Nueces River in Texas

Trip Overview

Put-in: Hiway 90 bridge about 9 miles west of Uvalde

Take-out: Hiway 481 bridge about 10 miles south of Uvalde

Length: maybe 5 miles

Duration: 1 1/2 hours

Put-in: Cty Rd 404(Lewis Lane) off Hiway 55 north of Uvalde
Take-out: Hiway 90 bridge about 9 miles west of Uvalde
Length: about 5 miles
Duration: 2 hours

On Sunday morning I had the opportunity to run two sections of the Nueces River west of Uvalde. Usually this is a dry section where sometimes there is standing water or a little running, but not really enough to paddle. I've played here a few times on the way to see my folks in Del Rio, but never found enough water flow to keep going. After the hard rains on Saturday, the river was at 4000CFS. I had planned on running just the section from Hiway 90 down to 481, but lucked out on getting a ride so did another section.

I left a bike at the take-out on 481 to ride back to my truck under the Hiway 90 bridge. This is where I see ORV's a lot, but none were here today. I did see two red sit-ons as I was going to drop off my bike, but never caught up with the paddlers. The flow was strong and fast with lots of wave trains. The rock riverbed is very wide so the water spreads out, but I didn't have any problem paddling since there was so much flow. There are several nice, small rapids that would be a blast to play in at a slower CFS. The trip is beautiful going through farmland. Just below the take-out was a great long wave train that I played in for a while.

As I was taking out, two TxDot men drove up to check out the water level to see if they needed to close the road-it was over the culverts but not yet over the road. They couldn't believe anyone was paddling in the flooded river! I tried to get them to try out my Pegasus sit-on, but they didn't want to. I asked them about the roads north of Uvalde to see if I could do another run and they offered to take me up there to check on them. They took me up to the County Road 404 put-in and I paddled down to my truck at Hiway 90. This section was similar to the first with a fast flow, lots of wave trains and lots of trees. While I stopped to eat a snack and enjoy the scenery the drizzle started again. Luckily, it didn't last long.

Both of these sections were a blast to paddle and I'm going to keep my eye on sections further upriver.

Directions:

Launch is about 9 miles west of Uvalde on Hiway 90.