THANKSGIVING IN THE BIG THICKET
The Big Thicket, initially over a million acres of dense wilderness
between Dallas and Beaumont in eastern Texas, now a one hundred
thousand acre National Preserve administered by the U. S. Park Service.
The coming together of plants, animals and birds, from different
regions, makes the Big Thicket a unique natural phenomena.
Ever since I first read about it I was intrigued by the Big Thicket.
Several years ago I did an overnight canoe trip on Village Creek but
that did not satisfy my thirst for the Big Thicket.
When the chance came along I jumped at the opportunity to do a three day
Thanksgiving trip on the Neches River, a Houston Canoe Club trip.
After a 130 mile drive to the put in on Texas farm road 1013 and a
twenty mile shuttle each way we managed to cram an unbelievable amount
of gear, clothing and food into eight sea kayaks and started down river
to highway 96, forty miles away, at 12:30 PM in a light rain.
We made camp early after doing only slightly over six miles. The
camping beach was high, wide and beautiful. Tents and flys were quickly
put up, stoves and food brought out and the process of heating our
feast began. The trip leader, Marilyn Kircus, had prepared food for the
whole group and it only had to be heated. Turkey, cornbread dressing,
cranberry relish, gravy, veggies and sweet potato pie made up the
Thanksgiving feast. We were dry and cozy in our chairs under tarps as
the rain continued.
And the rain continued until morning, rather hard at times. Morning
was sort of laid back, we took time dealing with wet gear and repacking
the kayaks. The sun actually came out after breakfast and we started
down river in a bright sunshine at about 10:00. We had to cover 20
miles this day.
The Neches is a rather wide river sort of like the Pearl. Forests lined
both banks. Mostly bottom land hardwoods. The sweet gums and chinese
tallows displaying a little fall color.
The rain started again and the wind picked up to about 15 MPH. We were
going against the wind for a while with the rain drops pelting our
faces. Glasses were practically useless. The wind was strong enough to
create a light chop on the water. The river winds a lot and at times we
were going with the wind, then against it and then it would be coming
from the side.
The rain slacked and we explored a side slough. There were a couple of
great blue herons and several people sighted a bald eagle. Moss draped
cypress trees abounded in the slough.
Lunch was turkey sandwiches with cranberry relish.
Beaches began to be scarce and for a while it looked like we might have
to paddle through the night to the takeout. Around 4:30 PM we settled
for a little spit of land about two and a half feet above water. There
was barely room for all the tents with one large penthouse tent taking
up most of the space. Dinner was chili, both the hot and mild variety.
Desert was bread pudding with whiskey sauce.
During the night one of the ladies went out to answer nature’s call and
dug into a fire ant nest. One of the men exited his tent just in time
to pull kayaks higher and keep them from floating off sans passengers.
The river was up in the morning and still rising. We got the hell out
of there in a hurry. A damn release had occurred during the night. Be
careful of those damn dammed rivers.
A swift current greatly aided our progress and we reached the takeout on
hwy 96 at noon instead of two or three as we had expected.
All three days and only about six small motor boats. About a dozen
small house boats tied to the banks and all but two unoccupied. The
quiet scenic splendor of the Neches lends one a degree of peace and
tranquility seldom found in todays everyday world.
A great trip.
Hulin Robert
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