Ran the Devils!

Beve · Post by **Beve** » Tue May 01, 2007 9:37 pm

Got back from running the Devils River. Man what a blast! We drove in from Mason down through Rocksprings. Looked at the South Llano as we went by. We went on down to Rough Canyon Marina takeout to meet up with our buddy who left his truck there.
Here's a nice sunset near Rocksprings.
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We took off to the State Natural Area off 277. We headed down the dirt road to the park listening to Texas Country taking in the night air. We camped out in front of the ranger station at the late entry camp spot. Camped under the stars and cool breeze. Got up the next mroning, got ready, and talked to the rangers who shuttled us down to the put-in.

Put-in at DRSNA.
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We got on the water. We tried to pack ultralight, and did OK, but next I could do even better. I have a Katadyn Hiker Pro filtration system, but my friends still brought along quite a bit of water weight. As we paddled, we felt the 20mph headwind. We knew it would be a push. We took some time to take in Dolan Falls. We ran into a group guided by Gerald Bailey. There were some folks there pulling out smallmouth.

My kayak with its load
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Dolan Falls are beautiful. We (like I'm sure many before us) took a ton of pics.
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We got a move on after Doaln Falls, having fun in the rapids. With the cloud cover and wind, it was actually pretty cool that day. Only saw sun for about 30 minutes total. Plenty of Class II rapids and two really fun Class III rapids, Three Tier Waterfall and Indian Creek. What surprised me was the length and duration of rapids requiring a lot of technical moves.
Here's a smaller rapid.
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We knew we had got to Three Tier when we saw the tobacco lawyers mansion. We had to manage through the reed chutes to get a good view to scout it.
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Three Tier was fun, we had a blast.
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One of buddies ate it on the rapid and broke his paddle.
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I said "No problem, I brought a spare paddl....arrgh, I forgot the spare!" Luckily I always bring duct or gorilla tape. We cut some reeds to size and used it to brace the paddle with tape. It became a heavy club, but it worked.
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We kept pushing. I realized I left my tackle box on a rock somewhere. Hope someone finds it and uses it. We made it to camp, ate some catfish, and crashed. We woke up the next morning feeling a little tired and got a late start. We got a move on and on a little riffle, my map (topos from Louis Albach's Devils River book) which was out of its package and compass washed off the deck of my kayak. We hated to see that stuff on the bottom, so me and Joe took turns diving for the compass and soogy pages. We got em all. We were surprised at the strong undercurrent at the bottom of such a minor rapid. We were diving down to 9-14 feet in crystal clear water. Also we got to practice kayak re-entry, always a good skill to have.

No litterbugs here...it was fun getting to dive in such beautiful water...
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As we went down the lake section, we were offered rides and tows many times, but politely declined (we did take up their beer offer though. That one beer made me woozy out there). We made good ground and wanted to find a camping spot before dark, thinking we could get near Indian Springs and paddle the rest on Sunday. Well, its all underwater since the lake is up so much. Only even slightly decent spots were craggy and occupied by billy goats that wouldn't want to share. We decided to make a big push. We put on our most reflective gear, put on our lights, and I taped an additional surefire light to my rod holder just to have a really bright light for others to see. We were paddling over 3mph at this point. The sunset and for a while we paddled under moonlight over the glassy waters of Amsitad. It was breathtaking. We pulled into Rough Canyon at 9pm despite getting on the water at 11 and taking a few too many breaks.

We crashed at a friend's place in Del Rio, and we did the shuttles on SUnday taking our time. So in all we paddled the lower 33mile section of the Devils in two days. It felt good. Amazing scenery. I want to fish more next time. I've never seen so many carp. I loosely counted 600-700. I also saw spotted gar, which are pretty cool looking. We also paddled over a few cats and sighted a few smallies and lmb near reed beds. At one point in reed jungle we snuck up on a doe and made it to within a kayak's length before it spooked. Saw a cactus wren, a few snakes on the road (racers), cardinals, hawks, kingfishers, a snipe type bird, herons, a hairy woodpecker?, a red-winged blackbird, a possible painted redstart warbler, and in a cove, the brightest red bird I've ever seen, I wish I knew what it was.

Here's a pic a guy from the guided group took of us at the falls.
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I also want to thank TKF'ers River Runner and Bayhouse for their info, as well as Louis Albach who was very informative.
Can't wait to go back.

MTS · Post by **MTS** » Tue May 01, 2007 10:49 pm

Nice pics.

greyloon · Post by **greyloon** » Tue May 01, 2007 10:56 pm

Looks like you had a blast. Great pictures.

Mythman · Post by **Mythman** » Wed May 02, 2007 6:19 am

Great report and absolutely stunning pics!!!

How many time did your party tump in the fast water? How long you think you would need to take the same trip but fish more.

I really enjoyed this report!

Night Wing · Post by **Night Wing** » Wed May 02, 2007 6:26 am

Great photos. I love seeing the rugged scenery. BTW; the paddle that broke..............was it an all carbon paddle?

Strider · Post by **Strider** » Wed May 02, 2007 10:39 am

Wow, what an adventure and great pics too! Spare paddle, spare paddle, yes, yes, what a reminder that is. Looks like y'all were really hookin' it thru those rapids! I have to say the cowboy hat should become the official headwear of TKF - I gotta get me one of those

.

Kim

Bayhouse · Post by **Bayhouse** » Wed May 02, 2007 1:37 pm

Glad you enjoyed your trip, I am headed back there towards the end of May. It is my favorite river.

goatman · Post by **goatman** » Wed May 02, 2007 2:26 pm

Man! great report. I am supposed to leave to head out there tomorrow.......but they cancelled the shuttles due to all the roads being washed out and threats of flash floods. We are still going, just might not be able to do the float.

Marshall

Doug Poudre · Post by **Doug Poudre** » Wed May 02, 2007 3:24 pm

I love that river and thank you for picking up your trash. If you are thinking about going out there, if you take it in, you pack it out.

How was the water level?

RandallW20 · Post by **RandallW20** » Wed May 02, 2007 3:53 pm

Great report. Sorry to hear about the mishaps but you kinda have to expect that on the Devils. I look forward to the day when I get to go. It looks like fun.

Randall

Vlaude · Post by **Vlaude** » Wed May 02, 2007 5:01 pm

Yeah some great views in that area. Neat pics! I was down there a month or so ago, had a good time and caught a good number of fish!

Forrest · Post by **Forrest** » Wed May 02, 2007 5:07 pm

Awesome post...thanks so much for sharing. Looks like a fantastic time and a beautiful area.

Beve · Post by **Beve** » Wed May 02, 2007 10:24 pm

Thanks for the replies guys.

Mythman- Myself and the guy in the tarpon only tumped once apiece. Our friend tumped quite a few times( a dozen, maybe)-he and that Frenzy (he borrowed it) just didn't match well. He tried hard and has actually ran it before in a canoe. I think adding another day to the total trip would space things plenty to fish. If I had more funds, I'd might try to do a guided trip.

Nightwing-I think it was an aluminum paddle. It's a Stearns. I think it will be retired to his wall.

Strider-No kidding about that spare paddle. I've taken it on countless day and weekend trips. That's what we all get for not bringing one. The rapids were a blast. You definitely get your bang for your buck on this stretch. And wholeheartedly agree the official TKF hat should be a cowboy hat!

Bayhouse let me know how your trip goes!

Goatman-Yeah it flash floods quick there. The day after we got off, it flashed to 19000cfs for a hours and went back down. Its in the 500-600cfs range now. we ran it at 230-250 cfs.

Doug- We only saw one piece of trash on the river, and picked it up. Its pristine. I felt like the carribean sometimes in clarity. The water level seemed pretty good. From what I read, we ran it at minimal flows for a good trip (250cfs). And I can see that being true. Some rapids might be less rocky. This weekend would be a great time to run it. We did have to "spot-rock" thru flutes at times, but nothing worse than what you would see on the Llano.

Maulwalker · Post by **Maulwalker** » Wed May 02, 2007 10:31 pm

All I can say is, "Kick Ass."

What a killer trip.

Doug Poudre · Post by **Doug Poudre** » Wed May 02, 2007 10:40 pm

If someone wants to pay, I'll guide on the Devil's. Not for fishing, but I've guided quite a few paddling trips. I can cook, too. Most people I've guided for say they've rarely eaten so well.

fishtodeath · Post by **fishtodeath** » Sun May 06, 2007 8:53 am

Beve,

Now I know where all the reeds came from. Motored the houseboat up to the Indian Cliffs on Monday evening and there was a solid mat of reeds and debris; 150' feet x width of lake. Glad you guys were off the river prior to the storm; lots of wind, lightning, rain, hail, and waves on Sunday night.

gerald · Post by **gerald** » Sun May 06, 2007 10:22 am

Great report. Great pictures. I'm envious...

redneckyakclub01 · Post by **redneckyakclub01** » Sun May 06, 2007 4:02 pm

fixed a paddle with reeds!!! That is awesome, kinda like Macgyver. I envious of even being on a trip that needs such tactics!!

Beve · Post by **Beve** » Mon May 07, 2007 8:55 am

I'm glad we missed all those storms. Things get real hairy on that river from what I hear.

We were pretty proud of that paddle. I was impressed by the gorilla tape. I usually carry good ole grey duct tape, but decided to try this stuff out. It's pretty tough tape.

bigadcock06 · Post by **bigadcock06** » Thu May 10, 2007 11:23 am

i just read an article in "how to be a texan" from texas monthly that talked about the devil's river and how hostile all of the landowners are out there and how dangerous the devils is. sounds like a good time to me. badass trip.

River Runner · Post by **River Runner** » Fri May 11, 2007 12:24 pm

Great pics. It really is a beautiful river, isn't it? I'm hoping to go back in the fall, probably October.

How was the fishing???

RR

crawfishking · Post by **crawfishking** » Fri May 11, 2007 12:57 pm

I am going on Memorial weekend. I've never been. We plan on putting in at bakers.

What is the best source you have found for stream flow? Where can I find this book you mentioned? Were the rapids all that dangerous like you hear?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Bayhouse · Post by **Bayhouse** » Fri May 11, 2007 4:22 pm

The rapids are not dangerous, Dolan Falls should be portaged around.

There is one rapid I remember from the Baker's to the SNA that you have to steer correctly or you could wrap your boat around a boulder. Don't ask me how I know that.

I usually go to the http://ahps.srh.noaa.gov/ahps2/hydrogra ... gage=bkct2 or Louis Aulbach's http://www.hal-pc.org/~lfa/.

3 tier falls is fun to run, we usually stop there and run it a couple times. I bought the books at the kayak store in Austin that is off I-35, but any paddle shop will carry it would be my guess.

sureshot56 · Post by **sureshot56** » Fri May 11, 2007 4:47 pm

Guys, mon, tues and wednesday we got a ton of rain. As I've been told, two crossings about 35 mi south of Ozona are completely gone on Hwy 163 with reports of the road cratered anywhere from 3 to 5 feet deep at those places and damage in several others. Hwy 163 is shut down around the 163/189 intersection. Have no information on getting to Bakers crossing from Del Rio yet. If you need road info would suggest calling TxDot in Ozona before you plan a trip.

FishingSETX · Post by **FishingSETX** » Fri May 11, 2007 5:43 pm

Did ya'll have a guide and if so, who? My dad lives just outside rock springs, and a good friend of his does guided canoe trips down the devils. just wondering if it was his outfit?