches. After a couple of hours trying and poking around many dead ends which were choked down by the giant salvinia we decided it was just not going to happen. On our way in I paddled right by a ~5ft gator laying in the sun and which almost hit my canoe as it darted toward the water trying to avoid us. Later on our way out we ran across a sow hog and some piglets crossing the slough, one of which was mostly white with black spots. Based on the position from my Delorme Inreach it appears we got to within about 2000 ft of the Neches and covered right at 10 miles for the day. We stopped at camp for a bit then took off to paddle up the Neches and find a slough to reach back around to the Angelina. Well we took the second cut on the right then just tried to follow the current and clear water that we found and was surely coming from the Angelina. The slough necked down a lot and we had to get over and under a couple of downed trees but not too much trouble. Within 1 hour we had made our way back to the Angelina for about a 3 mile loop.
It was Todd’s night to cook dinner and he made an awesome salmon pasta with some cast iron skillet cooked bannock bread on the fire, and followed up with some sweet bars that his wife made. Some clouds had moved in so the sunset colors were a bit muted but the fire was roaring and we were both feeling the days paddle pushing through the thick vegetation, glad we found our way out. I awoke a bit before midnight and heard something back into the woods. I coughed which spooked a hog and some piglets as you could hear them scurrying around back toward mama hog. The owls held their concert a bit further up river for the night and the air was much warmer with the thick cloud cover.
Sunday mornings are always a bummer, means you have to pack up and head for the truck. We downed some breakfast, dowsed the fire, and neatly piled up remaining wood for the next campers. We were on the water by 8:30 making our way down river 3.1 miles where we hit the paddling trail that heads back to the east toward the state park. We paddled around the north end of an island then back along the edge of the park toward then underneath Hwy 190. Our trucks were parked about another mile south of the highway and arrived about 10:40. We packed up said our good byes and got on the road back to DFW.
Here are a few pictures,
Todd at the put in
Our Camp
More camp
Swamp
First day slough
Spanish Moss covered cypress and neat reflection
My one fish for the weekend
Grinding our way through
Packed up and ready to head to the truck
Our track down the river
SYOTW,
Earl