Blanco River - Before the Deluge

On May 22, I played hooky from the office and joined three friends on the Blanco River.  The river, which had been running at well below 100 cfs since June of last year (based on the gauge downstream at Wimberley), had received a boost from recent rainstorms.  We had cancelled our planned outing the prior Sunday after the river had suddenly risen to 2,000 cfs that morning and then peaked at 6,000 cfs that afternoon.  The river was now on a steady decline, and we wanted to enjoy the water before it dropped too much further and the drought returned.  Little did we know what would happen the following evening.

We launched our boats near the low-water crossing on Valley View Road shortly after noon.  The flow was around 475 cfs, about four times what it had been when I had first paddled this stretch a year earlier.  We were in for a fun, but not overly challenging, ride.  The view above is looking upstream at the small falls just downstream from the crossing.  For some short (and somewhat shaky, because I was trying to balance my spinning canoe while holding the camera instead of a paddle) videos of the above rapids, click here and also here.

Gary and Jon were in whitewater canoes, as was I.

Tall limestone bluffs lined the river.  For a short video of this scene, including some bird calls (if you turn up the sound), click here.

After stopping for lunch along the bank, we climbed back in our boats.  Jim was the sole kayaker in our group.  I noted that the water under the rock overhangs across the river was about four feet higher than it had been a year earlier.

Around the next bend from our lunch stop, we would see the Fischer Store Road bridge.  It marked the 4.5-mile point of our approximately 8-mile journey to the low-water crossing on Wayside Drive, itself about seven miles upstream from the heart of Wimberley.  Below is a photo of the bridge, taken by Kathy a year earlier when it served as our take-out point.

Note the height of the bridge above the river.  We may have been the last persons to paddle under the bridge.  About thirty-four hours later, the bridge had been destroyed by flood waters.  Saturday night around midnight, the river flow shot straight up to about 70,000 cfs, at which point the gauge stopped working.  It is my understanding that the river climbed more than 40 feet in height in Wimberley, resulting in a tragic loss in lives and severe property damage.

Below are some images from the internet of the Fischer Store Road bridge after the disastrous flooding.

We had a few moments of excitement  as we paddled downstream from the bridge, as evidenced by the damage (shown below) I inflicted on the bow of my canoe.  When I smashed into a water-covered boulder in the middle of a drop in the river, the Purple Fox came to a sudden stop.  I did not.  The fabric anchor for one of my thigh straps ripped apart and my momentum carried me forward, resulting in a faceplant into the front flotation bag.  Luckily, the only damage I incurred was to my pride.

Of course, as we finished our almost idyllic paddling trip at Wayside Drive, we had no way of knowing about the tragedy that would unfold the following night.  Our hearts go out to the families and friends of those who lost their lives, and we wish a quick recovery to those whose homes were destroyed or damaged.  Future trips on the Blanco will inevitably bring forth a lingering sadness and a new-found respect for the awesome power of the river.