While biking the previous day I had the opportunity to see the San Anonio River which follows north to south. It originates in central Texas in a cluster of springs which eventually feeds into the Guadalupe River, which in turn flows into the Gulf of Mexico. Even though Texas had some serious rain recently, the water levels fluctuate drastically because of the heat and dry ground. Overall the river level was pretty low especially before and after the shoots which were built as part of the Espada aqueduct system.
I met the shuttle at the take out location which was near the Espada Mission. I happened to be the only one interested in the full 5 mile paddle. I was dropped off at Lone Star Blvd, which is also the location were there is a series of drainage gates that open to drain all of the high runoff from the downtown area. Later seeing the garbage polluted banks helped me understand where it all came from.
Perception Tribe Sit-On-Top
While walking through the grass to the river, I accidentally stepped on an fire ant hill and got myself a few bites. The interesting thing was the area hurt more 2 days later then the day of the bites. Later I noticed that those ant hills spotted all areas of the grass, no matter where you went. So I paid a lot more attention to where I was stepping.
Very quickly into the paddle I came to my first shoot. I was instructed to just allow the water to suck the kayak into the shoot and don't use the paddle while in the shoot. I got to experience over 20 shoots during the trip. It was very interesting because each shoot was unique in length, shape, and location in the width of the river. The shortest one was only 2-3 steps. The longest one had to be over 15 steps with significant change in elevation. I also learned that if I didn't use the paddle there would have been times I would have slammed into the little concrete projections and potentially gotten stuck.
On a couple occasions the shoot was so far to the side that I couldn't even find it because there were so much vegetation on the banks. The first time I was ready to get out of the kayak when a small part of the concrete projecting out of the water caught my eye and I found it.
There was a lot of water fowl all around me the entire trip. I also spotted some other animals that looked like weasels, and there were a few snakes and turtles that crossed my path.
SERIES OF GOING DOWN THE SHOOT
It was also quite funny at several of the longer shoots there were large groups of people standing and watching me paddle.
Five miles down the river, the take out was a place with a few concrete stairs which made for an easy exit.
I also had a Hydroflask water thermos with me on this trip to try out. Not only did it hold the cold water temperature for the duration of the trip in the 85 degree outside temperature but the water was still cold 20 hrs later. The outside, as seen in the photo below, is a neoprene carrier sold separately. I will definitely be using this for future outdoor adventures. It holds 64 oz of water.
Overall it was a very nice paddle. The shoots added some excitement because without them it would be a very boring, currentless paddle.
TRIP STATS:
Distance: 5.08 miles
Duration: 1:34 hrs
PACE: 18:34 min/mile
Weather: cloudy most of the trip. Had sun for about 15 minutes. Southernly headwind. Mid-80's.
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