Kayak Trip Report: Amistad Reservoir
This trip, planned as a four day trip, was taken over five days, April 20-24, 2000. High winds on Lake Amistad necessitated the extra day on the water.
Amistad Reservoir is formed by the damming of the Pecos and Rio Grande Rivers in the arid region of Texas about 30 miles West of Del Rio. Drought conditions in this area, and water usage for irrigation, have pulled the lake down approximately 40 feet from its designed level, which is observable from the current level. The lake is quite deep and very paddleable even at this level.
This was a commercial trip, outfitted by Jack Richardson of Wilderness Furnishings in Sugarland, Texas ( www.wildfur.com ). Six paddlers participated, five in sea kayaks, and Jack in an open canoe.
We met the morning of the planned trip at Seminole Canyon State Park. As you can see from the picture below, an important geographic feature of the area is these overhanging cliffs which were home to native Americans as many as 5000-8000 years ago. The most obvious remaining sign of their occupation is the artwork they produced on the walls and ceilings of many of these cliffs. The one below is known as the Fate Bell Shelter and is preserved by the state park. We went on a guided tour of the shelter before moving on to the put-in.
To the right above is our group posing below the rock art of the Fate Bell Shelter.
We put our boats on the water of the Pecos River where the old highway 90 crossed at a ford. In the distance beyond this view of the put-in area is the new highway 90 crossing and the downstream view as we proceeded on our way.
Our first night's campground was on a sandbar on the Rio Grande river, below where the Pecos flowed into it.
The rock cliffs were very interesting in terms of the weathering
processes at work on them. It's hard to imagine how this "swiss
cheese" happened (left).
Or how about the fossilized, prehistoric worm burrows (right)?
The native flora did some amazing adaptations to cliff walls also. Here is a red rock penstemon (P. baccharifolius) in bloom, in a crevice of a solid rock wall; and a yellow-blooming tree tobacco (Nicotiana glauca) that was the dominant blooming plant of our trip, not only on cliff walls but also on the ground.
Above the canyons, the vegetation was more typical of the encroaching Chihuahuan desert. Above right are some prickly pear cactus and agave with the brown, dry foliage of the tablelands above.
At least one of the archaeological treasures could be reached only from the water. The park service has built a convenient dock, for power boaters and paddle boaters alike at Panther Cave. Here is our group tied up at the dock, the famous panther itself (scale is not apparent, this painting is almost 20' long from tip of nose to tip of tail), and our lunch break next to the cave.
Within a few miles, the river turned into Lake Amistad. The silt-laden waters of the upper stretch turned clear and deep blue green in color. You might imagine the drowned canyons below. The lightest colored layer here is the former level of flooding.
High winds on Saturday, and a desert thunderstorm, kept us pinned down in camp an extra day. To maximize our chances of getting out on Monday, we struck camp before daybreak and headed out for the last 10 miles to the takeout. Here are canoe and kayak silhouetted by the rising sun, as we paddled out that last morning.
Houston, Texas
