Village Creek Camping Report - April 22 - 24, 2022

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Neumie
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Village Creek Camping Report - April 22 - 24, 2022

Post by Neumie »

Planning

A Few months back my friend Andy called and wanted to plan a kayak trip sometime in April or May. We tossed around a few stretches we'd like to try before ultimately settling on the 20.6 +/- mile stretch of Village Creek just outside of Silsbee. He would driving down from Dallas and I would make the trip east from San Antonio; each driving about 4.5 hours. We reserved a campsite at Village Creek S.P. starting Thursday night through Sunday so we could leave our vehicles at the state park. A month out I started planning and looking over Google Earth for campsites and create a river mileage map.

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The Tuesday before the trip I put together the meal plan and prepared breakfast and dinner for each day on the creek. The first night would be jambalaya, then bacon hash for breakfast, Shepherd's pie on the second night, and finish the trip with skillet biscuits with sausage gravy. Meals were portioned out, vacuum sealed, and frozen if possible.

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On Wednesday night I packed my gear up and loaded my truck. One thing that makes the Ride 135 such a great camping kayak is the amount of storage available inside the kayak within the pontoons. I whipped a tether system so I could slide gear down each side to lower the center of gravity and more evenly distribute the weight. It works great.

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Thursday rolled around and Andy took the entire day off for this trip. I worked an almost full day at the office and hit the road around 3 pm. Right as I was leaving I got this picture.

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I rolled into the campground around 8:30, relieved to have driven through minor traffic in San Antonio and Houston. We talked a bit more about the upcoming day over some cold “sodas” and went to bed pretty early.

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Neumie
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Re: Village Creek Camping Report - April 22 - 24, 2022

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Friday

The next morning we were up early to break camp and have breakfast; pancakes with bacon. A quick check of the gear and repacking the cooler with fresh ice and we were ready to hit the creek. We left Andy’s car at the take out spot at the state park and hauled our gear to the entrance of the park to await our shuttle; Sharp’s Canoe & Kayak Rental. Joe’s born and raised in the area and gave some history on our trip to the launch site. He also gave us some navigational tips and what to expect.

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He dropped us off around 10 am and it’s a really nice launch site.

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Our plan for the day was to fish and take in the scenery. We were eyeing a few sandy beaches around River Mile 6.5 (R.M. 6.5) for camping the first night and wanted to be there by 5:30 pm; so we had 7 hours to cover those miles and fish.

First fish was a chunky little spotted bass. We caught mostly Spotted Bass on this trip.

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This 15” bass was probably the largest of the trip.

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Andy’s first fish.

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We had a minor short drag around a tree around R.M. 3, but at R.M. 4 we encountered our first big obstruction. Easiest line was about a 30 yard drag over the sand; not exactly fun with kayaks fully loaded down.

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Andy with the first and only sunfish for the trip.

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We made it to R.M. 6.5 around 5 pm and scoped out two of the beaches and found a good one with a nice flat spot about 8 feet above the creek, shaded, and optimal for catching the southerly breeze to set up our tent. There was also ample firewood to collect and burn. There was this cool sand drawing where a piece of grass had carved out circular patterns in the sand from the wind swinging around.

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Dinner tonight was jambalaya.

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Around 8:30 or so I thought I saw a head lamp just up the creek. And then a second. Turns out a couple in a tandem and guy in a Hobie Pro Angler had been fishing up a creek, lost track of time, and didn’t know how far they still had to go. We informed them they had about 2 more miles until CR 327. Being stuck on a creek/river after sunset is not something I would want to enjoy and why I always create an aerial map with mileage marked off. With that map and a watch I always know where I’m at on the stream.

After that encounter and with our campsite set up, dishes cleaned, and extra gear stored the only thing left to do was to crack open some cold ones, sit by the fire, and wait for the stars.

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Neumie
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Re: Village Creek Camping Report - April 22 - 24, 2022

Post by Neumie »

Saturday

The next morning I quickly got a fire started and a pot of coffee going. Breakfast this morning was going to take a little longer to cook, bacon hash with eggs over easy topped with cilantro and cotija cheese.

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We launched about 8:45 am and had a minor obstruction to navigate right off the bat. Not too difficult, basically step out into shin deep water, float the kayak under a tree, and hope back in. However, about a mile down from camp we encountered a large tree across the creek. The only portage route was to the left where we’d have to carry the kayaks up an 8 ft bank, down a narrow path (about a foot, maybe), and back down to the creek about 10-15 yards. Not something I wanted to do with kayaks fully loaded down. There was a small window that looked like if we took the coolers out of the kayak and folded the seat backs down, maybe, just maybe, we could float our kayaks under. We gave it a shot and they barely floated through the small window.

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After this obstruction it was smooth paddling for the rest of the trip. Again we started to fish and enjoy the scenery.

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At R.M. 11 the creek splits and we decided to take a short break for 30 or so minutes. This was one of the navigation tips Joe gave us and said, “Right looks great, but you don’t want to go right. Stay left.” Noted.

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We took another break around 2:30 pm around R.M. 14.5 after dealing with some strong headwinds for the last two miles. Apparently, this was also the stretch where the locals come out to party and spend the day. After about an hour we continued down stream away from the crowds and began to check out some of the sandy beaches around R.M. 16.5. We found another good campsite with the entire beach already shaded by the trees and had ample firewood. The only thing we had to do was just some minor flattening of the sand for our tent.

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Dinner for this night would be upside down Shepherd’s Pie.

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Neumie
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Re: Village Creek Camping Report - April 22 - 24, 2022

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Sunday

Again we were up early to get the fire and coffee going. This would be a quicker breakfast of skillet biscuits with sausage gravy.

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We had the campsite broken down and packed up quickly; we launched about 8 am that morning. The creek was wide and we were already facing a stiff head wind early on. There weren’t as many “fishy” looking spots through this stretch so we mainly focused on making good time for an early morning creek exit.

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About half a mile from the take out spot was a welcome sign letting us know we were close to the take out.

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The take out was not the easiest nor was it the worst I’ve ever used.

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We were off the water by 11 am. This allowed us plenty of time to load our trucks and not felt rushed to get back on the road. Oh, and a hot shower was definitely in order.

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We grabbed a bite to eat at Whataburger before Andy and I parted ways.

Here's a Google Map with the obstructions we encountered and out campsite locations for future references: Click

We were glad we had decided to head there given the current state of our drought and rivers. We had about 190-200 cfs for the entire trip and felt that was about right for paddling and fishing.

What a great trip in a beautiful part of Texas.
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Re: Village Creek Camping Report - April 22 - 24, 2022

Post by bigfost »

Great report. That's the area I live in. In fact, my house is within a mile of the Village Creek headwaters.

Looks like a great time...except for the dragging. :D
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shoffer
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Re: Village Creek Camping Report - April 22 - 24, 2022

Post by shoffer »

A great report about an area near where I grew up. I was never into paddlesports as a kid, but my best friend growing up would float it in their canoe with his dad.

Josh, thanks for the detailed, pic heavy report. Always a first-class read.
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Re: Village Creek Camping Report - April 22 - 24, 2022

Post by Jedi »

Great report. Looks like you had and awesome trip.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

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Ron Mc
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Re: Village Creek Camping Report - April 22 - 24, 2022

Post by Ron Mc »

Epicurean camping.

Excellent report - thanks for the great trip photos and details.
BTW, 15" spotted bass is a lunker - that's about all the food they can get in our creeks.

The only I've seen bigger was this hen at Mueller Falls, where Trinity aquifer takes flow from the Guadalupe - there's a bat cave vent, and she got to this size eating the baby bats that fell in. She would have been the state record in 2005, but then an endemic bass record required a liver biopsy, and I released her.
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Re: Village Creek Camping Report - April 22 - 24, 2022

Post by motoyak »

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Here's a 20" spot I caught today outta the Guadalupe. Pic doesn't do it justice, looks skinny but its 3.5-4# for sure
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Re: Village Creek Camping Report - April 22 - 24, 2022

Post by Ron Mc »

nice fish - what gives away the big ones is opaque white bottom fins
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motoyak
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Re: Village Creek Camping Report - April 22 - 24, 2022

Post by motoyak »

Yep, that and the bug eyes. The bite was great today, overcast, mist rain, moderate winds. I was skeptical about the river but now I know the Guad holds some big Guads.
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Re: Village Creek Camping Report - April 22 - 24, 2022

Post by DNR »

Cool, an old school TKF camp report in the camping section.
Thanks Neumie, great report. I miss these old camp reports. Maybe we can bring them back.

I haven't made it to Village Creek yet myself. It's one of those must do Texas kayak trips, so I hope to at some point.
Maybe an old school TKF invite trip in the future.
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