Saturday, January 26, 2013

Saturday Paddlers - Guadalupe River


Eleven paddlers participated in the trip from the I-10 crossing at Comfort to James Kiehl River Bend Park.  Although the park is very nice, the new bridge at the road crossing there has made access for boaters much more difficult and strenuous.  The old low water bridge was not removed, but access to it by vehicle has been blocked.  Canoes and kayaks must now be carried some distance up a steep incline to the parking lot at the park.  The new bridge at Seidensticker Crossing, the first road crossing upstream from the park, is even worse from a boater's perspective.  It almost appears that the highway department was acting in concert with the "friendly" landowner there, basically blocking all access from the public right-of-way to what is supposed to be a public river.

The Guadalupe River was low, registering 46 cfs at the Comfort gauge.  This made for a lot of scraping of hulls against river bottom, but it was only at the three portages along our nearly seven-mile route that I had to actually get out of my canoe.  The sun never quite made its promised appearance, at least not while we were still on the water, so the temperature did not reach its forecast high.  But the journey was quite pleasant for a Texas winter day.











Nancy W., Scott, Joline, and Cynthia prepare to launch their kayaks.


 

Ed was very easy to spot.

 















Susan and Cynthia made it back into their kayaks after the portage as the small dam a short distance downstream from our put-in.  No one tried running the dam.  Where is Steve Fiedler when I need him?
















Nancy G. and Amy maneuvered past the overhanging tree limb.  It was nice having another canoe to keep mine company.
















Joline is in the lead as she and Nancy race down the river.


Jon treated us all to champagne, complete with festive glasses, at our lunch stop.  He had a unique method for opening the bottle, as shown in this video:


This second video shows some of the crowd reaction to Jon's trick:


Note:  No glass was left behind in the making of these videos.









Reiko displayed her martial arts moves.  I was afraid -- very afraid.












Some watercress (Nasturtium officinale) growing in a small spring next to the river.


After our river had ended and the excitement about Nancy G.'s lost car key had subsided, four of us stopped for dinner at the Welfare General Store & Cafe.  I had driven by this interesting establishment on the Waring Welfare Road several times before, but it had always appeared to be closed.  There is a historical marker out front with information about the old German community of Welfare.


The "Battle of Nueces" mentioned on this marker is perhaps better described as the Nueces Massacre.  It appears that Ernst Beseler, who settled this area with his parents and brother in the 1850's, was among the thirty-four German conscientious objectors to the Confederate draft who were killed along the banks of the Nueces River on August 10. 1862.  I previously referred to this event at the end of my blog post on December 8, which features some photos of Brownsboro Cemetery, located a short distance from James Kiehl River Bend Park.


Note:  Click on any photo to enlarge.

 
















Joline, Amy, and Nancy prepare to order from the cafe's surprisingly sophisticated and varied menu.  The food was quite good.  I plan to stop there again the next time we are in the vicinity.


Two of the local farm girls admire their chickens.  I was tempted to flirt with these innocents, but knew that their protective father was somewhere close by.










Nancy attracted a new friend.


Behind the General Store is a huge oak tree and the "Goat Barn," which can be used for hosting events.









The front of the Welfare General Store & Cafe faces the Waring Welfare Road.




A nice sunset, viewed here from the front porch of the cafe, greeted us as we were leaving.








I enjoyed two different views of the moon on this trip.


 Note:  For all 46 photographs from this outing, click here for my Flickr page, then click on "Slideshow."
 

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