Has anyone paddled the stretch beginning below Lake Palestine and ending at the first county road about 14 miles downstream? Are there many good natural campsites and is there too much timber blocking the stream to make it worthwhile?
Thanks
Doesn’t a “Verne Huser” have a good
guidebook for TX?
On Google Earth, the Neches looks fairly clear for the first few miles. It looks like the river slows, starts to get cypress or whatever in its channel, and then braids and expands in an impossible maze. I didn’t have a way of spotting your county road at the 14 mile mark.
Download Google Earth if you haven’t already. I have had great success scouting small rivers from outer space.
Took another look. The 2.3 miles from
below the dam to hwy 175 look clear, and are probably flushed clear by releases from Lake Palestine. Sandbars for camping there are unlikely, but then you wouldn’t be stopping that soon anyway.
The first county road I see is CR 320, and the section of river between hwy 175 and CR 320 is going to be messier in terms of trees and obstructions than the previous miles. My suggestion is, go do the first part down to hwy 175 for a short day trip. While you’re over there, check the access at CR 320, and the condition of the river. If it looks OK, give yourself a long day to do 175 to 320, or take overnight gear if weather conditions are predicted to be good. You might want another boat or two along, but not more, because a larger party dealing with logjams, etc., gets really slowed down.
They used to run
the Neches Wilderness Race in there and what I heard back from the participants was that there are definitely log jams to contend with and lots of them. I would travel light.
Thanks for the info NM
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