By Tom Douglas

 As we prepared to begin our outing at White's Park, our group of 7 kayakers and two canoeists took care to share the launch area with other people who were headed out to fish from their small power boats.  Soon we were underway, paddling down Turtle Bayou.  Not too surprisingly, we saw several turtles sunning themselves on logs.  (It is called Turtle Bayou, after all.)

 Nearly two miles to the south, we really came to appreciate the work of Joe Coker, who, along with Tom Douglas, had scouted out conditions at the mouth of the bayou, where the waves coming in across Lake Anahuac on a south wind like today’s can make for rough conditions.

 As we had hoped, the water at the entrance to a small pond that gives access to the central portion of the preserve was calm enough so that we could pass through without problems.  Once in the pond, all was calm, not to mention very scenic.  

 A second reason for the advance scouting trip had been to check on the status of invasive plants such as water hyacinth, alligator weed, and giant salvinia, which will most likely take over the surface of the pond as summer approaches. 

After taking in the sights on the pond, we made use of a gently-sloping, although narrow, take-out spot.  

Here we were greeted by many blooming irises, dewberries, and some poison ivy. 

Just a few steps up the slope, we came into view of one of the three observation platforms that overlook the wetlands on the interior of the Turtle Bayou Nature Preserve.  Linda Shead, who was a prime mover in the establishment of the preserve, pointed out how, beginning only about 400 feet from our launch site, all of the land along the right side of the bayou where we had just paddled is now protected as part of that preserve

During our lunch break under the shade of a nearby tree, we had a very interesting and somewhat longer-than-usual lunchtime conversation.  What an interesting and diverse group it was. 

Re-boarding our boats, we headed back up Turtle Bayou toward White's Park.  The wind from the south was capricious, but it was still strong enough for Richard Cunningham to unfurl his kayak’s sailing rig.  Part way back upstream, we made a short detour into a small and scenic tributary that flows down through the preserve into Turtle Bayou.

 Back at White's Park, two of our paddlers, who needed to get back to Houston early, signed out and helped each other load up their gear.  Then, the rest of us paddled south (paradoxically, due to a quirk of geology, this is upstream) along White's Bayou, which is much narrower and more winding than Turtle Bayou.  After about 45 minutes, it was time to turn around, a decision that was made easy by the presence of a minor logjam.  We enjoyed retracing Whites Bayou’s many twists and turns on our way back north, reaching White's Park shortly before our scheduled take-out time of 4:00.