Vaqueros of The Great Trinity Forest

Riding the Trinity River with the best brush cowboys in North Texas, Fall 2013

The most obscure but rooted sense of place, by my reckoning in Dallas, must be here. Those who get the notion of the woods down in these parts, the pure authenticity of what remains of a real Texas among ever growing ribbons of concrete, relish this spot. When the heat of the Texas summer loses out to the first couple autumn cold fronts and their brief dust settling rains, well, there are few finer places to be in the world than right here.

Somewhere between the emerald grass and shining pocket ponds are thirty centuries of mankind at your feet if you know where to look. Texas in the raw you might say of a vanished people leaving behind chalky relics and scattered bones as evidence they were ever here. What the Indians left behind are easy to find, looking for the icon of Texas, a real cowboy, is another story altogether.

If one were to seek out a real authentic horse riding cowboy in Texas it might take awhile.  Many contemporary cowboys have traded in their horses for pickup trucks, helicopters and ATVs for managing their herds. The dime store cowboys, the wannabees, the all hat no cattle types folded into the mix only confuse what many consider to be one of the noblest of Texas professions.








Other than the NFL team named after the Cowboy, one would be very hard pressed to find one. There is a place though inside the city limits of Dallas, where the oldest cowboy traditions and real cowboy life still thrives. The Great Trinity Forest.

The men here ride in a style that served as a foundation for what we consider modern day western and cowboy life. Their equipment and horses are such that they hail back to a long ago time. Before there was a Texas or a Mexico.

Competent riders on well trained horses who excel at what they do. Busting brush, riding hard and exploring the lost and unexplored parts of the city. It's almost moving art at work with man and horse working in perfect unison as a team.

I have come to believe that were the vaqueros who ride here not on horseback, they would be known as the best woodsmen of the riverbottoms. Exceptional outdoorsmen and adventurers they are the silent hands that often do trail maintenance, remove downed tree limbs and run off the few bad guys down here.

These men thrive in the art of making a horse as light and flexible to the rider's soft touch, as is said today, to work as one.  The history, the horsemanship, the gear, the land, the lifestyle remains part of our heritage and is remembered, practiced and celebrated at various rodeos, gatherings and western shows throughout Texas each year. These events showcase the talents of the culture upon which Texas bases so much of itself. Rare to see it in the Texas wildscape though, in the whole where it was first refined.

The Texas Cowboy-Vaquero culture was inherited from the Spanish cavalry, who adopted it from the Moors which is thought to have come from Asia, through Egypt, across the deserts of North Africa into Spain, spreading across the seas into North and South America.

When the Spanish introduced horses and cattle to the Americas, large haciendas were established in New Spain. This created a demand for skilled men to rope, ride, control, and protect the animals. The vaquero was born. The word "vaquero" came from the word vaca, the Spanish word for cow. Cowboys often referred to themselves as buckaroos. In Spanish, the "v" is pronounced like a "b," so vaquero may have evolved into bukero, then finally buckaroo. Charro is another Spanish term that means expert horseman or cowboy. Charro became the cultural construction of maleness to the Spanish settlers. Now a charro is more of a rodeo show style and not practiced as religion in the wild.

At the time 16th Century Texas was a vast yet-to-be discovered land. Infrequent expeditions by the Spanish to explore the Texas interior by expedition made brief contacts with coastal Native American tribes eventually led them to Spanish missionaries who brought horses, cattle and mules to the area.

The background of the vaqueros, the technique, tradition and lore has become legendary around the world. The Tex-Mex vaquero history is one of special significance for it was the beginning of the working cowboy we know today. It is the saga of the early Spanish and Mexican horsemen of Northern Mexico and South Texas.   

The intent was to establish a colony with missions governed by Spanish Catholic Dominicans, Jesuits, and Franciscan priests. Of course, much history is documented from that point on as our Texas heritage was forming. During that time the massive herds of free roaming longhorn, cattle, horses, livestock that grazed the lush land were under the mounted vaquero's watchful eye, skilled in the use of the rawhide riata for sorting, roping to brand, ear mark or when necessary slaughter.


Horses arrived in 1519 in Mexico with Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortes, and cattle soon followed in 1521 with Gregorio de Villalobos. As expeditions moved north transplanting the cattle and horses to the Southwest, the man working the cattle, or the vaquero, became the man on horseback who contributed many of the skills and much of the equipment and rodeo terminology used by the American cowboy. Riding, roping, and branding, along with the rope, saddle, spurs, chaps, and even the word rodeo "roundup" are some of the contributions.

Some areas, particularly in deep South Texas, had the environment conducive to the proliferation of stray cattle and horses. By the 1600s and 1700s Spanish-Mexican settlements and ranches were started in areas around the lower Rio Grande Valley.

Cattle are too fast for unmounted herders and humans on foot do not have the endurance to keep up with cattle on open ranges. Further more cattle herders need some means to stop and control individual animals.  The method developed in Mexico for controlling individual animals is lassoing them with a lariat which is secured to the horn of a saddle. This system seems so simple and effective that it is difficult to imagine any other system being used. But it took many decades if not a century or so for this system to be perfected in Mexico.

The vaquero culture developed into a fine art in Texas through the Spanish mission era by the first the Spanish, then followed by Indians, Mexicans, Freedmen and European Settlers - men who upheld the vaquero traditions as in the centerfire saddle, rawhide riata and hackmore.

Many European settlers had a vast knowledge of cattle raising and production in Northern European pastures but were at a loss in the near unlimited free range of Texas. Before the advent of barbed wire and fencing of the range, settlers rapidly adopted the skills of the vaquero and set to tending herd like the Spanish before them. A pure North American invention, the Texas Cowboy further refined the Vaquero with a western style hat, six shot pistol and easier riding saddle for long hours on a horse.

The influx of farmers, immigrants, fences, trains, and small towns contributed to the demise of the cowboy life. Plowing killed off the range, barbed wire limited access to grass and water, and thousands of hands lost jobs when it became cheaper to ship cattle to market by rail. The stories of this lifestyle became legend and a fabric of our very life today as Texans.

The vaquero style still remains in practice today although some variations have been introduced, but many followers hold tight to the foundations of horsemanship in which the Texas vaquero later called the cowboy excelled.

Manuel, Jesus and Junior

Horses prefer the soft surface to the concrete whenever possible

The horseback riding style in the photos seen here are of a traditional Mexican style that taps the very roots of early cowboy life. When the Spanish settled present day Mexico, the vast open plains and from the Gulf of Mexico to the mountainous interior were instantly seen as prime cattle country. With near year round grass growth for feed, this open plain area was quickly populated with cattle.

Manuel and his kids out riding the Great Trinity Forest in 2010

Manuel Sanches

Most notable among the vaqueros on the Trinity is a friend named Manuel. We have been riding down here in Joppa before the concrete went in, back when the trails were old rustic gravel roads that served fish camps around Lemmon Lake. He is seen above leading his kids on a trail ride in 2010. Manuel hails from that same area of Mexico where the Spanish first raised cattle five centuries ago.

Manuel usually has children in tow teaching horsemanship as he goes through the woods. He is from a part of Mexico where the old ways of cowboy life in North America first started.


Like many, he keeps a "Rancho" in South Dallas. These are not formal ranches but more like small farms where horses can pasture, a good size vegetable crop can be grown and some horse trailers kept. Works out very well and for someone with a career during the week, makes for a great weekend getaway in his free time.

Wearing his trademark half chaps and festooned with various rope and even a blanket he is always ready for whatever awaits him deep in the woods.



Many would see the riding style on display here as trick riding, a way to show off the way a rider can move a horse.

The truth is, that as we head for the deep privet and heavy timbered woods nearby, that artistic license on exhibition by way of open concrete becomes a very necessary skillset.

At left is Junior, one of Manuel's family members riding Chapulín. This particular horse is the same as that in the 2010 photos taken down here.

Chapulín

Much like the parody tv super hero this horse's name translates into a kind of grasshopper. Chapulín is a smart horse, slightly stubborn and one of the best mounts on the river for a young person to ride.

Manuel is all about teaching the fine touch of the horse and teaching his family members the subtle art of riding. Wish I had some good photos of how this works in heavy brush which happened right after the photo below was taken. It's all about letting the horse doing what it feels comfortable with.

Manuel and Junior

Jesus on his horse Lucero

Jesus is another familiar face in the Great Trinity Forest. He grew up in a ranching family in the mountains above Monterrey.

He is probably the flashiest rider of the dozen others who ride here. A real expert in the saddle. Speaking of saddles, he has some of the best looking saddles, saddle blankets and ropes I have seen.

Those lariats and ropes have removed more deadfall off the trails here than any work crew the city ever hired.

The horse he is riding in the photos this day, is named Lucero, after the famous Spanish singer.

He is often seen here out riding with his wife, who rides a fast quarter horse named Comanche.

Jesus wife is a fan of picking pecans in the fall down here. Sprinkled among the trees bearing small native pecans are a grove of paper shell pecan bearing trees that kick out nuts the size of chicken eggs. One of his horses is seen above, hitched to a pecan near the Trinity Forest Trail Bridge last year.

Jesus is seen at left, from a photo dated October 2011 when Phase II of the Trinity Forest Trail was just about to get a matrix of rebar thrown on it. It was a last hoorah of a ride for all of us before the concrete went in.

The last big ride on the soft surface trail before it was paved

Floral Farms and the Pig Park Rodeo

The rodeo tradition and history is intertwined with the land here too. Still known to many as the Pig Park Rodeo the old dilapidated structures that once held amateur rodeo events still stands today. Barely.

Pig Rodeo Site

Hashed out of a piece of land between the Union Pacific tracks and the Trinity in the late 1940s, the area has always been on the far fringes of Dallas. It has more in common with rural country living than downtown just a few miles up the road. This area is called Floral Farms after the small flower growing operations here and abundance of native wildflowers every spring.

Floral Farms afforded African American residents a community where they could live in a semi-rural setting and be away from the confines of the highly segregated urban areas at that time. The city eventually bought the homeowners out on a voluntary basis in the 1970s.

Red Shouldered Hawk

Unlike Joppa a mile to the north, that sits on a high piece of ground, Floral Farms sits not much higher than the river itself making it potentially flood prone. The removal of homes was done in a half-hearted manner so even 40 years later some structures still stand. Outhouses, sheds and foundations are still visible.


Above is what is left of the Joppa Rodeo Arena. A dilapidated fence marks the boundary of the old arena. In the background are sets of old wooden pens to hold animals used in the rodeo.


The concentric ring you see in the arena is used by current horseback riders for training. Under the weeds, the pillow soft sandy loam  of the arena still exists making an ideal place to train a horse.

Old timers in Joppa and far South Dallas speak fondly of the old rodeo here. In the heyday it was a great community gathering place and the sort of locale where much fun was to be had on a Saturday night.

Old rodeo arena

Great Trinity Forest Trail

This concrete trail built in two phases sits inside the Joppa Preserve and is part of the Dallas County Open Space Project. Originally this land was part of the Millermore Plantation. The original Miller cabin and the later Greek revival Millermore Mansion are now preserved at Old City Park in Dallas. The area later became known as Joppa and Floral Farms. Both were unincorporated freedman's communities for many decades without access to running water and city services.

The paved trail  now reaches 4.1 miles to connect the Loop 12 Boat Ramp with the Trinity River Audubon Center. The centerpiece of the paved trail here is a multi-million dollar bike bridge that spans the Trinity River just southeast of the Trinity River Audubon Center.

2006

2006

Most of the concrete down here was one a mighty fine gravel road that was a great all weather surface with decades of well stabilized ballast in place. Many thought that leaving it as a soft surface path rather than concrete would have been a better choice, to keep the rustic feel of the place.

2011

2011

That changed in 2011 with the construction of Phase II. The three photos here are all taken in the same spot spanning seven years.

2013

2013

 Trinity Trail Bridge Site

2010

A few years ago, the site of the Trinity Trail Bridge was the most remote part of Dallas. Fixed on an inverted U shape bend in the Trinity, the bridge site sits a few hundred yards upstream of the mouth with Elam Creek. Still remains one of the quietest places in the city.

2013

Bobcat cub

Bobcat cub left, adult bobcat right October 2013

Wildlife is pretty easy to spot down here if one knows where to look. Deer, coyotes and bobcats are a frequent sight.

The Great Trinity Forest is still one of those places that without folks minding their manners becomes a rather lawless part of the county.

Blocking in illegal ATV riders on the Trinity Forest Trail

With only a sign or two noting no motorized vehicle access, many abuse the privilege of visiting the woods by taking atvs, 4x4s and passenger vehicles on the concrete trail and beyond.

Hard to get the message across. The folks on the ATVs above were limited in speed only by the governors on their engine at 20mph or so. They told us that they were headed to the Audubon Center trails, which at that late hour on a weekend were closed many hours ago.

At a million dollars a mile in construction costs, sure seems silly not to put up some anti-vehicle posts called bollards and slap some hefty fines on those who tear up the woods with their vehicles. As the city continues it's love affair with building trails of concrete one would hope that the stern message of no motorized vehicles and law enforcement of ordinances would accompany construction.

It was the combustion engine, barbed wire and high speed transportation that drove the horse out of the everyday Texas vernacular. Let's not let that happen down here on the Trinity, one of the last great authentic Texan spots left.

2013 Monarch Butterfly Migration

Monarch butterflies feeding and preparing for a night roost in Dallas Texas on the evening of October 8, 2013

It's a sure sign of autumn and a rare sight for Dallas, a massing of over a hundred migrating Monarch butterflies in a single tree. Something one would usually travel a thousand miles away and into the mountains of Mexico to catch a glimpse of up close. These butterflies are actively feeding on nectar and preparing a colonial overnight roost in a tree.

Monarch Butterflies feeding on the flowers of a Roosevelt Willow Baccharis neglecta

In all the world, no butterflies migrate like the Monarch butterflies of North America. They travel much farther than all other tropical butterflies, up to four thousand miles. They are the only butterfly species to make such a long, two way migration every year. Amazingly, they fly in masses to the same winter roosts, often to the exact same trees. Their migration is more the type we expect from birds or whales. However, unlike birds and whales, individuals only make the round-trip once. It is their children's grandchildren that return south the following fall. The Monarchs are the only butterfly that migrates both north and south as the birds do regularly, but no individual makes the entire round trip, because the migration period spans the life of three to four generations of the butterfly.


The Monarch butterfly (scientific name: Danaus plexippus) is perhaps the best known of all North American butterflies. It is easily recognizable by its bright orange-red wings, with black veins and white spots along the edges. The Monarch butterfly is famous for its southward migration from Canada to Mexico and the northward return back through the Great Plains to Canada in summer. Every fall, millions of these butterflies fly west to their wintering grounds in California and Mexico, covering the trees there with their bright shimmering wings.

 As fall approaches non-reproductive monarchs are born. These are the butterflies that will migrate south. They will not reproduce until the following spring. These late summer monarchs will travel hundreds and even thousands of miles to their winter grounds in Mexico and California.  They store fat in their abdomens that will help them make the long trip south and will help them survive the winter. During their five months in Mexico from November to May, monarchs remain mostly inactive. They will remain perfectly still hour-after-hour and day-after-day. They live off of the stored fat they gained during their fall migration.

The plant they are feeding from in the photos is known as Roosevelt Willow or Roosevelt Weed Baccharis neglecta . It's a tall shrub with many willow-like branches covered with very dark green, linear leaves. After warm rains in late summer it produces a profusion of creamy white flower clusters which are followed by silvery plumed seeds that cover the plant with a white cloud. It grows from North Carolina to Arizona, and throughout Texas. Roosevelt Willow/Weed is one of the first plants to invade abandoned fields, roadsides and disturbed habitats. It is extremely drought tolerant, accepting wet or dry sites, and can grow in soils high in salt. The historical references of its common names purportedly come from the fact that after the great Dust Bowl, it was planted as a fast and easy way to revegetate the severely damaged soil.


Monarch Migration South Through Texas

The Monarch migration usually starts around October each year, but can start earlier if the weather turns cold sooner. They travel between 1,500 and 3,800 miles or more from Canada to central Mexican forests where the climate is warm. If the monarch lives in the Eastern states, usually east of the Rocky Mountains, it will migrate to Mexico and hibernate in Oyamel fir trees. If the monarch butterfly lives west of the Rocky Mountains, it will hibernate in and around Pacific Grove, California in eucalyptus trees.

Monarch butterflies use the very same trees each and every year when they migrate, which seems odd because they aren’t the same butterflies that were there last year.  How the species manages to return to the same overwintering spots over a gap of several generations is still a subject of research. Some believe the flight pattern is inherited. Other researches indicate the butterflies navigate using a combination of the position of the sun in the sky and the earth's magnetic field for orientation.

The Monarch butterflies migrating through Texas all seem to focus and funnel into a 50 mile gap between Del Rio and Eagle Pass along the US-Mexico Border. Here they have a clear route through mountain passes to the Mexican Interior and highlands.

When they first arrive at their winter locations in November monarchs gather into clusters in the trees. These butterflies congregate into colonies, clustering onto pine and evergreen trees. In many cases, they are so thick that the trees turn orange in color and branches sag from the weight. It’s a remarkable sight that attracts scores of tourists. 

By December and January, when the weather is at its coldest, the monarchs will be tightly packed into dense clusters of hundreds or even thousands of butterflies. By mid-February these clusters of butterflies begin to break up and the monarchs will begin to gather nectar. In the spring they will reproduce and their offspring will make the return trip to the north.

 For many years, people puzzled where the millions of Monarchs that spend the summers in Canada disappear to in winter. Then in 1937, a Canadian zoologist named F. A. Urquhart started tracking the trails of the butterflies by tagging the wings of thousands of individual Monarchs. Nearly 40 years later, and with the help of thousands of volunteers across the country, Urquhart located the first known wintering refuge on a mountaintop in Michoacán, Mexico, more than 4,000 miles from the starting point of their migration. The area is now a World Heritage Site known as the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. There are dozen such sites in Mexico and they are protected as ecological preserves by the Mexican government.

Night Roosting

 Monarchs only travel during the day and need to find a roost at night. Monarchs gather close together during the cool autumn evenings. Roost sites are important to the monarch migration. Many of these locations are used year after year. Often pine, fir and cedar trees are chosen for roosting. These trees have thick canopies that moderate the temperature and humidity at the roost site. In the mornings, monarchs bask in the sunlight to warm themselves.

The Monarchs seen here are consuming nectar from a blooming shrub. It is believed that the Monarchs might be following what biologists call a "nectar corridor" for food.

Nectar corridors are a series of habitat patches containing plants that flower at the appropriate times during the spring and fall migrations. These patches provide stopping-off points for the migrating butterflies to refuel and continue their journey. Having these islands of nectar sources is particularly important within large areas of urban and agricultural development. The discontinuous patches of nectar sources are “corridors” that monarchs will follow, like stepping-stones across a stream to complete their migration.


Monarchs and Milkweed

Many butterflies have a single plant required as a food source for their larval form called a host plant. Milkweed is the host plant for the monarch butterfly. Without milkweed, the larva would not be able to develop into a butterfly.

The larvae and the butterflies retain poisonous glycosides from their larval host plant, the milkweed, so they become distasteful to potential predators. These milkweed butterflies (Monarch, Queen, Soldier) eat only milkweeds as larvae. This highly effective defense strategy shields them against almost all predators that soon learn to avoid these species after attempting to eat them.

Milkweed contains a a variety of chemical compounds that make monarch caterpillars poisonous to potential predators. Milkweeds contain a cardiac poison that is poisonous to most vertebrates but does not damage the monarch caterpillar. Some milkweed species have higher levels of these toxins than others.

North Texans can attract Monarchs to their backyards by planting milkweed as a host for Monarch eggs and larvae. Easy to grow here in Dallas.

Some other species of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) travel long distances, but they generally go in one direction only, often following food. This one-way movement is properly called emigration. In tropical lands, butterflies do migrate back and forth as the seasons change. As it stands other butterfly flies further, attracts more attention or more curious onlookers than that of the Monarch.

Dispersal of monarchs into a nearby tree after sunset

As the sun sets in the cooling autumn air, the Monarchs head towards a nearby large tree to roost for the night. This is mostly for protection from predators like bats who might not see the bright orange and black coloration, the tell tale of the bad-tasting and poisonous Monarch. From the trees beyond the night crew of animals start up their evening calls. Ready to hunt under a rising crescent moon.

Male Great Horned Owl in a Texas Red Oak, Dallas, Texas, October 2013

Packrafting The Trinity River Paddling Trail Out Your Own Backdoor -- From The M-Streets to The Audubon Center

Floating the rain swollen Trinity River under the towering cottonwoods and pecans of the Great Trinity Forest just downstream of White Rock Creek in Dallas, Texas September 21, 2013

Hurricane Ingrid Track from NOAA

Earlier in the week and some thousand miles to the south, Hurricanes Ingrid and Manuel slammed the Central Mexican coasts along both the Gulf of Mexico and Pacific. As the storms moved into the interior that tropical moisture funneled north via the annual monsoonal flow across the Southwestern United States and Texas.

Coupled with the approach of the first strong Canadian cold front, the tropical moisture created a much welcomed and widespread heavy rain event in the Upper Trinity River Basin of North Texas.

Hitting the river at the height of the flood

The Dallas Fort Worth area saw 3 to 6 inches of rain causing minor flash flooding and the Trinity River to rise some 15+ feet above normal. The average flow through Downtown Dallas is some 500-600 cubic feet per second, after the heavy rains the flow was ten times that, over 5,000 cubic feet per second.
Downstream, White Rock Creek, a tributary to the Trinity River, saw flows over 1,200 cubic feet per second below the White Rock Lake Dam. This translates into a faster speed of flow too, some two-to-three miles per hour.

With the river high and running fast, what better time to get out on the water. Even better, use specially designed lightweight whitewater-purposed packrafts and mountain bikes to make for an entire car-free adventure through the Great Trinity Forest and points beyond. Nearly all the photos here were taken inside the inner highway ring loop of Dallas, Texas known as Loop 12. The exception being a scant few photos taken while visiting Joppa Preserve and the Trinity River Audubon Center which sit a mere city block from Loop 12.

Paddling on the Trinity River in southeast Dallas under the massive twin I-45 bridges originally designed to accomodate barge traffic between North Texas and the Gulf Coast

A Float On The Last Day Of Summer
The trip down here hits a number of exceptional places to visit on the Trinity River in one of the largest urban parks in the country known as the Great Trinity Forest. Highlights included not just the grand spectacle of running the river. Anyone can do that. It's being able to fold in a connection to the people on the Trinity using them as a way to connect dots and relevance to a place that has no signs or guideposts. It's still amazing to know that a six mile river float, a twenty mile bike ride, a visit to a world class Audubon Center, a pre-Columbian Native American site, a drink out of an ancient spring and crossing through the State Fair of Texas can all be done inside the city limits of Dallas.

Floating the Trinity River with the famous Texas Buckeye Grove commanding the view in the background

Off The Map Route
The ease of access afforded by not just floating the river but also traversing the woods by mountain bike allowed us to condense what would be a twelve hour canoe and hike into one that was a mere five hours. The luxury of not being tied down by a vehicle on the river means no shuttling, no backtracking, no waiting around and means you can go "the back way" at every turn. The road less travelled or no road at all. 26 miles altogether, much of it where no street address exists.

Paddling Portion
Paddling Route data can be found here:
Map route data Trinity River Paddling Trail Santa Fe Trestle to Loop 12

Six mile float route from the Santa Fe Trestle Trail down to Loop 12 and the Boat Ramp take-out

The route used for this trip follows the Main Stem of the Trinity River from the Santa Fe Trestle Trail at Moore Park, down to the Loop 12 Boat Ramp located at the Trinity River and Loop 12. It's a straightforward route that includes a number of historic sites, rarely seen bridges and wildlife.

Since the water was high, we were able to use the pack rafts to negotiate up the mouth of White Rock Creek to an area behind Big Spring at Mile 5, where Bryan's Slough/ Oak Creek joins White Rock. A rare treat to briefly paddle into the heart of the Great Trinity Forest.

Cycling Portion
Route data can be found here:
Map route data Trinity Forest Bike Trail Loop 12 to Trinity River Audubon Center

Four mile bike route from Loop 12 to the Trinity River Audubon Center

Packrafts make the trip possible

Getting ready to launch boats at the Standing Wave

It's packrafting, not canoeing. It's packrafting, not cycling. These are high performance boats and not pool toys, either. Hard to explain to us Texans as the lionshare of packraft users are high adventurers in the mountains of far flung continents, in desolate hard to reach places no one has ever thought to venture before. To some extent, the Trinity River fits into that. A true classic wilderness float with rarely another human seen the entire trip.

The first use of modern inflatable boats began in the mid 19th century, but the history of inflatable boats goes back much further. In fact, indigenous tribes around the world have, in past centuries, sought to use animal skins and inflated bladders to keep them afloat in the water. These rafts proved in a practical manner that you can fill a water resistant material with air and float the surface of the water.

The first use of inflatable boats was in 880 BC, when the king of Assyria used greased animal skins inflated with air to move his troops across a river. Other records of history show that during the Ming Dynasty in China, inflated skins were used for river crossings.

Peter Hackett's boat design used in the Canadian Arctic

In the 1840s, the army and several naval officers, including British Lieutenant Peter Hackett, developed inflatable boats specially designed for use in an Arctic exploration. In 1848, U.S. General George Cullum introduced an inflatable rubberized fabric that is used to some extent in the civil war. In 1866, three men crossed the Atlantic on a raft of three tube, the first transoceanic voyage in the history of the inflatable boat. It was shown that many of these inflatable boats were sturdy, reliable and worthy of further development.  Vulcanized rubber changed the history of rubber boats  In 1900, the manufacture of vulcanized rubber inflatable boat took to the next designs to the next level.

Modern day pack rafting via mountain bike in Dallas

The background of inflatable boats in the 20th century saw their use across a broad spectrum from saving many lives on the Titanic, to downed aviators during wars, to specially designed boats used in clandestine military operations.

The refined and contemporary design of modern boats used today allow for a lightweight and strong boat that can carry many hundreds of pounds of gear and equipment with the boat itself weighing around 6 pounds.




Alpacka Boats and Big City Bike Rafts

The boats used are Alpacka brand boats from Alpacka Raft Mancos, Colorado. They are the Rolls-Royce of adventure boats and are the worldwide standard for expedition travel where water crossings and remote water travel is required. With the Rolls-Royce quality, comes a Rolls-Royce pricetag to buy one. The boat, lifejacket and paddle can run $1000 and priced about the same as a traditional well made kayak or canoe. Well worth every penny.

Will Saunders

Those not wanting to fork over that kind of money for a boat can rent one from Will and Evan at http://www.bigcitybikerafts.com/. Dallas based near White Rock Lake, they'll rent you a boat and gear pretty cheap if you have something that you have been interested in trying.

I had been on a previous bike rafting trip down the river with Will, it started and finished from the Katy Trail Icehouse along the Katy Trail in Dallas. The writeup from that trip in February can be found here:  Bikerafting the Trinity River from the Katy Trail. He has some cool outside the box ideas on where to take these rafts around Dallas and could show you the in's and out's of how they work in just a few minutes. He is good people and has some real creative solutions to getting more people interested in the outdoors in Dallas.

If you want to read more about what these boats are capable of, source a book written by Jonathan Waterman and published by National Geographic called Running Dry: A Journey From Source to Sea Down the Colorado River. Jonathan Waterman used an Alpacka on his 1450 mile journey from the source of the Colorado River on the snowpack in Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park all the way through Arizona's Grand Canyon and down to Mexico's Baja

Assembling The Boats

Putting the boats together and disassembling the bikes for the float downriver takes only a few minutes. Even without much practice, the assembly and inflation of a boat takes a blink of an eye. The boats don't use pumps for inflation, they use a pillow bellow system. Much like a pillowcase, you grab some thin air and simply squeeze the air into your boat. Simple by design and allows for rapid inflation.


















Taking the bike wheels off and securing to the bow of the boat takes another few minutes. A 25 pound mountain bike weighs very little in a relative sense. The boats are capable of carrying a field dressed elk, moose or bear out of a boundary wilderness area, a bike cargo is nothing compared to that. The trick with a bike is to make sure all the sharp points of the pedals and cranks do not contact the boat.

This could easily be done with a road bike or any other bike that allows for wheels to be taken off. We were all using the larger 29" wheeled mountain bikes and everything fit aboard with room to spare.

The oars break down into 4 parts and the stuff sack for the boat serves as a dry bag when on the water.





With quick assembly and a recheck of gear, safety chat and route plans, it was time to hit the water.

Our group of four was rounded out by Brendan and John. Brendan has prior experience on the Trinity River upstream the previous year and in heavy thunderstorm conditions.
 





A note on safety and self-rescue:
I would recommend first time river runners on the Trinity to use a guide or organized group outing with experienced friends who know the ins-and-outs of the river. Makes for a much more enjoyable float. Launching on the fast running and swift rain swollen Trinity is an exciting trip but one I would suggest only for more advanced paddlers in excellent physical condition.

Looks can be deceiving with obstacles just under the surface. With an extra 10-15 feet of water in the river and 10 times the volume of flow, many of the snags and obstructions, actually all of them, were unseen. Made for a beautiful float as not a car tire or piece of trash was seen on the bank. Also makes for very difficult conditions if problems crop up.

Putting Afloat On The Dallas Trinity River Paddling Trail
The Dallas Trinity Paddling Trail is one of 57 Texas Paddling Trails that dot Texas. Half a dozen of which are in the Trinity River basin. More information can be found on the TPWD Paddling Trail Website

Putting in at the Standing Wave 32°45'9.26"N, 96°47'26.43"W is a breeze using the ingress and egress ramps used for portaging around the river obstruction there. A concrete ramp leads from the sidewalk right into the water. Before you know it, you are away.

Just downstream from launching at the Trinity River Standing Wave, Will and Brendan pass the mouth of Cedar Creek

Just downstream from the Standing Wave is the mouth of Cedar Creek 32°45'5.08"N,  96°47'17.34"W. Most know it as the creek that flows through the Dallas Zoo. Where this creek meets the Trinity River(river right) a small fort once stood, built by the Army of The Republic of Texas during the expedition to scout a Military Road from Austin to the Red River. I-35 now follows that route.

Under the MKT Bridge downstream

The old Katy railroad bridge 32°45'0.06"N ,  96°46'38.94"W dates supposedly to 1905 and is one of the oldest railroad bridges still in operation over the Trinity River, if not the oldest. Few ever see this bridge. Tucked away behind a few bends in the river it stands virtually hidden to the river beyond. From this point on, save for a few freeway overpasses, the city that surrounds the river is silent. The river and the 4000 acres of trees that surround it soak up noise like a sponge

P&G Plant Pumphouse, lower intake of structure is submerged in the photo

Photo from 2012 showing the low water view

The Proctor and Gamble Pumphouse 32°44'55.95"N, 96°46'33.35"Wsits some 500 yards south of the Proctor and Gamble Plant on Lamar in South Dallas. Built in 1919, the plant was constructed at the vital crossroads of two major railway lines and in close proximity to the Trinity River. The two story structure here served the purpose of providing cooling water to coal fired boilers behind the plant and also non-potable water use not involved in the production process. By the time this pump was operational, new standards for sanitary disposal of wastewater were law. Pumphouses such as this can only lift water in feet height equal to the atmospheric pressure in water, 34 inches, which translates to 34 feet. Roughly the same height as this structure. This plant was modeled after a sister factory in Cincinnati on the Ohio River.

One of the many quiet sections of the Trinity River just south of Downtown Dallas where large tree canopies dapple the sunlight as the strong current gives us an effortless journey downstream

As one approaches I-45, the river picks up a little speed. Here the river drops a little more in elevation than other sections, thus speeding things up a little. During high water the extra speed is unnoticed, it's easier to see in normal conditions.

Approaching the twin I-45 spans over the Trinity River

The I-45 Bridge, built in 1971, was constructed with the belief that one day high profile barge traffic from the Gulf of Mexico might one day turn Dallas into an inland port. The Jefferson Street Viaduct near Downtown Dallas has the same elevated look to it. Beyond I-45 is Miller's Bend where the river nearly doublebacks on itself within a 1/3rd of a mile. Steeped in history and one of the more interesting places on the Trinity River.

Entering Miller's Bend

The namesake of the Miller's Bend is William B. Miller an early Dallas pioneer who made a lasting mark on much of Dallas as a whole. An enterprising businessman on the south bank of the Trinity, he needed a ferry crossing to reach Dallas. In turn, Dallas needed a reliable ferry crossing to reach Hutchins, Corsicana and points south. He owned and operated a ferry here for a number of decades beginning in the 1850s. Freedman Henry Critz Hines later ran the ferry through the 1870s. Miller's Ferry road still exists today in southern Dallas County and served as the piggybacked route for the first railroad, first highway and first interstate into Dallas. More can be read about the background of Miller's Ferry, the Native Americans and the bridge history here Miller's Ferry.


Conversation With The Jet Ski Guy On The Trinity River at Miller's Ferry

I would imagine that it has been awhile since riverine traffic has passed each other on the Trinity River in Dallas. One might need to go back a dozen decades to find the last time traffic passed each other here. What better place to have that happen than at Miller's Ferry.

In the distance, we hear the low hum of a boat, rounding the bend, just at the exact spot of historic Miller's Ferry is none other than the jet ski guy.

Like us, the man on the Sea-Doo was riding the crest of the recent rains. He told us that he lives near Ennis and was riding up the Trinity River all the way to Fort Worth! Pretty far.  He stopped to talk with us, inquiring about the height of the river at the Santa Fe Trestle and whether or not the "Dallas Wave" aka Standing Wave was inundated. He needed the water to be high so he could pass safely through. Answering in the affirmative, we chatted further.

Part Chuck Norris, part Kenny Powers, talking about Trinity River alligators at Miller's Ferry with the jet ski guy

I had previously seen the jet ski guy during high water back in 2012 at McCommas Bluff. There high above the swollen river, I saw two jet skiiers navigate over Lock and Dam #1 and head upstream. Robert Wilonsky at the Dallas Morning News wrote a brief about it here:
Raising Awesome Bar To New Level

The 2012 video is here:

 Fun to talk with someone like that as their experience on the Trinity is very parallel to mine yet seen from a different perspective. He spent a moment talking about an alligator recently not far from Downtown Dallas. His gestures suggested an alligator in the three foot range and in an area upstream of Lamar and south of Downtown. The alligator slid off the bank and into the water as he drove past.

The jet skier was headed for Fort Worth that day, we bid our goodbyes, he started his engine, we put paddle to water and just like that we were all gone from Miller's Ferry.

Floating under the old Central Exwy Bridge

Buckeye Trail vicinity on Trinity River

Beyond Miller's Ferry one floats through Rochester Park aka William Blair Park and some real wildscape areas known for the towering trees and native Texas Buckeyes. River right is the Wetland Cells, a Corps of Engineers partnership and part of the Trinity River Corridor Project. River left is the Buckeye Trail and network of trails that meander through the woods there towards the mouth of White Rock Creek.







White Rock Creek and Boating to Historic Big Spring

Will Saunders at the mouth of White Rock Creek, Trinity River in far background

With some nice high water we ventured off the Trinity River and headed up White Rock Creek aways. With great ease and a little paddling we reached the flooded mouth of Bryan's Slough also known as Oak Creek.

Up White Rock Creek from the Trinity River

The water is usually 2-3 feet deep, on this day it was 20 feet deep and we were paddling through the tree canopy.

White Rock Creek left, mouth of Bryan's Slough at right

A little further up the creek we reached Bryan's Slough. Banks were steeper here to the left with the mouth of the creek to the right. As proof of concept, we could have in theory paddled almost the whole way to Big Spring on Pemberton Hill.

Heading back down to the Trinity, on White Rock Creek

Bryan's Slough was the turnaround and we let the current drift us back down into the Trinity.

Scenic section of the Trinity downstream of the White Rock Creek mouth

Not much was said south of White Rock Creek. We just drifted along at a good clip, enjoying the shade of the trees and soaked it all in. Many canoeists face this straightaway as a curse. During normal slack flows and a strong south wind this section gives many a tough go of it. Not this day. It was cruise control.

Take out at Loop 12

At the Loop 12 Boat Ramp

Taking out at Loop 12 is fairly straightforward. A standard one lane boat ramp exists there with an interlocking paver design. The Loop 12 bridge does funnel the water to some extent making for some needed elbow grease to get into the ramp. Very easy. Taking apart the boats, re-assembling the bikes took only minutes. It was time once again to saddle up on bikes and head towards our next stop the Audubon Center.

The Great Trinity Forest Trail

A four mile paved trail was built in two phases, 2009 and 2012 between Loop 12 and the Trinity River Audubon Center. The bike path skirts Little Lemmon Lake, Lemmon Lake and a couple of unnamed ponds on the south side of the Trinity River. The concrete trail was built upon an old gravel road which once served private fish camps along the lakes when it was a private hunting and fishing club known as the Trinity River Rod and Gun Club.

The tall trees of Joppa Preserve near Lemmon Lake

We were able to see numerous birds at Little Lemmon Lake including shore birds and a rare White-Faced Ibis listed as a Threatened Species. Interesting to see.

Trinity River Trail Bridge Crossing

The bike path crosses the river south of the Trinity River Audubon Center and about 200 yards upstream of the mouth of Elam Creek.

Trinity River Trail Phase II near the Audubon Center

Trinity River Audubon Center
North of the bridge, the trail is shade-free as it crosses through the old Deepwoods landfill east of the Audubon Center.

 

Trinity River Audubon Center

The Audubon Center sits in what one could call the middle of the Great Trinity Forest and it serves as a great educational primer to the woods and Trinity River Project. Lots of maps, lots of scale models and many hands-on exhibits to introduce children and adults alike to the Trinity River.

Will talking with Jenna Hanson Director of Education at the Trinity River Audubon Center

Jenna from the Audubon Center came out to speak with Will about the bike rafts and doing something with the Audubon in the future. Bike rafts might be a good fit for exploring the Trinity down here in the near future as more people visit by bike.

Brendan at the TRAC

The actual trailhead for the Trinity Trail is about half way down the Audubon drive, it has a dedicated parking lot, water fountain and trail kiosk. The Audubon Center is a separate facility and has it's own parking lot, operating hours and such. More information including exciting new programs including the Audubon's new river expeditions and birding by bike excursions can be found on their website: http://trinityriver.audubon.org/. They also offer Trinity River Bird Count field trips, which are probably the best way to venture into the Trinity with a group. The bird counts are free to attend and are safe as you are with a group.





Visiting Big Spring and Shooting The Breeze With Billy Ray Pemberton

Historic Big Spring in the Great Trinity Forest

Billy Ray Pemberton

We did not bother with filling water bottles at the Audubon Center. I knew a place just a five minute ride up the road where we could fill up, where the water was clean and cold. Big Spring.

We'd already had a great time meeting the jet ski guy, had the red carpet rolled out for us at the Audubon Center, how to top that?

Only one place to go, that's a visit to the Pembertons. We found Mr Pemberton on this stunning bluebird sky of a summer afternoon relaxing at the base of the ancient Bur Oak next to the spring. I imagine if anyone reading this had some magic place like this behind their home, you'd likely do the same. The sounds of the city disappear down here. It's often quiet enough to hear a bird's wings flap in passing or the sound of wind moving through a field of grass. It's an oh so rare refuge inside Loop 12.

Mr Pemberton welcoming the guys to Big Spring

Volumes could be written about the place. The water, the land, the trees and the deep history that reside here. Mr Pemberton's family has been on the land here since the 1880s. Before that the Beeman family and the founder of Dallas, John Neely Bryan lived here. Before that it was used by Native Americans for many many centuries as a water source. Their stone tools and artifacts can still be seen today.

An hour or two earlier we were not far from this spot, having paddled up White Rock Creek to where Bryan's Slough terminates. As Mr Pemberton explained the big floods over the years we mentioned how far up the creek we had come that day on the height of the water. I think we could have easily paddled here that day rather than ride, had the mood struck.

Billy Ray Pemberton telling the story about the Big Flood of 1908 and the walnut tree here that marks the high water mark

So much history sits here that it would take ten trips to soak up. Billy Ray gave us a short cliff notes on the place as we filled our water bottles, drank the water, then refilled again. Few Dallasites have seen what Dallas once looked like, before there was a Dallas. Few realize that some residents like Billy Ray still work the land, grow their own crops and eat the bounty that God provides. He lives it.

I have yet to find someone who does not come away with a deep and profound appreciation for Big Spring or the treasure of a man named Bill Pemberton. Put a smile on our faces the whole ride home.

Ride Up White Rock Creek to the M-Streets

Riding Samuell near Lawnview

The ride back was a breeze. We followed the hilly White Rock Escarpment up the east side of White Rock Creek along an area skirted by Jim Miller Road, Scyene and the Parkdale neighborhoods. Lots of good scenic rough hills in here, commanding views of Downtown Dallas and the streets are fairly low in traffic.

The Lower White Rock Creek Trails are better walked that ridden, rough entrances and trailheads are difficult to find and traverse Devon Anderson, Grover Keeton and Gateway Parks in this area. Out of the floodplain the trail is on solid limestone outcrops and features cedar trees for the most part.

I think the city is moving away from the idea of trails here, preferring to use a floodplain route they call the Arboretum-to-Audubon Trail. That would run closer to the creek and be more prone to extensive flooding.

Past the putting green of Tenison Golf Course

The last rise in the route was over the hills of Tenison Golf Course and the grind up La Vista through Lakewood Country Club.

From outward appearances we look like a group coming back from a casual concrete grind around White Rock Lake. The truth was we had come full circle with the ride here as we merged onto Skillman, reaching a point where we had been just five hours before.

Riding through Lakewood Village

Thanks again to Will Saunders of Big City Bike Rafts, Jenna of Trinity River Audubon and Mr and Mrs Bill Pemberton for their gracious hospitality. Great float, great ride, great people. I think that it's the people who make so much of these visits worthwhile and rewarding.