Jump to content

Along Buffalo Bayou The City From The Water


Recommended Posts

Neat tour. I've been interested in doing one of the canoe trips along the bayou for some time. Curious as to what it was like in terms of length of time and rental costs...

From 610&Woodway to downtown takes around 4 hours. The first half of that is Memorial Park on the left and River Oaks on the right. You'd never think you were in a city. It's great. I've rented canoes for around $50 a day. It's a good time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good stuff! Thanks for posting them. What part of the bayou did you see the gator in?

Based on the sequence of photos and the forestation, it's definitely west of Shepherd. There is a small shoal like this near Bayou Bend Tower, which is a favorite of the gators. It's visble from the deck of Brenner's on the Bayou (former Rainbow Lodge building).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd been bouncing this idea off of another HAIFer, but we always seem to be tied up on good-weather Saturdays.

Anybody else interested in possibly making this happen? Then we can put together an armada of kayaks and canoes and go it self-guided.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i read an article in the past about someone tracing the bayou from way out west and going all the way to the port. they were on foot part of the time (west of the loop).

great pics. thank you. i love a new view. it seems almost surreal, like a river was photo shopped with houston buildings in the background. awesome.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd been bouncing this idea off of another HAIFer, but we always seem to be tied up on good-weather Saturdays.

Anybody else interested in possibly making this happen? Then we can put together an armada of kayaks and canoes and go it self-guided.

I'd be interested in making the trip! I've always wanted to paddle Buffalo Bayou, and as of a couple weeks ago, I've got a kayak to do it with. I'm not the most skilled paddler, and I don't have a touring kayak, but I'm sure I can make it work.

I'm actually tied up for the next few weekends, but I might be able to do something in May...or June. It'll be hot, but what better reason to get on the water, right?!?

In photo #4, what is the series of black pipes doing there?

I'd guess it's some type of erosion protection...they might be geotubes. Erosion of Buffalo Bayou's banks is a big issue for many property owners along the bayou. Unfortunately, Mother Nature puts up a pretty tough fight.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd been bouncing this idea off of another HAIFer, but we always seem to be tied up on good-weather Saturdays.

Anybody else interested in possibly making this happen? Then we can put together an armada of kayaks and canoes and go it self-guided.

I've been wanting to do this for ages. Just either wasn't in the country, couldn't convince any of my weeney friends to join me, the weather wasn't right, or had to work when the weather was.

I'm in town for the next couple months, so if this ever materializes count me in

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here is the article from the Houston Press:

http://www.houstonpress.com/2006-07-20/news/dark-water/full

The gator photo was taken in Memorial Park on the North bank of the bayou. It is at a point about due south of where the maintenance yard is. It is amazing how wild that section feels. If you think about the fact that ROCC is to the south and the park is to the north, it is about as isolated as you can get inside the loop.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The gator photo was taken in Memorial Park on the North bank of the bayou. It is at a point about due south of where the maintenance yard is. It is amazing how wild that section feels. If you think about the fact that ROCC is to the south and the park is to the north, it is about as isolated as you can get inside the loop.

I've hiked down to the bayou inside Memorial Park, and it's amazing how far it feels from the rest of Houston.

There are some great beaches down there too!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • 9 months later...

I've got a mean hankering to do this, soon. Anyone know if the hurricane did any damage or rearrangement (fallen trees and such) that would make it difficult? Canoe trips are fun, but not as much if you have to get out and climb around stuff a few times.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've got a mean hankering to do this, soon. Anyone know if the hurricane did any damage or rearrangement (fallen trees and such) that would make it difficult? Canoe trips are fun, but not as much if you have to get out and climb around stuff a few times.

I never was able to get that Buffalo Bayou trip put together last year. Things just never lined up the way I needed them too. I actually own a kayak and gear now, though, and I'm thinking that late March or early April would be a good time for a Buffalo Bayou run. By that time the vegetation should be especially lush and attractive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

My dad and I paddled a rubber raft down Buffalo Bayou in the mid 80's. I don't remember seeing any alligators; but my god were there snakes - lots and lots of snakes. At one point in our trip, there was a debris jam that completely blocked the bayou. At first, we considered just climbing up and over. That is, until we both spotted a snake that appeared to be about as thick as a man's bicep moving though the jumble of mud and branches. Now, this may have been exaggerated in my then-young mind, but something made my dad drag that raft out of the water and cut through that brushy riverbank.

Buffalo Bayou makes me nervous to this day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Wow, I had no idea it was that wild down there. If Id have known Id taken my kayak years ago down there. I always do my kayaking at Anahuac or out in the ship channel cause I love paddling next to those giant oil tankers. I wonder how in the world the bayou managed to escape being cemented in after all these years like the rest of the old rivers did. Glad this one escaped and its crazy to think alligators are swimming through downtown.

I love gators and I love kayaking next to em, its gives a great adrenaline rush! But man, theres got to be some nasty shit on the bottom of that creek. Probably dead people, used needles, feet of trash. Yuck.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I always do my kayaking at Anahuac or out in the ship channel cause I love paddling next to those giant oil tankers.

This is OT, but I've been wanting to try that. Except, all of my relatives are telling me that that's a suicide wish. I've witnessed cases where the wakes of fully-loaded tankers coming into port at a decent clip were so large as to create tsunami effects along upper Galveston Bay (specifically along Morgan's Point), so I consider their criticism valid. But...I'm looking for a reasoned excuse to take the risk.

Either that, or just PM me whenever you'd like to have a partner on such a venture.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow, I had no idea it was that wild down there. If Id have known Id taken my kayak years ago down there. I always do my kayaking at Anahuac or out in the ship channel cause I love paddling next to those giant oil tankers. I wonder how in the world the bayou managed to escape being cemented in after all these years like the rest of the old rivers did. Glad this one escaped and its crazy to think alligators are swimming through downtown.

I love gators and I love kayaking next to em, its gives a great adrenaline rush! But man, theres got to be some nasty shit on the bottom of that creek. Probably dead people, used needles, feet of trash. Yuck.

I have a picture from the late 1960s where they bayou from Shephered to downtown is clear cut. There was a conservation effort to keep it from being cemented in back then and one of the leaders of the effort to keep it wild was none other than GHW Bush. That stretch is now a real asset to the city.

The run from 610 to Shepherd is really cool. Basically you have Memorial Park on your left and River Oaks on your right. It feels incredibly isolated. And there are some amazing houses back there. Some people have terraced and landscaped their banks, others let it go wild. You would never guess you were in the middle of the city. The run from Shepherd downtown is good too. And one comment I get from people who go with me for the first time is that the Bayou looks cleaner than they thought it would. Don't get me wrong, there is trash (especially plastic shopping bags) but as long as the current is good it's not all that bad. And four years running we've had people fall in the water and not had a single reported case of Hepatitis.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow, I had no idea it was that wild down there. If Id have known Id taken my kayak years ago down there. I always do my kayaking at Anahuac or out in the ship channel cause I love paddling next to those giant oil tankers.

Do you have to get a permit for the Ship Channel like the Houston Press did? Or does that not apply out in the bay?

It does sound fun/terrifying.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow, I had no idea it was that wild down there. If Id have known Id taken my kayak years ago down there. I always do my kayaking at Anahuac or out in the ship channel cause I love paddling next to those giant oil tankers. I wonder how in the world the bayou managed to escape being cemented in after all these years like the rest of the old rivers did. Glad this one escaped and its crazy to think alligators are swimming through downtown.

I love gators and I love kayaking next to em, its gives a great adrenaline rush! But man, theres got to be some nasty shit on the bottom of that creek. Probably dead people, used needles, feet of trash. Yuck.

Used needles and dead people :lol: Probably so!

My company participates in some sort of boating race in the bayou every year...I think every March or April. Anywho, this year it was moved to another location because the bayou was deemed unsafe and too dirty after Ike stirred it up. I've jogged from downtown to Waugh (yes, I'm lazy!) and just thinking about what's in the water gives me the heebie jeebies

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • The title was changed to Along Buffalo Bayou The City From The Water

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...