Sabine Island WMA A

Sabine Island WMA is a large forested island on the Texas Louisiana border just north of Orange. It is bordered on the west side by the Sabine River and on the east side by the Old River. There is a lot of territory that can be paddled here, it’s pretty, it has alligators, and there are little channels, bayous, and sloughs all over the place. I have done several kayak trail routes here, and these are labeled A, B, C…etc. Sometimes this area a bit busy motorboat-wise but you can get free of that into the remote areas pretty quickly. The launch is at Nibletts Bluff Park in Louisiana; this puts you into the Old River about midway up the island. (Do not drive too fast in Nibletts Bluff Park or a serious young man will drop by to discuss it with you 🙄). It’s a bit unclear whether you need a Lousiana WMA permit to paddle the area but I generally go through the procedure. That includes the annual WMA access permit, available online, and for every individual trip a two part day pass which you return when the trip is over. The day trip part can be done by paper permit or phone app. It’s kind of official overkill but that’s the way. Anyway, the Sabine WMA area is worth it, there is so much here to explore.

The above map shows some paddle trail routes that I did the first two times I was here. The red route just checks things out, first to the north to explore the linear channels in and around Lundy Slough, and then south to go a ways up Brenam Bayou. The purpose of the second trip, in yellow, was to complete the Brenam Bayou loop to the other side, hit the Sabine River, and go down and around the island back to the park. Mission accomplished. The trip across the island was helped by the fact that water levels were up and so there was a west to east current to Brenam Bayou, making it easier to identify and follow. But it is tight and twisty up there, and the headings seem to move all around NSEW, before you finally get out to the Sabine. If the water is low it might be a tougher trip. And it did take a while to paddle around the south end of the island and back up, but its interesting to see the small homemade houseboat like structures along the river. Both trips were very nice.