Matagorda Island Weekend

We started this trip on Saturday morning, May 15 at 10:00 A. M. Some us us chose to come down to Lake Texana on Hwy 111 near Edna for Friday night. Others drove all the way to Port O'Conner and stayed in a motel. Still others made the entire trip from Houston on Saturday morning. But when I arrived with my group from the park, lots of people were already hard at work loading their kayaks. I soon joined them and within a half hour, I was ready to paddle with my tent, sleeping gear, clothes, cooking gear, food, shade tarp and water all loaded.

The weather was absolutely beautiful with bright blue skies and was warm enough to enjoy swimming but not hot enough to work up a sweat. A few clouds added their decorative touches to the sky.

Soon we were helping each other haul the loaded kayaks across the street to the boat launch. This was a four man job so we wouldn't stress the boats or ourselves too much.

The put-in is at the east end of water street. We took 15th street to Water Street which just curved together. The boat launch has 2 divisions with a pier in the middle. It can handle two regular boats or one really large boat in each division.

Packing the kayaks

Hauling the kayaks to the launch

Underway at last

Our Route

Soon we were gathered together and ready to cross the intercoastal canal which runs just off shore here. Then we were a large shallow lake, looking for the markers on the trail. We turned through little channels or bayous and into larger bayous and crossed other lakes. I found it mostly easy to navigate by just piloting. But the Texas Parks and Wildlife chart for these trails is on a photo. Vegetation at the bottom of the shallow water looks like a land mass so sometimes I expected to be in a channel and found myself in a lake. The chart does have the GPS coordinates for each marker and if you don't use a GPs, you should at least shoot the direction of the next marker with your compass.

I got the map from REI in Houston, Texas. We traveled the eastern route to get to eastern end of Matagorda Island in the J-Hook portion and traveled the western route back. East was 8.5 miles and west was 11.5 miles.

We had a following wind so the eight and a half miles went by fast. We shared the bay with lots of fishing boats but all were careful to slow down when they approached us.

Soon we could see the little sand dunes of Matagorda Island. When we arrived, we crossed the water and started up J-Hook looking for a good camping site. We could see little dunes in the distance topped with brilliant white sand. Birds loafed along the shore in many places. We often stopped to take their pictures.

Finally we came to the one large beach which was almost to the end of J-Hook. We landed, chasing a large group of gulls, brown pelicans, and terns off.

We saw a rustic tall table and decided to use it as our cooking area. It was lunch time and we could see the gulf side of the island so decided to grab our chairs, lunch and drinks and head over there for lunch.

Pat tests the waves at lunch time

Chris fishing

We enjoyed lunch while watching the waves and the birds. Soon Pat was checking the water out. Then several of us joined and enjoyed the surf. Chris demonstrated body surfing to us.

After lunch we went back and each staked our own piece of real estate out and put up our tents. We were so far apart that we could not see all the tents nor hear anybody so it seemed very private. Then I put up the shade shelter by the table, tying two paddles to the tallest part to support the tarp and then staking it down. We gathered there and lounged around, talking, dozing, and reading until the sun got a little lower. We were joined by several groups that arrived by motorboats.

Then Chris decided to go fishing and all of us began drooling as he planned to feed us all if he was lucky. Others of us decided to do a little more exploring by kayak. I paddled up to where I could see the state park before turning back and also stopped to explore and take pictures along the shore. Then I went back and checked out the passage from marker 18 before coming back. Chris disappointed us by coming back with no fish.

Patrick was making guacamole for the group. I added a batch of humus and we enjoyed happy hour before starting our suppers. The wind was so strong we had to build a windbreak around the table and cook under it. After eating, we had a few minutes to enjoy the stars before we went to bed at nine. Only one other family was camping. They had come by motor boat but hauled in two nice glass kayaks.

I woke up before six and packed up my camp before going for a combination swim and walk on the beach. Then I brought my equipment to the beach and had coffee and breakfast before packing everything back into my kayak. We all agreed that the trip was way too short and we would have liked to spend more time on the island and paddling, hiking, and swimming in the area.

By nine o'clock we were beginning to paddle off the beach and mess around till everyone joined us. Then we started west along Matagorda island past the lighthouse on the gulf side and almost to the buildings at the state park. Then we rounded the point of land and headed north under another beautiful sky.

We worked our way back, stopping for lunch before we joined the trails we had used coming down on Saturday. By two o'clock, we were landing on the boat launch and hauling our kayaks back across the street. Then we got our cars and brought them close to the kayaks, unloaded the boats and loaded the cars, wishing all the while that we could spend a few more days on this marvelous trip.

Loading up and moving out on Sunday

Underway by paddle and sail