My Brazos River recon canoe trip was on July 28, 2018. The adventure started months earlier with visits to several of the bridges and studies of the river via satellite images. The goal of this recon was to canoe a piece of the river to confirm the potential for daytrips and overnight camping trips.
For the first run I picked a thirteen plus mile stretch between the settlements of Sunnyside and San Felipe. Satellite surveillance of this piece of river looked gentle and promised generous sandbars.
The Bridges:
The standard launch sites for Texas rivers are the highway bridges. Our bridge surveillances revealed automobile access from the highway to underneath the bridges but no boat ramps. The foot paths to the river cut through the sandy loam and were steep. The less than ideal portages and the summer warmth were daunting but my hope was these things would screen all but the dedicated woodsmen.
A side observation was these bridges are sights for illegal dumping and graffiti. Some folks may be uneasy leaving their trucks under these bridges. I definitely felt spoiled by the launch areas I have used on other waters.
The Crew:
This trip required a shuttle. Dottie, my wife was shuttle pilot. My oldest son Cole and I were the canoeist.
The Gear:
We packed lightly for this day trip. Our on board gear consisted of our life jackets, back packs, and an iced cooler loaded with bottled waters and some fruit.
I dressed for the heat and sun with sweat wicking, sun shielding shirt and pants, sun screen and a hat. For footwear I wore a set of water shoes made by Crocs.
We used two CavPro paddles. Cole used the 800RL and I the 7TS60-RT. The canoe was my Royalex Spirit II. Between Cole, myself and our gear I figure we had about 500 pounds in the canoe.
Launch:
We got a later start than I wanted, but with the long summer days we had plenty of time. We got to the Sunnyside bridge at 12:40. Cole and I portaged the canoe together. At one point I slid down the bank, forcing Cole to double step. At another point we sat down one at a time, canoe overhead, and scooted down the escarpment. By 1:15 we were on the water.
On the river I knew I was in a large, grand place. The Brazos is bigger than the Colorado. Wider with more current, the Brazos bends are longer, the bluffs higher and the sandbars larger. The long unbroken vistas played tricks on my eyes and imagination. Some places the river looked like it dead ended in the woods, or poured itself into a bottomless sinkhole.
Rounding each bend the mystery ended with the continuation of the river. A new view greeted us. Cole spotted a small sounder of feral hogs. Had we not been talking we might have paddled right up to them.
Before long I realized I too, had left some trash under the Sunnyside bridge. It was my stress, pressure, concern, anxiety. I hoped the Brazos would carry my pollution out to the gulf. The Brazos freshened, enthralled me.
Even though they is a little difference in their size, the Brazos and Colorado are both muddy rivers cutting through similar terrain. In some places fewer than thirty miles separates these streams. It's no wonder the Spaniards confused these rivers on their early maps. Of the two, the Brazos is more stable and steadier. For this trip the Brazos was staged at about 750 cfm. There are several nice sandbars on this stretch, one of them very large.
It was a little early but we took a break on the largest sandbar. I just wanted to be on that big sandbar. The sand was coarse and the bluff was high and broad. We stayed in that big place a while, drinking water and snacking on cantaloupe and potato chips. To me food tastes better outdoors.
Back on the water the Brazos continued to impress me. We saw both species of indigenous "buzzards," the black and turkey vultures. We also saw cranes, and birds of prey.
We glided over the riverbed of submerged sandbars, gravelbars, old waterlogged trees, and probably some catfish. Some parts of the river stretched long and wide.
Suddenly an alligator gar rammed the canoe. Hitting right where I was sitting, it splashed me with a refreshing shower. Bouncing off the canoe it charged again, this time hitting the canoe just behind Cole. Cole had turned to say something to me and saw the whole thing. He said the gar was about three feet long. It must not have seen the green canoe when he surfaced. I guess we all got a surprise! Cole and I got a laugh.
Further downstream we took another onshore break. Here the bank was muddy but the willows sheltered us from the sun and heat. We drank water and ate pineapple and potato chips while I monitored our stamina. Fortunately pineapple is an invigorating food! Refreshed, we relaunched.
As we paddled below Mills creek the river became broad and slow. In this big part of the river we took an in canoe break. In the quiet and still, we saw a number of five-foot alligator gar surfacing for air. The alligator gar is an amazing, primitive fish!
Landing:
Towards the end of our trip the river again looked like it ended in the woods. In reality the river made an unusually sharp turn. At 6:40 we rounded that bend the San Felipe bridge popped into view.
Dottie saw us in the distance and waved. Her timing was perfect. She brought us ice cold drinks and helped pack our gear up the bank. Cole and I doubled up on the canoe, carrying it overhead. We made it to the top of the steep, natural grade without excitement. Except for the shuttle of vehicles the trip was over. I'm not going to lie, the air conditioned vehicle was nice.
It was a nice ending to a good trip. We travelled nearly fourteen miles in about five and a half hours. There was no other boat traffic. We saw only one individual on the bank. On river, signs of society were sparsely sprinkled, a house or barn, sometimes some telephone poles, that was it. This piece of the Brazos is fairly remote, nearly untouched. The solitude, the big sky and open spaces were worth the effort of the portages and discomfort of the warm summer day.
Review:
At work Monday I revelled in the afterglow of our trip. We had canoed the Brazos River! The contrast between a good day in a canoe and a good day at work was evident. The differences of the Brazos and Colorado rivers are an interesting study. My conclusion of this recon was that the Sunny Side to San Felipe run is a good daytrip for a canoeist with resolve and some skills and stamina. The lack of boat ramps isolates this piece of the Brazos. Its a great canoe trail, easy to imagine we were witnessing a primeval river.
The stable Brazos encourages land owners to build near the river. So, though there is less boat traffic there are more houses on this stream than the Colorado. There are not houses on every bank, but there was normally a structure within view of the sandbars. Camping potential is decent. Before committing to an overnight trip I want to make this run again, and run the stretches up and downstream from the Sunnyside and San Felipe bridges.
A busy schedule and other camping and canoeing opportunities have kept this my only Brazos excursion, but I hope to get back on it soon.
Thanks for reading!
MSM
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