Navasota River

Trip Overview

My daughter and I paddled from Hwy 30 near College Station, TX to Hwy 6 just north of Navasota. This is about 27 river miles. The river was a little high, but not much. However, the middle section of this trip goes through some low elevation. The river spreads out and it is hard to find the main river path. There is a lot of tree growth and log jams through here.

This area became very difficult. We were constantly battling limbs in the face. Twice we had to get out and drag the canoe through mud or over grass to get back to a section we could paddle.

We were worried we would not find a place to camp. We had brought hammocks, so I wasn't too worried about mud, but the growth was so thick I wasn't sure if we could find a place to hang the hammocks. Finally the elevation increased a bit. We hung our hammocks about about 3 inches of water. We laid a tarp down in the mud so we had a place to lay our stuff out. I was able to build a fire and cooks some food. If we had only paddled another 15 to 30 minutes we would have found some nicer spots because the elevation continued to rise. Eventually, we found ourselves paddling along side 20' cut bank.

When we finally reached Hwy 6, I did not realize how difficult it was going to be to get up to the highway. There is no boat ramp. Everything had to be carried about about 40' of elevation where we had to wait for our ride to pick us up in between the lanes. The speed limit is 75 along here and you have to turn into the median just after the bridge without a turning lane.

At the end of the day, it was a great time with my daughter. We battled together and made a great memory.