Cardinal Flower and goldenrod on Spring Creek Photo by Lydia CruzenSpring Creek is an urban oasis. The forests along the creek look nearly the same as they looked over 200 years ago when Akokisa Indians roamed the land, hunting and gathering their food as they traveled this gorgeous spring-fed waterway. Preserving our urban forests improves every aspect of Houstonians quality of life. The Spring Creek watershed currently contains tens of thousands of acres of bottomland hardwood forest, providing home to wildlife, creating recreation opportunities, reducing flooding, and improving air quality.
There is a project underway called the Spring Creek Greenway which will connect and protect up to 12,000 acres of forest, on both sides of the creek, in order to preserve, protect, restore, and educate the public about an ecological gem - a biologically diverse ecosystem that provides important habitat for many wildlife species, and aims to create an ecotourism mecca and a peaceful respite from busy urban lives for those from Houston or even nationwide. For more information about this project see www.springcreekgreenway.org/the_project.htm
13 has been our lucky number for trips the past 2 months. Patti Carothers from Southwest Paddlesports led a trip on September 13 that included HCC members Rea Inglis, Lydia Cruzen, Calvin Doody, Rika Muhl, and Ken McDowell as well as TOWN members Shelia Fitzgerald,
The trip was a 6 mile paddle along the Spring Creek Greenway. The group put in at Hwy. 59, crossing over the W. Fork of the San Jacinto and paddled up to Jesse Jones Park and back and then some. Patti wanted to explore over near Belleau Woods but the wind kicked up & several were ready to call it a day. (Patti and Ken and a couple others would have kept going!) Lydia Cruzen (with minor editing by Patti)
The group at the put in for Spring Creek
Photo by Lydia Cruzen
The group at the put in for Spring Creek
Photo by Lydia Cruzen
Ken McDowell towing the champagne and shrimp 
barge for lunch on Spring Creek. LOL!
barge for lunch on Spring Creek. LOL!
Trip leader Patti Carothers -- and she didn't fall in once!!Photo by Lydia Cruzen
October 24 Ken McDowell solo paddled the creek again and filed this report. "A perfect day to paddle this Harris County treasure. Three days before, James Graham at Southwest Paddlesports informed me that they were back in the shuttle business after (finally) replacing their stolen 15 passenger van. That’s another story. The timely mid-week rains tempted me to plan a weekend trip on short notice. Several folks signed up at first, but then canceled at the last minute. One other was a no-show – bummer. Anyway, the shuttle was all set, weather perfect and stream flow ideal for the 14 mile paddle from the put-in near the Hardy toll road to the take-out at Hwy 59. I had the stream all to myself. Myself and the birds anyway. I saw a bald eagle, an osprey, several hawks, and the usual crowd of blue herons and white egrets. A pair of kingfishers circled my boat for 5 minutes raising quite a ruckus until a hawk dive-bombed them! Way cool! I made the trip in 4 hours…that’s 3½ miles per hour if you do the math." Ken McDowell
