Low water

Yes. When the "official" rainfall for the year so far is 3 inches (and I think that's really exaggerated; the gauge must have been left near someone's sprinkler), then this is what the rivers start looking like:

Paddling trips become paddling, walking, and boat-dragging trips when the river flows head toward the lower double digits. The Guadalupe flow at Comfort, where we went last weekend, was 29 cubic feet per second.

Rocks that used to be comfortably covered, and easy to float over, become obstacles to avoid:

Which, in addition to making more work for us, also makes for more challenging runs that can still be fun. Lots of river-reading and steering practice, with pretty trivial consequences for mistakes.

Especially fun with a husband who's never outgrown his fondness for bumper boats. He thought I was taking a video here and if I'd thought of it, that would have been neat. I was about to be rammed amidships. By the "Piddle Paddle," no less.

notice all the obstacle rocks in the background

Also especially fun for paddlers in brand-spanking-new, shiny boats (that wouldn't look so shiny after all the scraping on this trip):


And there were still plenty of lovely sights, from the small and delicate, like this "garden" thriving on a downed log...


...to the panoramic...

As you can see there are still stretches where the water is fine and deep and the views are fabulous. Add in the congenial companionship, and even at 29 cfs paddling still beats most other weekend recreation options.