Note: There are many more photos from this trip (89 to be exact) in this Flickr set.
On the plus side, you have beautiful and [mostly] unspoiled scenery, amazingly clear water, and a very congenial group of paddling companions.
a sample of Devils River water (more shots like this are below and even more in the Flickr set...I took a lot!)
But on the minus...well, for me the minuses ended up making our Devils River trip a good bit too exciting for my [admittedly outstandingly] wimpish sense of adventure.Number One on my minus list would have to be the fields of reeds (composed largely of bamboo, but with all kinds of other bushy plants helping them out) that made "scouting" several of the class II and III rapids along the way almost impossible. Not to mention having to decide in a split second in the middle of a rapid whether to go left, right, or down the middle, since you couldn't see ahead any farther.
The picture on the right was taken near the end of the trip, where we were waiting for our remaining friends to make it through the very aptly named Reeds Chutes Rapid. The rapid is only rated class II, but the lack of visibility due to the reeds should have bumped it up a notch, imho. The channel I'm looking up wasn't the best one for them to be using, but the better choices unfortunately didn't look a lot different.
Julie attempts to "scout" [ha!] Three Tier Rapid, which is class III
Another reedy scene
The reeds by themselves would have constituted a major obstacle to carefree paddling on this
beautiful stream. But unfortunately they were also joined by Minus Number Two: low water exposing LOTS of rocks. It seems that Tropical Storm Hermine didn't make it this far west last week, and so there wasn't much runoff to cover up those pesky, and sometimes dangerous, rocks.On the left is one we didn't have trouble avoiding, but hundreds of its little cousins gave us quite a few headaches. Almost literally.
We got stuck on innumerable rocks, and had to get out of the boat in water that, though too low to make for easy paddling, was still forceful enough to make wading and boat manoeuvering difficult.
We also went swimming twice, involuntarily [the water was so pretty that voluntary swimming definitely counted on the plus side of the ledger]. Once rather spectacularly after failing to
make a sharp turn and running up on a huge flat rock. Henry's yelled advice: "Get out of the boat!" Which I interpreted to mean jump clear of the canoe into the water. [He's always told me to get away from the boat when it capsizes. Getting trapped in your craft is a paddler's worse nightmare.] What he meant was to try and step off onto the rock. Although I think, had I tried that, I might have ended up with a broken leg as the rear of the canoe was already spinning away in the current. Fun! [not]This adventure happened just above Three Tier Rapid. On the bright side, our being out of the water at the top of it (I was able to get to shore after butt-surfing over one of the Tiers) allowed us to help the friends behind us find the right channel through the reeds and have at least a decent chance of hitting the entrance to the rapid correctly. On the right, above, Henry is assisting Joan, our trip's Dear Leader, to do this. (It also allowed me to take photos of them.)
I was too spooked from this incident to want to go down the rest of the rapid so Henry ran it on his own, very skillfully, in the canoe. Here's a shot of him about midway through:
I was too spooked from this incident to want to go down the rest of the rapid so Henry ran it on his own, very skillfully, in the canoe. Here's a shot of him about midway through:
As it turned out, all but one of the kayakers made it through ok, too, and although Katie also ended up swimming, she was none the worse for the wear.
On the left we're lined up waiting for our celebratory margaritas, which, along with a nice rest in the cool clear water (and a prolonged fishing stop for Bing) was our well-earned reward for surviving this difficult stretch of the river.
Three Tier isn't the most dangerous rapid on the river, however. That honor goes to Dolan Falls, a class IV that none of us even toyed with the idea of running.
It's a really beautiful water feature, that we had plenty of time to view and photograph while we worked on how to get our boats around it.
Here Henry is standing just upstream from the falls, considering his portage options [although I admit for a moment I was afraid he was thinking about going over in the boat...if the water had been a little higher he might have considered it. Testosterone is a dangerous thing.]
The "book" says to portage river left, but as it's a bit brushy over there, we were advised to go to the right. However, the right-hand bank has some pretty steep cliffs to get the boats over. The kayakers in the group were industrious and ingenious, though, and found a good way to work
together and get their boats back in the river. On the right, Katie, Claire, and Margaret are lining Claire's kayak down the rockface.
Henry decided that the gentler slope on the left outweighed the brush that was there and decided to use that side of the river for his portage. I say "his" rather than "ours" because I was on the right side of the river by this time and neither of us thought I could manage to wade across the current to the other side to help him with the boat. He didn't wade, either, but lined the boat back upstream and paddled it down and over to the left bank. I wasn't particularly interested in doing that, though, so he was on his own.
I just got to watch as he actually lined the canoe over the falls! Pretty ingenious but also a little scary! However, he handled the manoeuver quite skillfully and it saved having to drag the canoe over yards of abrasive rocks. Here he is right after getting the boat down the large channel that makes up the right portion (as seen in the picture) of the falls.
I should have gotten a picture of the boat in mid-fall, but it was too scary watching him to think about taking pictures. I know I wouldn't make a good photo-journalist. Sorry!
Anyway, you can see here how beautifully the rocks and water combine to make this very scenic spot. Henry canoed back upstream to get a closer look, and my shot of him gives you a more panoramic view:
an even closer-up view of part of Dolan Falls, taken from the rocks above it
After our paddling adventure we drove to the Rough Canyon Marina, on Lake Amistad, which is the enormous reservoir the Devils River empties into. We were really looking forward to a hearty dinner at Hooker's, a restaurant/bar/souvenir shop/fishing outfitter on the lake. It hadn't occurred to any of us that going as late as we were on a Sunday evening they might not be open...But what great folks! Even though the kitchen was closed (the bar was open, since, of course, the Cowboys were playing that night) they fired up grills again for us and we had wonderful burgers and beer.
And, going by the sign by the door, I'm sure we'll be welcome there again.
I'll close with this iconic west Texas scene, neat clouds over range and ranch buildings, taken at the B&B our first night. It was a devil of a river, but a heck of a trip.
On the left we're lined up waiting for our celebratory margaritas, which, along with a nice rest in the cool clear water (and a prolonged fishing stop for Bing) was our well-earned reward for surviving this difficult stretch of the river.
Three Tier isn't the most dangerous rapid on the river, however. That honor goes to Dolan Falls, a class IV that none of us even toyed with the idea of running.
It's a really beautiful water feature, that we had plenty of time to view and photograph while we worked on how to get our boats around it.
Here Henry is standing just upstream from the falls, considering his portage options [although I admit for a moment I was afraid he was thinking about going over in the boat...if the water had been a little higher he might have considered it. Testosterone is a dangerous thing.]
The "book" says to portage river left, but as it's a bit brushy over there, we were advised to go to the right. However, the right-hand bank has some pretty steep cliffs to get the boats over. The kayakers in the group were industrious and ingenious, though, and found a good way to work
together and get their boats back in the river. On the right, Katie, Claire, and Margaret are lining Claire's kayak down the rockface.Henry decided that the gentler slope on the left outweighed the brush that was there and decided to use that side of the river for his portage. I say "his" rather than "ours" because I was on the right side of the river by this time and neither of us thought I could manage to wade across the current to the other side to help him with the boat. He didn't wade, either, but lined the boat back upstream and paddled it down and over to the left bank. I wasn't particularly interested in doing that, though, so he was on his own.
I just got to watch as he actually lined the canoe over the falls! Pretty ingenious but also a little scary! However, he handled the manoeuver quite skillfully and it saved having to drag the canoe over yards of abrasive rocks. Here he is right after getting the boat down the large channel that makes up the right portion (as seen in the picture) of the falls.
I should have gotten a picture of the boat in mid-fall, but it was too scary watching him to think about taking pictures. I know I wouldn't make a good photo-journalist. Sorry!Anyway, you can see here how beautifully the rocks and water combine to make this very scenic spot. Henry canoed back upstream to get a closer look, and my shot of him gives you a more panoramic view:
an even closer-up view of part of Dolan Falls, taken from the rocks above it
There's another class III rapid on this stretch of the river, Indian Creek Rapid, but we actually made it through there ok. It had reeds and rocks, but not as many of either as in some of the other tough stretches. Our group had two swimmers, though, at the end of Indian Creek:
click on the image to see a larger version, so you can pick out the person-less boats; the bow of our canoe is on the far right, just watching the action, ready to catch boats, paddles, or people as needed
click on the image to see a larger version, so you can pick out the person-less boats; the bow of our canoe is on the far right, just watching the action, ready to catch boats, paddles, or people as needed
But enough about the adventure of the trip. It really is very lovely countryside, and here are a few scenes to prove it:
rocky hillsides and Caribbean-colored water
you don't need a glass-bottomed boat to see these water plants on the river bottom
looking downstream from Three Tier Rapid
another underwater scene from on top of the water
rocky hillsides and Caribbean-colored water
you don't need a glass-bottomed boat to see these water plants on the river bottom
looking downstream from Three Tier Rapid
another underwater scene from on top of the waterAs you can see, I was quite taken with the clarity of the water. It was amazing! This was a definite positive highlight of the trip for me, and one reason I'm glad I went, in spite of bumps, bruises, and moments of sheer terror!
Another reason I'm glad I went was the fun we had with our paddling companions. What a congenial group! We spent two nights at Who Cares? B&B (actually rather a combination B&B and hostel; there's no website but I can get you the contact information if you're interested) near Del Rio and had a wonderful time there eating, drinking, conversing...and, of course, loading and unloading
boats.
Another reason I'm glad I went was the fun we had with our paddling companions. What a congenial group! We spent two nights at Who Cares? B&B (actually rather a combination B&B and hostel; there's no website but I can get you the contact information if you're interested) near Del Rio and had a wonderful time there eating, drinking, conversing...and, of course, loading and unloading
boats.After our paddling adventure we drove to the Rough Canyon Marina, on Lake Amistad, which is the enormous reservoir the Devils River empties into. We were really looking forward to a hearty dinner at Hooker's, a restaurant/bar/souvenir shop/fishing outfitter on the lake. It hadn't occurred to any of us that going as late as we were on a Sunday evening they might not be open...But what great folks! Even though the kitchen was closed (the bar was open, since, of course, the Cowboys were playing that night) they fired up grills again for us and we had wonderful burgers and beer.
And, going by the sign by the door, I'm sure we'll be welcome there again.
I'll close with this iconic west Texas scene, neat clouds over range and ranch buildings, taken at the B&B our first night. It was a devil of a river, but a heck of a trip.
