The Place to Share
Canoeing & Kayaking
Colorado River, Texas
By reading further, you agree to our Terms of Use

Copyright 2002 Alfonso Vazquez-Cuervo - See Terms of Use

Our Route Summary

  • Submitted by: Marilyn Kircus mkircus@academicplanet.com
  • Date Submitted: 1/2002
  • Location: from Garwood, Texas USA
  • Class: 1
  • Distance Paddled: 26 miles; normally a 2 day trip.
  • Water Level: Releases during floods and in the spring-fall for electricity. Be aware that the river can rise without warning.
  • Water: fresh
  • Wildlife: Great blue herons, many kinds of hawks, especially redtails, caracara, pileated woodpeckers, black and turkey vultures, spotted sandpipers, turtles, deer.
  • Special Regulations: All land beyond the river bed 10 miles upstream of the pubic takeout at Wharton Riverfront Park is all private property, no trespassing.

Entry

  • Directions: Put in at intersection of 950 and the river. The access road is to the right, just before the bridge. This is all off of Highway 59, southwest of Houston, TX. Take highway 59 south to Wharton. Take Highway 102 north to Glen Flora. Turn west on 960 which goes through downtown Glen Flora (all 2 blocks of it). Continue across the bridge and take the access road to the left. This is a dirt road with not much room to park. Leave the take -out vehicle here. Go back through Glen Flora and take 102 north through Egypt (but do stay in Texas) to highway 2614 which is signed as the way to Garwood. It will dead end into highway 960. Turn west and go until you see the bridge. The access road is quite a ways back on the right. There is a lot of parking room but only a little directly under the bridge.
  • Fee: none
  • Description: Both the put-in and take-out are on dirt roads with no improvements. They are probably not drivable in wet weather. There is no improvements and both are difficult to use. I would be afraid to use a kayak unless I was in a large group. It was at least a 2 foot drop at the take-out with no eddy to get out in from the river current.
  • Parking: Just dirt and grass
  • Facilities: none
  • Handicap Access: none

Exit

  • Directions: Take out at intersection of 960 and river. Access road is just over the bridge on the left hand side. This is all off of Highway 59, southwest of Houston, TX. Take highway 59 south to Wharton. Take Highway 102 north to Glen Flora. Turn west on 960 which goes through downtown Glen Flora (all 2 blocks of it). Continue across the bridge and take the access road to the left. This is a dirt road with not much room to park. Leave the take -out vehicle here. Go back through Glen Flora and take 102 north through Egypt (but do stay in Texas) to highway 2614 which is signed as the way to Garwood. It will dead end into highway 960. Turn west and go until you see the bridge. The access road is quite a ways back on the right. There is a lot of parking room but only a little directly under the bridge.
  • Fee: none
  • Description: Both the put-in and take-out are on dirt roads with no improvements. They are probably not drivable in wet weather. There is no improvements and both are difficult to use. I would be afraid to use a kayak unless I was in a large group. It was at least a 2 foot drop at the take-out with no eddy to get out in from the river current.
  • Parking: Just dirt and grass
  • Facilities: none
  • Handicap Access: none

What We Saw

We paddled this stretch of the Colorado River, which winds some 500 miles through west and central Texas before flowing into the Gulf of Mexico, December 27, 2001. Rather than do a marathon of after Christmas shopping, we did a lovely paddle. We put in a 9:15 A. M after taking a few trips down the steep sandy bank under the bridge at Garwood to carry down our gear and drag down the canoe. Across from us, on a bridge pier, were hundreds of cliff swallow nests - the ones that look like little jugs. While their owners were vacationing in Central and South America, sparrows were using them for either their nests or to shelter from the cold wind. ( It was about 40 degrees when we put in.) My friend, Natalie, and I had decided to explore this section in a tandem canoe using or kayak paddles to maintain a good speed as we can get out of bad situations easier in a canoe than a kayak and with two fast paddlers paddling a tandem, we can really fly. Her goal was to research this section for possible paddling by Girl Scouts as there is a Girl Scout on this stretch of the river.

We quickly went downstream exclaiming at each turn about the beautiful and varied scenery. Usually we had high banks on one side and a sandbar on the other. Sometimes we would have vegetated banks but often they were river cut banks and were either black or red or showed bands of various colors. The high banks usually had some trees on them and then open fields behind them but some were wooded. The low sides often had sandbars and sometimes beginning colonies of cottonwoods and river birch. Some of the scenery looked like east Texas rivers scenery but other areas looked more western. We did see many of the live oaks and other plant species, typical of the western part of the state. We also a few caracara, the Mexican Eagle that is only found commonly in south Texas as it is a Mexican species. There were many spotted sandpipers, doing their little bobbing walk along the edge of the water or flying weakly about a foot above the water. Mostly the river looked wild but we could see cow pastures, and sometimes structures at many places. We saw few houses until we were almost finished.
This stretch of the river has many huge sandbars, some of them high enough above the water to be safe to camp on. Natalie and I stopped soon after we started to look through the gravel and larger rocks for fossilized oyster shells. We didn't find any but I found a few fossilized chips of wood. We stopped several more times to eat and play and investigate the offerings and, at the last site we visited, we found fossilized pieces of huge backbones and other bones. We brought home 2 pieces of the backbone bones. We also found beautifully colored pebbles. Natalie selected a blue and black one to bring home. We also ate lunches one and two on two the sandbars and enjoyed both the view and sounds of the river and the sandbar itself.

When we were sure we would be out well before dark, we drifted for a period. Slow speed and the quiet allowed us to see turtles, woodpeckers, come real close to to a spotted sandpiper walking on a log, watch the vultures drifting over (they seemed to be gathering over us but then we found they were already coming in to roost) and enjoy the sounds of the river where it met downed trees. We also got a kick out of a heifer on a high bank that stared at us with the most quizzical expression on her face. She seemed to be saying, "what kind of fools would be on that cold water?"
The takeout was easier than it had looked but still was steep and slippery. We had to work our way to a place where cement was imbedded into the bank to be able to lift our canoe out without falling in. We were really glad we had put long bow and stern lines on the boat before leaving. And we had tied all our gear in in anticipation having to grab the bow and pull the kayak almost straight up.

Map - We used the one in the booklet published by the Lower Colorado River Authority. You can get it by calling 800-776-5252. On the web, see the put-in on the Topo Map then follow the river to Glen Flora. You can use the pipelines to see where you are. I think we didn't see the signs for the first one as both banks were high at this point. But then we saw 3 almost together and these are shown as one on the map. These have signs but the pipeline is under the river. The next 2 were on suspension bridges which were quite beautiful. Use topo maps to get some idea of which sandbars will be high enough to be safe and the distances between them. This would normally be a 2 day trip.