Our Adventures

Biked up to downtown and entered Buffalo Bayou heading east. I took the Bayou to just west of Turkey Bend, where I started seeing commercial barge traffic and heavy industry on both sides of the Bayou.  The end of the Houston Ship Channel is only a couple miles east.

As the bayou heads east it gets wider and deeper becoming a commercial waterway.

I made it to just west of Turkey Bend where a large barge was being loaded with scrap metal and I turned back to a lovely little take-out spot with a nice dock.

From here I hiked back to my bike at the Sabine Bridge.

For my second kayak trip I used my new bike trailer to bike down to MacGregor Park where I left my bike and started kayaking Braes Bayou east.  Braes Bayou is “channelized” west of here but from here east it is quite natural.

At one point I took a side channel through a culver.

 

I saw a little wildlife, mostly turtles and birds.

As the bayou nears Buffalo Bayou (within a mile or so) it opens up and becomes more industrial.

At this point I decided things were getting too commercial so I turned around and found a pull out spot in Mason Park.

I packed up the kayak and humped back to my bike in Macgregor Park.

For my first  test of my inflatable Kayak I hiked to Buffalo Bayou and the West Loop (610). Things got off to a rocky start when I slipped and fell in the mud trying to get the kayak into the water. My first lesson on kayaking Houston Bayous – access is often problematic.

 

I saw numerous birds. I saw the largest woodpecker I’ve ever seen with a bright red head (but, unfortunately did not get a picture). And turtles. Lot and lots of turtles.

I was pretty pleased with the kayak. The five mile or so hike was not great – the kayak hip belt rides too high and, since the back is frameless,  you carry all the weight on your shoulders. Five or 6 miles is probably the limit for carrying it.

I paddled into downtown and then back against the current (which isn’t much) to get to a pullout point just west of the Sabine Bridge.

I wanted something that I could backpack and also ride my bike.  I settled on the Sevlor K5. It seemed like a pretty good compromise. At 26 lbs it is not too heavy and the reviews were mostly positive.

It cost about $250, quite a bit cheaper that some of hardshell collapsable kayaks.

Backpack

The backpack, unfortunately, is not really designed for long hauls. There is no frame and the hip belt rides high so it is basically a rucksack. With water, food, etc. the pack ends up weighing north of 30lbs which is on the heavy side for a rucksack.  I modified the hip belt by attaching a more comfortable belt from an old pack. Even with this modification, hiking for more than 5 or 6 miles would be rough.

 

Kayak

The kayak is great. It does not track as well as a standard kayak and rides a bit higher but it is perfectly adequate. And it is a really cool design. The pack turns into a quite comfortable seat. The included paddle is a bit cheap but works alright if you are careful with it. The pump is very light and pumps on both strokes so the three kayak chambers are quickly filled.

Bike Hauling

I quickly realized that if I wanted to get the kayak more than 5-6 miles from home I would need to use my bike. Riding with the kayak on my back works but I still need to hump the kayak back to the bike after kayaking. I wanted to essentially add wheels to the kayak so I could pull it with my bike or push it when hiking. I found a bike trailer I thought would work, the Sepnine Bike Cargo  Trailer.

The trailer is 11.5 lbs and collapses so I can put it on my kayak when I reach my put-in spot.