HCC Paddling Forum

NEWS FLASH 2: CHANGING PUT-IN AGAIN.

I scouted this out and found a much better place the next street over from Hughes Landing.  To get there, drive through the Whole Foods parking lot toward the water (entrance to Whole Foods on the right).  As you are driving past the entrance, you will see a gap between the buildings in front of you just to the left of straight ahead.  At the end of the parking lot, jog left to go between these 7-story buildings (red and white construction barriers on the left side) to the circle at the end.  Drop your boat and gear there at the kayak rental sign and go back to park in the parking lot.  Please see attached map.

Best Regards,
Kent

NEWS FLASH:

I am changing the Put-In / Take-Out location for this event to the "Lake's Edge" Boat House docks at Hughes Landing.  We will unload our boats and gear at the loop at the end of the unnamed road that is an extension of Aviator Way and then park our cars back in the Whole Foods parking lot.  This will allow us to spend as much time as we want on the water without worrying about getting our vehicles locked into a parking lot at the end, avoiding some of the "panic factor".

Those who register will be able to receive any other late-breaking news about this trip as it comes up.

Best Regards,
Kent

Hello everyone.

I'll have to admit, the Doobie Brothers element is a bit of an unwelcome surprise to me.  I assume they will open, which means there is less time for us to listen to Carlos because we have a drop-dead time with the North Shore Park gate closing at 11:00 PM.

There are a couple of ways of handling this:

1. Leave the concert venue no later than 10:15 - time to get back to North Shore, break down  and load boats and get out.  This is how we have done it in the past, and it works, but clips the concert two or three songs earlier than the alternative.

2. Leave the concert venue no later than 10:35 - time to get back to North Shore, drive vehicles outside gate (emergency lane, chamber of commerce parking lot, etc.), and then roll, drag, carry boats and gear out to vehicles.
Maybe we'll have two exit times - early for risk-averse paddlers and later for risk-tolerant paddlers. 

Before assigning yourself to one of these groups, be sure of your loading capabilities with respect to time, and do not assume other similarly constrained people will be able to help you.  Trip coordinator assumes no responsibility for poor decisions.

A couple of other possible alternatives that I felt should be dismissed, but worthy of mention, are:
1. Have someone distract / kidnap / drug the gatekeeper until we are all out
2. Add our own chain and lock to keep the gate in the open position until we are all out

Best Regards,
Kent

Arrrrggghhh, I'm assisting on a HASK trip in Christmas Bay on that day. Well, maybe if it's cancelled.......     I'm also leading a July 4 night paddle up Goose Creek in Baytown for some good fireworks viewing, preceded by a dinner paddle out to Atkinson Island from the Baytown side. Sign up and come along if you'd like. It's on the HASK calendar.

In my experience, sound quality at the Woodlands increases proportionally to the distance from the stage, so you may be in a good spot. We saw a Santana show several years ago that was wonderful.

Good comment, Frank.

Y’all have fun. I hear Sr. Santana is doing Afro-Latin stuff now. I recommend arriving late, and missing the Doobie Brothers. Woe-woe-woe, listen to someone else's music.

For your planning purposes (FYI), there is a trip posting for Sunday, July 7 at Lake Woodlands where we will paddle around for a while in the late afternoon and then park in the canal next to the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavillion where Santana and the Doobie Brothers will be playing.  Please note that this is a very obstructed view (you cannot see anything of the stage), and impaired audio, but with Carlos, the audio should come through pretty well in spite of the distance.  Also, you save some money.  Reserved seat tickets are going from $83-$390 and Lawn tickets are going from $62-$87.  Our seats are free.

Please see posting for more details, and please do not forget to register.

Best Regards,
Kent