...and now for something completely different

They say that you can't step into the same river twice. And we had this whole "different river" truism reinforced in spades over the Easter weekend.

We sampled not only two rivers that were new to us, but which were in a completely new category of stream, in a landscape that seemed like it should be in a different state, too. And it almost was, but not quite. 

In far East Texas the rivers look just a little different than the ones we're used to in the hill country. The major rivers of our weekend were the Neches and the Angelina, with our base of operations the very nice campground at Martin Dies, Jr. State Park. But we probably had the most fun paddling a type of waterway that we don't have around here at all—sloughs (which I'd always mentally pronounced "sluffs," but "slews" is correct).

The picture above is one of the "secret sloughs" we saw during a private, ranger-led paddle that took us on and off the Neches, connected by several of these lovely passages.

We also spent a little while on Lake Steinhagen, a smallish (by East Texas standards) Neches reservoir, where we saw a bald eagle (!) along with a good assortment of egrets. Here is Michael doing some bird-scouting alongside Ranger Amy as we get ready to exit the lake...

And here's Amy leading us into a slough whose entrance is marked by a really impressive stand of trees. (They're not cypress, I don't think, but I'm not sure what they were. Aren't they handsome, though?!)

One rather awkward problem posed by a long paddle in such alien terrain is where to make a potty stop. There really isn't much dry land around here!

Amy knew about this one spot, though, and we were able to find enough firm ground and (sort of) enough screening trees to allow for this important activity...

We ran into another issue, too, that caused some inconvenience. On one of the narrower sloughs, a fallen tree almost spanned the stream. But there was a little dip at one end, just wide enough to accommodate our craft. With a little help from Henry, who disembarked and gave most of our party a welcome push. Here's Robert approaching the narrow passage, with Henry at the left getting ready to shove him over...

Thanks to some recent rains, there was a current in some of these sloughs, where there usually isn't. And it wasn't always going our way! So the whole outing was something of a workout, but we knew we'd be making up the spent calories—and then some!—around the campfire that night.

Here are some more shots of the lovely sloughs we toured on this first day in the Piney Woods:

Yes, this was just our first day of paddling on these alien waterways! Our next outing was spent primarily on the main rivers, but we did have a taste of these behemoths on our paddle with the Ranger. Here's trip-organizer-extraordinaire Katie on the Neches toward the end of a strenuous day...

a little wider river than we're used to...

...and the trees are a little bigger, too!

I'll tell you about our Angelina-Neches excursion next time.

Wordless Wednesday: canoe masquerading as windsock

Rock stars

The water level for our paddle weekend before last wasn't just perfect for floating. It also left a series of limestone shelves on the banks perfectly exposed for admiration.

This is a look downstream from near our put-in at the 311 bridge. And here's another section of this shelf, a little closer to the bridge...

You can tell that the formation has seen a lot of river wear and tear, given its smooth edges...

Here's a extra-close-up that highlights this smoothness... doesn't it look like a somewhat slumping dessert of some kind?

As I was sitting in my boat at the put-in, waiting for the shuttle drivers to get into their boats, I happened to notice this chromatic anomaly in the generally white-grey-beige expanse...

Isn't that a lovely rosy pink?! Some iron mixed into the calcium carbonate perhaps? Although it's really pink, not red. Maybe some more exotic chemical?

More typical close-ups of limestone show off the myriad mini-huecos made by eons of flowing water and debris...

...some of which are mature enough to start serving as little planters...

Since all of the ground for miles and miles around here is underpinned with this stuff, it's not exactly rare. But you don't always get to see it displayed as attractively as it was on our recent paddle. 

Enjoying it while we can

Pretty spectacular river scenery, eh? Some recent rains made one of our favorite stretches of the upper Guadalupe paddleable, when it isn't at lower water. We started at the 311 bridge and floated a very pleasant 5 miles or so to the Rebecca Creek crossing. The panoramic shot above is at Rust Falls, where there's a nice high bank that's perfect for scouting and picture-taking. I wish all the rapids on the river had such vantage points for viewing!

The other nice falls on our route is Müller, where I was able to take a few more pictures, in spite of there not being a nice lookout hill.

looking back at the falls after my transit

Here are a couple of close-ups of two distinct sections of the fall...

this is the more exciting option, taken by some of our play-boaters

a bit to the right of this shot is the much easier channel taken by yours truly

The cypress trees along the banks were just beginning to sprout foliage that was still too early to show up in any of my photos. But there were still some pretty dramatic sights on offer for tree-lovers. You might have seen one in my last Wordless Wednesday post, and here are some more. Isn't the moss wonderful on these guys?! Making what was already a tree with gorgeous bones even more dramatically beautiful.

And, as I've shown you in other posts lately, there's still evidence in trees along the way of the power of some recent floods.

Yes, that is some sort of watercraft in that tree, at a much higher elevation that is now imaginable, and twisted almost beyond recognition.

Fortunately, all of our boats were carried along on a much kinder current, although still one that made for some exciting moments. Here are Henry and Joline finishing up one of these, the aforementioned far left channel around Müller Falls:

What a fun stretch of river at this water level! Here are the bookends, our put-in and take-out spots...

the 311 bridge, complete with some rather elaborate graffili that must
have been exciting to create...from a boat in the stream?

take-out at Rebecca Creek Road

You might note the majorly hole-y limestone on the near bank at our take-out. If you want to see more of these wonderful rock formations, stay tuned. I was quite impressed with them and took a few pictures I think you might like.

Wordless Wednesday: Undressed

Springin' out all over

Spring often takes us by surprise around here. But it's pretty hard to ignore. Not only do you start thinking about putting away the sweaters and bringing out the shorts, but you have these colorful reminders all over town...

another briefly-blooming redbud...this one on campus

campus redbud in the foreground

our neigbor's lovely ornamental pear

bottlebrushes just getting brushy

new blooms on campus yuccas

baby pine cones

One of the star performers every spring is the Texas mountain laurel. They spread their purple blossoms and grape-kool-aid aroma all over town.

But just to show that no matter how many springs you see, they can still teach you something, I happened to notice this mountain laurel variation on the grounds of the aptly-named Laurel Heights Methodist Church, near where I catch the bus each morning...

It's undoubtedly a mountain laurel, albeit with white blossoms. And if Silicon Valley would get on the stick and invent an HTML tag for smells, you'd see that it perfumes the air with the same scent as if it had grape-colored flowers. How about that?!

Here are some of the more common variants...

one of the church's more conventional trees

a particularly rich crop of blooms, across the street from the church

close-up of a specimen down the street

an Olmos Park example

Some of these beauties don't hang around too long, so you need to appreciate them when you see them. A good life lesson, eh?

Landmarks, etc.

You can't get lost paddling the San Antonio River in the King William area. Even if you overlook the helpful signs and lose track of which way is downstream.

There's a couple of towering landmarks to keep you oriented.

Last weekend we started at the River Authority headquarters, where you are watched over by the lovely Pioneer Flour Mills tower that you see above.

The buildings that surround the tower are quite handsome, too.

You'll know if you read the Handbook of Texas link above that the Guenther family owned the mill, and they lived practically onsite. When current San Antonio residents hear "Guenther House," they are more likely simply to think of this great restaurant. We've eaten there before, and can vouch for the good food as well as the fantastic ambiance of the old house. Here are some brunch/lunch diners enjoying it as we passed...

(This time we opted for nearby Taco Haven, another southside classic, for our post-paddle lunch.)

At the other, upstream end of our paddle, you find another iconic San Antonio tower:

The Tower Life Building is in the heart of downtown, but it's plenty tall enough to see well from anywhere in the neighborhood, including our spots on the river. 

The closest we could get is obvious here, as the dam at Nueva Street is an unmistakable  marker of the end of the legal paddling area.

We hung around here for a while, and I was able to get some telephoto snaps of the topknot crowning this roaring '20's creation...

Of course there are lots of other sights along this nice, easy, almost lazy paddle.  Here's a selection:

I love this house...it's a B&B in a amazing location

lovely King William residence under the Guenther St. bridge

and even wildlife!

Back to the Pioneer landmark to end our leisurely up-and-back paddle. Once again, we're reminded what a great city we live in!