I know this about myself: I like to be successful. I know that because for me, failing sucks. Over the years I have learned how to win more, or at least lose less. That said, failure is a fabulous teacher, and losing is quite motivating.
Not failing involves preparation. Prepping for a day trip in a canoe or a week long camping trip takes work, gear, planning, energy, vision and time. It is frustrating to plan and find out the river is less accessible than perceived. So in order to fail less frequently, part of of my preparation is scouting river bridges and accesses prior the trip.
A few weeks ago I got excited when I saw a google image that, I thought, revealed the access to the Brazos River at a certain bridge had been improved. As I planned my adventure I made sure I surveyed the river access points. I am glad I did!
The images below are quite a contrast.
This and other experiences has led me to use satellite and Google images with caution. Images of rural areas are not updated as frequently as in the big cities. In the past, light duty trucks could easily traverse the area under the bridge in the photos above. Post-Hurricane Harvey, the river access was blocked with concrete barricades, which made for a long portage to a rough river access. I found the barricades slightly opened as of March of 2022. My picture does not fully convey the roughness of that "open" passage. I watched a high clearance four wheel drive make it through without much drama, although the frame of that vehicle did bottom out.
Another thing satellite images convey poorly (at least for me) is the condition of a river bank at an unimproved access point. Add some rain (mud) and typical gear portaging over the terrain in the pictures above and things get interesting! For me these issues are not deal breakers, but I like to inform my canoeing partners if the portage will be lengthy and or rough. Certainly these portages are minimal compared to what Canadian canoeists use, but rough is rough. Years of oilfield work have conditioned me to recognize what might go wrong. I often wonder what accidents or injuries one might incur on a steep bank with a canoe overhead.
The above images are shocking in comparison to the satellite images. Though "improved," that access is something I would only use in an emergency!
There are other obstacles to consider at river bridges and launches. I guess, for some, a river is an opportunistic and free landfill. Somehow for these folks, things left there cease to exist!
Of course, those things do continue to exist. Its unfortunate that river accesses are vandalized with graffiti and are frequently the sight of illegal dumping. One way or another all manner of trash winds up under a river bridge.
Not having the means to remove the bio waste from the river access in the images above, I decided to wait for nature to run its course before pulling my gear over and or through that access. The complete deer and feral hog carcasses lay directly across the only area to climb the bank. Walking gingerly over and around the rotting animal with no gear is fun enough. Carrying a canoe over those obstacles is hardly worth it!
Sometimes it pays to check on a site under different conditions. Rivers are variable constants!
A river is an awesome power, never to be underestimated. A rainstorm 100 miles upstream might raise the river several feet a day or so later. In the images above the place my children had played in was submerged just a few days later.
Satellite images don't always convey construction at bridges. Good thing we checked out this Trinity River access! I guess the launch access is still open, but I don't like to be around heavy equipment...unless I am running the crew.
This Colorado bridge construction does show up on Google Earth. There was a boat trailer under the bridge, so apparently the river is accessible. Even though I had the canoe loaded on the van I did not use this launch. We had taken out upstream. I took the long way home for an opportunity to check on this and other bridges.
But it's not all hardship and obstacles. On the river, the unsightly things are quickly behind you. As the silent canoe puts distance on the bridge and the sounds of traffic fade, feelings of lonesomeness and exhilaration rush over. The sense that we are on our own is strong. Canoeing down a river puts one in another realm. Once that bridge is out of sight there is no turning back. In some way, it ceases to exist.
There is a sense of peace on a river, even if I can not canoe it. Oftentimes we check out a river access and combine it with a picnic. As you can see from some of the pictures my children enjoy these places.
Some rivers have a special charm about them. They may offer limited canoeing but they are calm, peaceful places to visit. Sometimes it is enough to just "be" in these places. If I can prolong my time there with a picnic all the better. Food just tastes better outdoors!
As I look over these pictures I remember the power of being whole in a big space. In these natural places my children enjoy life without toys or devices. Here they play in the sunshine and wind, with the mud, sand, rocks, sticks and water.
On the Brazos especially, I can see... feel... the power of the current. I know the power source is ancient, awesome, perpetual and silent. It can be dreadful and it is older than sunshine. That power is gravity.
Gravity, combined with water, forms currents and rivers. Rivers are steady and relentless forces that undercut banks and concrete; they crush trees and bend steel and wear rocks into sand and sand into silt. If I am skillful, careful, and daring, I can paddle a canoe down a river. I can add my energy to that power.
Though rivers seem tireless and eternal, I know they can be killed. The Brazos was running long before I was born, hopefully it will run long after I am gone. The diminished state of the Texas Colorado is concerning.
Not today, but someday soon, I will live more directly with God. I will camp on a sandbar the river has laid open in a riparian wood on the remnants and remains of a once-vast prairie. I will eat and fall asleep there, with an insect and amphibian serenade. For a little while, I will drink some peace on this earth, even while I ponder the sad wisdom in the verses Old Man River.
Thanks for reading.
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