Devil's River 2012 report

[PatrickMcHorn]

I, along with TapDancingKungFuMaster had the pleasure of joining MeSoHorny and a couple non-Shagsters on the Devil's River last weekend for a four day trip.
Good times were had by all, and much was learned from the fly fishing master of the universe. Here's our trip report so to speak.
Just after leaving Baker's crossing:


My first bass (I broke my foot a week before leaving, and was henceforth known as Gimpy or Robofoot) Those lillypads were gold. I think I caught a fish every time there was a large group of them:


Meso getting his first crack at bass in about a year after slaughtering the trout back home (his buddy Dom is in the back of the boat, hell of a great guy):


Lunch break with Meso (standing) and my new favorite Aggie Jeff (sitting):


I think the Derka Dog has some competition:


The exit of one of the 1 million reed jungles:


One of Tap's first day catches:


First night camp (We somehow missed the island despite a 30 mph head wind, and went several miles past, so had to do a little tresspassing right after sunset. They'll never know we were there):


Injun caves:


I'd say the water is just about as clear as the south pacific. Looks like somebody just turned the faucet on and filled up a giant limestone pool. There was actually more trash in the pool at the hotel afterwards than I saw in 4 days on the river:

[PatrickMcHorn]

State Natural Area, campsite #2, myself and Dom chatting about some $#@! over a filtered river water/gatorade powder/vodka concoction. Dom reminded me of Tony Siragusa both in appearance and in speach, being from Jersey via Montana. Sorry for making you a Colt/Raven, Dom.


Welcome to the Devil's River State Natural Area, now GTFO:


Tap's first fish on a flyrod:


Tap takes a picture of a fish, then casts at it and catches it:



Jeff taking a minute before lowering the kayaks and canoe down Dolan Falls.


Dolan (the largest waterfall in Texas) from above and below. Here's how it looks when the river is full:


Here's how low it was for us:

[PatrickMcHorn]

Dom guarding the kayaks and canoe:


Jeff. Like a boss:


Probably the biggest pure smallmouth I've caught:


Tap going down 3 tier falls (click the pic to play video, might have to give it a minute to load) :


3rd night's campsite, basically a few rocks in the middle of the river. Meso, with the help of the wind, just got done seeing if his tent can both fly and float. It can.


My keepers for our final night fish fry. The best black bass day I've ever had. Somewhere around 20 fish, and 5 of them over 15 inches. Jeff commented on how of course I had to change into my longhorn shirt for the picture. $#@! yeah I did). :


Meso frying fish:


My first attempt at noodling. I suck. I clearly "wiggled my fingers like a mother $#@!er," but instead of trying to swallow my hand, the catfish got a little spooked and went straight through Tap's legs (Click on the pic to play the video)


Pretty sure this is looking up from the bottom of Indian Creek rapid:

[PatrickMcHorn]

Meso chasing his fish into the weeds:


Meso's fish:


My foot. Going to the doc tomorrow, and can't imagine what he's going to say when he sees the shape that the boot is in. It certainly took a beating, but hey, it was elevated almost the whole time, and I wore the damn thing, so that couts for something.

[domedriver]

Just saying the Devil... 's River is cool and we all want more of it.

Texas State Parks has some new land as part of the Devil's River State Natural Area. They are holding a series of public meetings across the state this week to get comment on their management plan. It is urgent that climbers from across the state participate in giving feedback. Together, the state natural area conserves nearly 38,000 acres and 10.8 miles of Devils River and Lake Amistad frontage. The complex includes the newly acquired 18,000-acre southern unit and the existing 20,000-acre state natural area 13 miles upriver. This is a HUGE amount of land with lots of potential for climbing. It is located in a similar geology and proximity to Continental Ranch, with potential for climbing along the cliffs located on the river and side canyons.

Public comment can also be submitted online via email if you can't make one of the public meetings in your area. Every climber is encouraged to send in comments. Some points to make in your comments include:

* Both the North and South Unit of Devil's River State Natural Area should be open to rock climbing
* Rock climbing as an activity is low impact and compatible with preserving natural and cultural resources
* Rock climbers as a user group have a long history of environmental stewardship at other state parks and natural areas
* Placement of fixed protection for technical climbing should be allowed using Enchanted Rock State Natural Area as a model
* There is a lot of crossover between rock climbers and other user groups such as paddlers and hikers
* Any other environmental groups you are a part of, ie if you are a member of Sierra Club
* Your personal history that makes you look like an upstanding citizen, examples include:
* I have lived xx years in Texas
* I am a state parks pass holder
* I am a resident of [part of Texas, ie Dallas, Austin, etc]
* family (ie "It would mean a lot to my wife and teenage son to be able to come rock climbing with me to DRSNA")
* civic involvment / volunteerism

To find the public meeting happening in your city this week or to find
the email address to submit public comment:
http://goo.gl/dHW5K

More information about the Park:
http://goo.gl/fIaun

[jt]

holy $#@! patrick - i can't believe you did that trip w/ a $#@!ing cast on!!! w/ the water so low, we were dragging boats all day 2. i'll post my pics in here to keep that other thread free for other trips.

[wd40]

mmmm, nice bass!

you guys are killin' me. I gotta get over there.

Thanks for sharing.

[MeSoHorny]

[QUOTE=jt;3897991]holy $#@! patrick - i can't believe you did that trip w/ a $#@!ing cast on!!! w/ the water so low, we were dragging boats all day 2. i'll post my pics in here to keep that other thread free for other trips.[/QUOTE

Fractured foot and all, PatMcHorn did great, straight up badass. He caught the most fish on the trip to boot, providing us a nice fish fry on the last night. Best bass I've eaten in a long time.









Tap was no slouch either, here are a couple more pics of Tap shooting Three Tier Falls like a boss.






A short panoramic video of Three Tier Falls. (Click the pic and wait for a minute for it to load).


Tap with the GoPro camera shooting Three Tier Falls. (Click the pic and wait for a minute for it to load).


I really had a great time, just wish the water was a little higher. Great job by everyone. PatMcHorn, the Tony Saragusa is awesome. I'm sure Dom will get a kick out of that.

[smuggs]

Just wanted to say that this thread kicks serious ass. Nice work, fellas.

[jt]

that butt better not have ended up in the river tdkfm!

and where the hell is all your camping gear? i don't see any coolers, so i'm guessing y'all went SUPER light. you're going to laugh your asses off when you see how much beer/food/ice we all packed in.

[TedStriker]

Great pics. Thanks for posting !

Looks like yall were the only ones out there. And, to JT's point, where the hell is all the gear/beer/stuff?

[tx 3 putt]

what a great trip !

[PatrickMcHorn]

that butt better not have ended up in the river tdkfm!

and where the hell is all your camping gear? i don't see any coolers, so i'm guessing y'all went SUPER light. you're going to laugh your asses off when you see how much beer/food/ice we all packed in.

We definitely did go super light, and it was weird as hell to be on the river without beer, but vodka and gatorade trashcan punch did the job well.

Food wise, Tap and I did those dried sides (Spanish Rice, Fettuccine Alfredo, etc.) mixed in dried potatoes, and bags of chicken making a casserole type thing for dinner. Again, super light (weight) and filling with no ice required.

Sounds like you had a shorter trip, and we basically didn't want to drink warm beer and carry around ice chests for the last two days after running out of ice.

Tap took all his gear off that wouldn't store inside his boat to run 3 tier falls just so there was no chance anything was lost, but he does have a lot of room under there. That's a great boat if anyone is looking to get one. It seems like it does a lot of things well, the open water, the ocean, rivers, and low water.

[PatrickMcHorn]

My foot. Going to the doc tomorrow, and can't imagine what he's going to say when he sees the shape that the boot is in. It certainly took a beating, but hey, it was elevated almost the whole time, and I wore the damn thing, so that couts for something.

Been going to my doctor for a while now, and he just kind of looked at the boot, glanced up at me, glanced down at the boot, and then looked up and gave me the bro nod. I like my doctor.

[LosIllini]

Great Trip! Badass pics. Looks like the weather/ flow was great.

Those waters have healing powers- Wouldn't be surprised if you're running sprints later this week.

[Tap Dancing KungFu Master]

Good job on the thread mchorn. Dont worry all the cigarette butts made it in a water bottle. left nothing but a few brush hogs and one fly and picked up the one beer can I saw all trip. It was an awesome trip and the river is amazing. Had a good time with great company. Definitely cant wait to get out there again.

[Tap Dancing KungFu Master]

As for gear I just had a single burner stove and a few dry bags for the tent, food,etc. Other than a cold beer at the end of the night there wasn't anything I missed. Glad we went light so I didn't have to drag the boat very often. Maybe a blanket would have been nice too. I checked the weather before going and saw low 60s overnight but ended up with upper 40s and mid 50s so my skinny ass was wrapped up in the rain cover for the tent.

[jt]

how many days/nights were you out there? most of us had cold beer right to the end - the guys w/ yetis had ice when we got off the river. seeing all the $#@! beer options, i was so happy about austin beerworks - i took peacemaker and black thunder for my late afternoon/evening drinking (bud light for day drinking).

we got on friday at 9:30 or so and were off before noon on sunday. we were told there were some islands past the state park, but damned if we could find them, so we had to trespass as well as it got dark quick on us. 100% rock and we left no traces of ever being there, but it's still wrong, so we bugged out by daybreak sunday and beat our pickup time by 3 or 4 hours (should have been 2:30). we popped out of that last reed maze (which i am proud to say i picked the best route through when everyone else went right) into the big open valley w/ the houses up on the left bluff and had a bit of breakfast.

those kayaks do have a $#@!ton of storage inside - i was blown away by all the gear guys had in there! still, most every yak had a cooler on the back, a drybag on the front and 1 or 2 other things strapped on. i hope we got a picture of this one cat - he's a serious fisherman, but a little absentminded. his boat was LOADED down and we couldn't figure out why it was so bad compared to everyone else's - he didn't have his plug in. and he's not a renter - that was his boat!

we definitely packed in too much food. we had too much meat and canned food. need to do a better job of that next year and 1) coordinate so there's not so much overlap between group and individual and 2) bring lighter/smaller $#@!. sat night we had probably 2-3 lbs of pork left over. hell, i took in 2 cooked chops to eat for lunch, but i ended up eating deli meat/cheese/pita sammiches - never touched those chops.

[Tap Dancing KungFu Master]

We got in Saturday morning and got out after 3 on Tuesday afternoon. Last island was just below 3 Tier. My tent, pillow, sheet, and bed roll went in one dry bag in the back. Fishing stuff, smokes, and camera on top towards the front. That just left a small food bag, a bag with clothes and flashlights and random $#@!, drinks, a mess kit, and the little stove in the front hatch. Had an extra paddle and a few extra rods in there too. Could have fit a lot more inside but was glad to be light with the low water. I thought about a cooler but seemed like it wouldn't hold enough spread over 3 nights to be worth the space.

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[wd40]

how was it for trees at the camping areas? I dearly love my wbb hammock, but it requires a minimum of 12 feet of space between two sturdy hanging points. in Salida, I think we found the only site (in an open public campground) that had trees to handle both our hammocks. would've sucked to sleep on the ground for a week, even with a Thermarest over a doubled up GG pad.

might warrant its own thread, but I'd be curious what kind of light/ultralight gear setups folks use for trips like this. we lived like kings on this last trip because Salida's a good-sized town; but usually, we're at least an hour from civilization.

[Tap Dancing KungFu Master]

Im not sure about the first island since we missed it but the hammock would have been worthless on the island the third night. It was just a big rock in the middle of the river. You probably could get by with that at the state park though. I would try to find a small tent that goes up easy and doesn't need stakes to stay up. That with a self inflating bed roll and little pillow still doesn't take up much room.


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[PatrickMcHorn]

...we were told there were some islands past the state park, but damned if we could find them, so we had to trespass as well as it got dark quick on us. ...

Yeah, we stayed on a little rock island about 1/4 mile after 3 tiers, but there's no way you all would have fit. We were cramped with just 5 of us.

how was it for trees at the camping areas? I dearly love my wbb hammock, but it requires a minimum of 12 feet of space between two sturdy hanging points. in Salida, I think we found the only site (in an open public campground) that had trees to handle both our hammocks. would've sucked to sleep on the ground for a week, even with a Thermarest over a doubled up GG pad.

might warrant its own thread, but I'd be curious what kind of light/ultralight gear setups folks use for trips like this. we lived like kings on this last trip because Salida's a good-sized town; but usually, we're at least an hour from civilization.

Trees were tough to come by. One in our group had the kind of one man tent that needs stakes on both ends to hold the top taut. That wasn't happening with limestone, and he had a tough time even finding reeds that were the right distance apart to tie onto. I would definitely not rely on trees unless you plan to do some serious trespassing.

Sleeping wise, here's what I brought plus a camping pillow and a sheet:


The self inflating pad was perfect with all the rock.

Other than that, just food, fishing stuff, a couple changes of clothes, toilet paper, and those shake up cold packs for my foot. I've definitely taken more stuff for one night trips than I did for 4 here.

[Tap Dancing KungFu Master]

^ That was an awesome little tent. I think fairly reasonable too.

[Tap Dancing KungFu Master]

A couple more pics I thought were ok.



boat fully loaded



new favorite fly (thanks meso)





McHorn and my tents in action.



I think someone forgot to hold on to the boat

[jt]

hammock would have been kick ass on our first night, worthless the second. i'm screwing around on google earth right now trying to find the exact spots we stayed.

here's night 2 - 29°49'38.15"N, 101° 1'34.99"W

i can totally see where there SHOULD be a bunch of islands, but since the water is down, they aren't islands anymore. there was some talk about the natural waterline, etc, but none of us really knew the rules so we kept looking until we didn't have a choice. i'll see if i can find the 1st night's spot, because that one was pretty kick ass.

[Tap Dancing KungFu Master]

I think McHorn told me the rule is you can be half way between the current water level and the high water mark or something, but I'm not positive and I'm also not sure anyone out there on the devil's river would care if you tried telling them the law. Definitely seems like finding islands could be a tricky thing since you get new ones and lose others as the water goes up and down. Supposedly a group that left the same morning we did found the island and then we saw them again the second night at the state land.

[PatrickMcHorn]

Pretty sure this is where we stayed the 3rd night. 29°50'43.12"N, 101° 0'23.74"W.

The directions given to us were that the island is where the mansion (with the spanish roof) on river left is about to disappear behind you. Pretty right on, but it's pretty unrecognizable as an island. The highest point was probably 6 inches above water level. Would have sucked if it rained upstream.

[jt]

$#@!ers are taking their sweet time uploading pics...

here's the biggest fish all weekend - literally in the last pool of the trip not 1000yds from takeout

[PatrickMcHorn]

$#@!ers are taking their sweet time uploading pics...

here's the biggest fish all weekend - literally in the last pool of the trip not 1000yds from takeout

Haha! Meso was fishing in that last pool in one spot for a while, and just kept saying "that's the biggest smallie I've ever seen." He wasn't able to get him, but that could be him. That's one hell of a bass.

Just want to add that I like the cut of your friend's boat's jib. Though it doesn't have a jib. Looks like a newer model of mine.

[jt]

rei rental - tarpon 12 iirc

[PatrickMcHorn]

rei rental - tarpon 12 iirc

more or less then.

[Lerka Lerka]

nice pics fellas - looks like an awesome float trip.

[Tap Dancing KungFu Master]

$#@!ers are taking their sweet time uploading pics...

here's the biggest fish all weekend - literally in the last pool of the trip not 1000yds from takeout

Damn, nice bass. Would be funny if it was the one Meso was after. I had a nice size bass hit my brush hog literally at the take out. Was just casting at little bass waiting on the other guys to get out in front of me and a 2-3 lb bass snapped my brush hog right off. Apparently I suck at knots.

[MeSoHorny]

/\ Smallie. The one I saw near the end of our trip was a legit 7-9 pounder largemouth. That huge bass took a look at my fly only to be carp blocked. Anyway, that's just the way it is sometimes. Still a good trip all around.

[jt]

me up front




the other canoe












this didn't go quite the way he planned it. my bud's 20yr old little brother on day 2 - he got HAMMERED day 1. no hat, no sunglasses, just drinking tall boy cold beers one after the other. passed out sitting straight up, head tilted back, mouth open in front of the fire.

[jt]

video - click

[ousuxndallas]

Great pics, guys! Did that trip a few years ago. Baker's 1st night, trespass 2nd night, take out 3rd day.

Did y'all run into the park ranger at the SWA? Kerr? Grew up with him in D.R.

[Snow Dog]

We definitely did go super light, and it was weird as hell to be on the river without beer, but vodka and gatorade trashcan punch did the job well.

YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG.
Jk, sounds epic. I am insanely jealous, and props to you for doing it with a banged up foot.

[Tap Dancing KungFu Master]

YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG.
Jk, sounds epic. I am insanely jealous, and props to you for doing it with a banged up foot.

Filtered river water, powdered gatorade, and ghetto vodka FTMFW!

Nice pics, JT. Looks like an awesome trip. I wish I were there again now.

[Snow Dog]

Interesting video posted by some landowner trying to limit access to the river.
He's concerned about tubing? You'd have to be $#@!ing retarded to think anyone could ever tube that river, they'd find your buzzard picked bones about 4 miles outside of Baker's Crossing.
Jackass, it's not YOUR river, it belongs to Texans everywhere.



Tumping over in the rapids doesn't indicate that they do not have a right to be there.

[jt]

couple more pics from our trip:

my canoemate for the weekend




first night's campsite

[judge roybeanbag]

Interesting video posted by some landowner trying to limit access to the river.
He's concerned about tubing? You'd have to be $#@!ing retarded to think anyone could ever tube that river, they'd find your buzzard picked bones about 4 miles outside of Baker's Crossing.
Jackass, it's not YOUR river, it belongs to Texans everywhere.



Tumping over in the rapids doesn't indicate that they do not have a right to be there.

Well I'll admit those were some pretty $#@!ty paddlers. Good grief. Except instead of bitching about it, he should enjoy the entertainment.

[Tap Dancing KungFu Master]

Well I'll admit those were some pretty $#@!ty paddlers. Good grief. Except instead of bitching about it, he should enjoy the entertainment.

Ya, $#@! this guy who made the video. Pretty terrible job getting through there by those guys and not having anything tied down, but that's probably 10% of people. The river was awesome, but the people down there are pure idiots.

In 23 miles I saw one copenhagen can, one empty beer can, and one emergency kit, all of which we took out. $#@! these idiots down there who think they own the river.

[jt]

Pretty terrible job getting through there by those guys and not having anything tied down

seriously - that's where we dumped (pretty sure it is - last day, pretty close to take out?) and all we lost was one paddle, which we found downstream. how do they not have 1 piece of rope tied through every single thing in their boat? dumbasses.

we only saw 2 pieces of trash the whole time and grabbed them both.

[wd40]

I have to say those panoramics remind me of what's great about Texas.

again, great job, fellas.