Brazos River - Day 1

Note: Left click on any photograph to enlarge.

Up by dawn on Friday morning, we broke camp quickly and arrived at the put-in at the Highway 16 crossing, a short distance downstream from Morris Sheppard Dam and Possum Kingdom Lake, before 8:30. The dam release had the river running at about 160 cfs - low, but enough for a nice trip. Mike's photo above shows Michael checking the trim of the trusty Buffalo 16. Fully loaded, including a dutch oven under the bow seat, the canoe's handling exhibited certain barge-like qualities. In the background is the highway bridge, with the dam in the distance beyond.

Another group arrived as our vehicles and drivers were running the shuttle back to Rochelle's. It appears from Mike's photo that they may be pondering the two eternal questions: Do we have enough beer? Do we need a bigger boat? At least the flashlight and koozie were readily at hand.

Brent's photos show that Mike is ready to travel, as Michael explores upstream of the highway bridge while waiting for me to return from the vehicle shuttle.

Brent and Bill were able to get in a little fishing during the vehicle shuttle.

Some typical Brazos River scenery a few minutes into the journey.

Mike near the head of the pack.

A Great Blue Heron headed up the river. (Reminder: left click on any image to enlarge.)

Bluffs along the river banks.

Another Great Blue.

Team Mad River (Ron and Mac) with their vertical packing technique.

A Common Egret guards the entrance to the river channel.

The small tree in Mike's photo indicates that this less fortunate traveler must have met his fate some time ago.

More bluffs.

Michael handling the stern.

A Great Blue Heron would let us glide only so near before taking flight.

Brent, Michael and Bill lead the way past some boulders. Brent assured us (on several occasions) that our lunch stop, and later our campsite, was "just around the next bend." I personally lost track of the number of bends.

Michael and I arriving at the lunch stop.

Bill joins us for a photo at the landing.

Team Mad River makes a crash landing.















The lunch supplies arrive.

The paddlers raise their frozen margaritas in a toast.

We did finally reach the campsite, about 13.5 river miles from the put-in and just downstream from the confluence of Eagle Creek and the Brazos.

The weary paddlers enjoyed some snacks and liquid nourishment almost as much as Don's limericks, jokes, and tall tales. Shown here are Mike, Michael, Don, Bob and Mac ("the other Bob").

A patch of Indian-blanket next to our camp chairs.

Brent and his sous chefs, Mac and Ron, prepare the first evening's dinner of redfish court-bouillon, with cobbler for desert. As you can see, we suffered quite a bit under these primitive conditions.

I had a front row view of the river from my tent.

Our campsite for Friday and Saturday nights.

Note: For 27 additional Day 1 photos, click on this link to my Flickr page, then click on "Slideshow."