upper Clear Creek - Sanger / N. Denton

Trip Overview

After a dry summer, and then a very rainy week, I thought I'd try a new section of this creek several miles north of home in Denton TX. Seems like I timed it wrong, I was 4 or 5 days after the heavy fall rain, and the water level had already fallen back down. There were dozens of spots that got below a foot so I had to get out and drag pretty frequently. Probably every 1000 feet of river there was a 100ft section that required pushing or dragging. so it was a pretty exhausting tempo. The area was beautiful, pretty clean and secluded. I didn't see a single human. A good portion of the trip was within a half mile of a shooting range, so i could hear that pretty well.

I would only recommend this trip if you time it right after a rain. And probably not immediately after or during a rain, judging by the banks this could probably get really high and really fast, really quickly. But if you time it after any flash flooding subsides, but before the levels get all the way back down again, this could be a really nice section of creek to paddle again.

I put in off of Cowling Rd., right near I35. There was no official ramp, but I just parked off the shoulder and had a decently easy drag down to the water under the bridge. Take out at FM2164 was about the same - not easy or made for boat access, but manageable all the same.

Saw lots of turtles, a deer, only 1 water mocassin, several blue heron, red tailed hawks. Saw proof of beavers, but didn't actually see or hear any this time.

There were a few blockages from felled trees, but not very many. There were no fences or pipelines blocking the creek.

There were plenty of sand barges to get out and rest on (because the water level was low - I guess if it was a foot or two higher like I was wishing for, there would have been much less of this available)

I was aiming to get all the way to Clear Creak Nature area, or US380 Greenbelt takeout, but was drained of energy from all the dragging and snagging on this 6.5 mile section that I did. Maybe next time from FM2164 down to the Greenbelt or to Lake Lewisville, if I can time it with more water flowing.