SUP Adventures Continue on Coastal and River Trails
After conquering the Possum King, we couldn’t stop.
After my standup paddleboard tour of Possum Kingdom Lake, I immediately wanted to sample coastal and river paddling trails. My wife joined me on these quick one-day excursions. These samplings helped whet my appetite for future Texas water adventures to tackle.
Coastal Trail: Shamrock Loop, Port Aransas
We chose the 5.24-mile Shamrock Loop Trail near Port Aransas since it did not require a shuttle. We faced high winds on the morning we paddled the trail. As we made our way down Wilson’s Cut, the north wind wreaked havoc on straight-line paddling. Turning right at Marker Seven, we entered the marsh to escape the wind.
Our eyes were dazzled by a cornucopia of shore birds standing in the shallow water: mottled ducks, blue herons and the spectacular roseate spoonbill, an amazing wading bird. Unfortunately, what enabled the shore birds to wade also stopped us in our tracks. The fins on our SUP boards were dragging the shallow sand bottoms.
We turned back and paddle the entirety of Wilson’s Cut into Corpus Christi Bay. Once in the open bay, we were at the mercy of the wind. It was impossible to move any deeper into the bay. We turned around and paddled back through the cut and called it a day in the marshes.
We found much more satisfaction on the beaches of Mustang Island State Park paddling into the surf and tumbling amongst the waves of the Gulf. Out past the breaks in the relatively calm sea, I knew what my next grand float adventure had to be: a stand-up paddle board trip along the entire 113-mile Padre Island coast, beach camping each night.
River Trail: Trinity River, Dallas
We paddled the Trinity River south of downtown Dallas, standing and balancing on floating boards. It’s not the cleanest river out there, so my one and only goal was to not fall in the water.
We put in just up from Moore Park and spent two hours traveling 6 miles downriver to the Loop 12 bridge. We traversed both Class I and Class II rapids, scurried up wild dogs and got a peek at the Great Trinity Forest. Wildlife was abundant, with alligator gar flopping and splashing down river, turtles lunging off logs and a maverick duck that continued to swim underwater next to us for at least 30 feet, an odd duck indeed.
It was a grand urban adventure that primed a crescendo river trip to cap off my year of Texas water exploration: a SUP float trip down the Rio Grande in Big Bend.
And, yes, I fell in. Twice. It’s always a trade-off between bliss and calamity.
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