This trip was a Saturday morning July 19th trip starting at McDonalds in Vidor at 7:00 am. Ryan Smith and Richard Bothel left for the Confluence Boat Ramp and arrived in less than 20 minutes were lifting their Kayaks into the water. The plan was to go from the Confluence Ramp, to Cook's Lake, through the flooded Cypress forest to Scatterman Lake, and return to the Ramp down the Neches. The USGS Neches River data available at Evadale, TX for that morning showed the stream stage at 7.78 feet and the stream flow was 3,010 ft3/s. The partly cloudy morning with a mild breeze less than 10mph made the day excellent for a leisurely paddle.
This trip is an excellent one for those wishing to take a short trip exploring some of the more primitive areas of the river. The route through the flooded forest provides a brief adventure that gives the paddler good practice navigating through the confusing repetition of a Cyprus forest. The challenge is there, yet, the short distance from Cook's lake to Scatteman would make it difficult to become lost for very long. The water level was also excellent at this time. Once we found the entrance to the cut between the two lakes, it was easy to navigate through the trees following the current. After about 100 yards into the forrest from Cooks Lake, there was a fairly consistent visible bank where the water flowed between the two bodies of water. I would suggest anyone taking this trip to check the water level as much lower or more than about one foot higher would flood much more of the forest and make navigation more difficult.
Later postings will provide the GPS coordinates that will make this trip very easy to navigate.