Neches River, Big Slough Wilderness, Hwy 21 Launch, down
Kayak route trail map on the Neches River, starting at Highway 21 and going downstream to the Big Slough Wilderness area in Davy Crockett National Forest. There is no boat ramp at the launch, just a sandy slope down to the water. The trip plan was to reach the Big Slough Wilderness area. At that point the river braids a bit and there are multiple channels to explore, particularly if the water is a bit higher. Both the north launch (Hwy 21) and the south launch (CR 1155/CR 2829) are about 9 or 10 miles from the Wilderness. There was a note online somewhere about launching at the end of 511T, which branches off Forest Road 511. But that road was blocked by a locked gate and posted private land signs. And the Neches Bluff Campground just to the north on 511 is up high and not close to the river. So this route was about a five hour trip, 18-ish miles total, using the north Hwy 21 launch. The Neches River at SH7 gage read 500 cfs and the upstream Neches River at SH294 gage was at 390 cfs. Google maps labels a spot along the river as “The Whirl”, noted on the map above. This seems to be a tight, squared off, cornered section that could be pretty wild in high water, but at this flow rate wasn’t much. From the whirl you can hike in about fifty yards west to see a nearby lake shown on the map (picture below). Big Slough, which is a channel to the west of the river, feeds into the lake, and if the water level was right a loop paddle back around to the Neches might be doable. Lots of pigs today.
31.57965,-95.16603
Launch Site Google Maps Link
Above: The classic Neches River look.
Above: High contrast winter paddle, when the iphone points towards the sun.
Above: Seen from a distance this looked pretty well blocked, but there was a bypass to the right of the picture.
Above: A short hike to the west of ‘the whirl’ leads to this nice lake. If the water is higher it might be possible to paddle the Big Slough to here.
