El Paso Kayaking??

Hi,



I’m new to the board, so I hope this is the right category for my question. I’ve recently moved to El Paso, TX. I’m looking for the nearest reasonable place to do some kayaking. I’m just a beginner and have been doing small lake or flat river kayaking just for regular exercise.



It’s been a lot of fun and I really enjoy it, but even though El Paso is located on the Rio Grande, I’m not sure that it’s a good idea to kayak on the Rio. Does anyone know? In particular, how polluted is the river? I don’t plan on getting terribly wet, but it just doesn’t look all that attractive. Plus, I’ve not seen anyone on the river, nor any places to put in. Any comments? Thanks for you help.



– Bill

There’s a lot of good Rio Grande
water downstream from you. Get a guidebook for your area or hook up with a local club. If you want reservoirs, you can drive NW into New Mexico to find some.

El Paso paddling
Thanks g2d. I know that Elephant Butte is up in NM, however, I was hoping for a nearby place that I could get to in a short drive to put in for a quick paddle at the end of the day.



Also, as for local clubs, do you know of a good place to look? I’ve looked in the weekly entertainment type paper, but don’t find anything.



– Bill

Southwest Paddler and Meetup.com
Try the Web site Southwest Paddler for info:



http://www.southwestpaddler.com



And there’s a Las Cruces/El Paso paddling group on Meetup.com. Doesn’t look like a lot of activity, but you might try getting it going.


There is water near El Paso?

There’s water near everywhere in Texas.
Especially if you use the Texas definition of near…6 hour drive or less.

Southwest Paddler
Thanks for the links Gary21cp. Looks like some good info. I’ve found a small pond in El Paso, called Ascarate Park. So that may at least be a place that I can practice after work or something like that. It’s only 1.2 miles around the shore though. I was hoping for a bit more, but at least it’s over a mile :slight_smile:



yak.canfish: The hill country is great, but even by Texas standards, it’s a bit far for a quick trip after work (about 7 hours to the Guadalupe).



Sometime in the near future I want to try Big Bend and also up to Elephant Butte.



– Bill