Angelina, Rayburn, 539 Tram Boat Launch

This kayak paddle route launches at what google maps calls ‘Tram Boat Ramp Angelina River Bottom’, down Co Rd 539. It’s about five miles south of Nacogdoches Texas but it takes a while to get there, it’s kind of out of the way and down a long dirt road. The launch is at the interface of a loose, meandering set of Angelina River channels at the north end of Sam Rayburn. There was some current on the main channel but it was still fairly easy to paddle upstream. This is not the big wide Angelina, this is a sprawl. The route goes west and turns around at an upstream launch site off of Co Rd 529. A linear out and back, a really interesting area, and not a common paddle. I surprised an enormous alligator on the return leg. It was resting in the sun just around a turn in the stream. It was one of those like you see on the internet with the huge saggy throat area hanging down where your leg would fit.