Have a friend that loves Kayaking and wants to do a weekend kayaking trip for his bachelor party in March. He’s lives in Dallas area and is willing to travel a couple hours. Any advice you have would be greatly appreciated.
If your friend has some moving water experience, March is usually a good time to paddle the upper Buffalo National River in northern Arkansas.
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Agreed, the Buffalo should have water in March and there are plenty of outfitters available for shuttles and boat rentals. How many days/nights did you want to do? And what is the experience level? Some sections are easier than others.
The Sabine river would be a good choice TPWD: Sabine Sandbar Paddling Trail
If y’all want to paddle during the day and sleep in a bed at night then Caddo Lake is a great place to kayak with plenty of short term rentals availble. You can camp in the Caddo Lake WMA, with a permit
Most likely too far away, but noteworthy, the South Llano and Llano rivers are both fun and you could camp at the state park. There are a few places in Junction that rent kayaks. The San Marcos river has plenty of access points making paddles of varying lenghts easy to find. Local outfitter on the San Marcos https://www.paddlewithstyle.com/
March is an awkward month to plan ahead for.
I would stay close to home.
In March from experience, the Sabine either above or below Toledo Bend can be either super high or super low depending on rainfall. When its high, river camping is tough, especially above Toledo Bend. We schedule a fishing trip for sand bass that is the last weekend for February every year and we ususally have to cancel it for high water 2 out of three years. It is hard to plan on some thing there. Also getting shuttles down there has been tough of late too thanks to Covid.
If you are looking for a place to car camp, the San Marcos would indeed be a good bet as. Paddle With Style can hook you up with rentals and there are a couple of nice day paddles. The weather there is usually cooperative as well.
Paddlinpals, do have a favorite section of the Sabine?
Paddlinpals, brings up an excellent point, long time frame of a paddling trip in Texas is tricky. A lot of our rivers can be feast or famine. That is one big advantage of the San Marcos, being spring fed it almost always has enough water for a good paddle.
The South Llano is also spring fed, less developed than the San Marcos , and very pretty.
Depends on how far you want to go. North of Carthage, put in at FM 1794 and take out at US 79 is about 11 miles and has the most abundant number of camp sites. All sandy beaches. If you want to go two nights, take out at FM 2517. that tacks on about another 10 miles with the best camp spots within two or so miles of the takeout.
The South Llano would only be good if you were planning day paddles as there is not much camping on the river and getting loaded boats down it at normal (low) water levels is a bear, especially getting by the rocky rapid under the Iron Bridge at Boone Crossing. South Llano River SP is perfectly located to do an 11 mile day paddle though starting at Second Crossing. That park fills up fast, so reservations are a must. We have trip there April 8 and the park is booked up solid.
The most reliable water flow is definitely the San Marcos. Camp at Shady Grove and you have several great options for day paddles. If I was going to camp on the river I would go from Fentress to Luling 90 (13 miles) as there are some small camp spots between Stairtown and Luling.
Another consistent one is the Colorado between Big Webberville Park and FM 969. The camp site is called Christmas Tree island and is in the middle of the river right in front of the Hyatt Lost Pines Resort. Total paddle is 16 miles.