Story by Tom Douglas
Photos by Linda Shead, Taylor Cutshall, and Tom Douglas

On Sunday May 21, our fleet of five canoes and nine kayaks set out to explore the San Bernard River near the town of Kendleton, Texas.  This stretch of the river, which lies within the Columbia Bottomlands ecological system, forms the boundary between Fort Bend County to the east and Wharton County to the west.  It is called the “Blue Hole” because here the river’s channel is wider and deeper. 

Knowing that wet weather was probably on the way, we met up at 9:00 and were on the water a little before 10:00.  We began our trip by paddling downstream on calm waters, under a gray sky, and surrounded by a forest of bald cypress, black willow, and green ash.  Some of the cypresses at the Blue Hole have been documented by tree ring analysis to be at least 1200 years old, and they are likely much older than that.

By about 10:45, the skies cleared, and we enjoyed sunshine during most of the rest of the paddle.  About a mile downstream from our launch site at Bates Allen Park, several adventurous souls hiked around a major logjam to see what lay farther downstream.  Having decided that a portage might be too time-consuming, we turned back upstream.

About half way back up to our launch site, some of the boats pulled up into shallow water on the Fort Bend County side of the river to have a close look at what is possibly the largest bald cypress tree in Texas.  Its trunk is hollow, with space enough inside for a person to stand and see the sky overhead.  We came to refer to it informally as the “Really Big Tree,” or even the “RBT” for short. 

Rain was on the way, but today the river was only running at about 16 cubic feet per second.  In everyday terms, that is slightly more than enough water to fill up two 50-gallon bathtubs each second – but that really isn’t very much when you consider that the river is around 130 feet wide at the Bates Allen Park boat launch.  The low water level limited how far we would be able to venture upstream, but it provided a great view of the many astonishing “knees” that had formed on the roots of cypress trees.  We paddled back up past the park, underneath Highway 59, and through a beautiful maze of cypresses standing in the water before the river became too narrow, shallow, and choked with fallen trees to continue.  Here, as earlier in the day, we saw plentiful evidence that beavers had been at work – bark was peeled off tree trunks, and the tops of small cypress knees had been chewed, with wood chips left lying on the damp ground around them. 

Taking heed of the National Weather Service’s hourly spot forecast for the area, we returned to the park by about 1:00, which gave our paddlers enough time to learn more about each other during an enjoyable picnic lunch.  And what an interesting group it was.  Among others, we had three Master Naturalists, two persons who are professionally active in acquiring land for habitat protection, and yet another with years of experience interpreting nature for the public.  After lunch, it was time to finish packing up our boats and gear so that we could head out, just as thunder began to roll. 

To view more photos of our outing, taken by Joe Coker, visit the Houston Canoe Club web site at https://thcc.clubexpress.com/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=496051&module_id=258778 .  A wealth of information about the Columbia Bottomlands ecological system can be found at the web sites of Houston Wilderness http://houstonwilderness.org/colombia-bottomlands and Texas Parks & Wildlife http://tpwd.texas.gov/landwater/land/programs/landscape-ecology/ems/emst/woody-wetlands-and-riparian/columbia-bottomlands-forest-and-woodland/ .