Guadalupe River Tubing | A Texas Activity
After floating the San Marcos River a few months back, it's still hot in Texas. What a surprise... So we decided to visit the Guadalupe River for some tubing to see what the fuss is about. What are the differences? What should you not miss at the Guadalupe River the next time you decide to go tubing?
Last July, I visited my mom and Ralph in Santa Fe and jokingly said I was going to start a YouTube channel. I did not realize how much work it was going to be, how it would change my relationships, or how much time I would dedicate to this endeavor that I mentioned so nonchalantly. And then slowly, but surely, I started to collect my cameras and tripods. At one point, I think I had 7 tripods. I got the cheap kind first, and then slowly upgraded, while still hanging on to the originals. I don’t recommend this. Just get the nicer one to begin with. In addition to a DSLR, I’ve also accumulated a GoPro and a drone. My phone doesn’t have a lot of space on it for storing footage, and it doesn’t even have a micro-SD slot, which is really unfortunate. Next time I get a phone, I’ll keep this in mind.
We turned into the parking lot and to the right was a big, black cage with peacocks walking inside mostly, and one wandering about loose, outside the cage. A few of the ones inside were albino peacocks. One thing to be careful of, if you're going to take a look at the peacocks, there are a lot of fire ant piles near there. So be careful!
We didn't know if the front of the tube rental office, or the back was the parking lot area and entry to the river so that we could start our float. So we paid twenty dollars at the tube rental office without getting out of the car and drove past only to realize that we had paid for a campsite. So, fun fact: you can also camp at the river. The front of the area of the tube rental office, on the side of the peacocks, is the actual parking lot which is free. There, we filled out forms, probably for liability, and then paid for our trip. There was an option for a three or six hour journey.
In retrospect, I'm not sure why we chose the six hour journey, but it was done. Our tubes were packed up into a trailer hitched to a van that took us to the start of the float trip. This was different from the San Marcos truck because in San Marcos, we picked up her tubes and immediately got in the river and floated until we got to the end, where we were picked up by a bus and taken back to the parking lot. Our driver was really chill, funny, and informative. He let us in on a secret, about a well-hidden trail along the river and recommended that we bring a lot of bug spray because there would be a ton of mosquitoes.
The water was not as cold as the San Marcos River because the San Marcos one is spring-fed. The current stayed pretty stagnant throughout the entire journey, and there really weren’t that many people there compared to the San Marcos River. It might be because the San Marcos one is near San Marcos which is a college city. This one was quite the drive to get to. But with fewer people, we felt more comfortable using the rope swings to jump into the water because we knew we would not land on anyone's head.
Many moons ago, when I was a girl scout, I went to summer camp. At the summer camp I grabbed a hold of my first rope swing. It was also my last up until this Guadalupe River trip. I grabbed a hold of that rope at summer camp, and swung over the water and swung right back towards land, letting go in a panic only to land in mud, with scratches and bruises. It’s not one of my fondest memories, but that day at the river I was able to overcome. I held on to that rope, and jumped in water deep enough to avoid mud, scratches, and bruises. A complete success.
Our van driver, who had an uncanny resemblance to Hulk Hogan, told us that an hour and a half into our journey we would come up on a pile of rocks. This pile of rocks would appear as if a truck dumped off the pile, but actually the river pushed them that way. This pile of rocks served as a trail marker. It was not actually an hour and a half into our float, but rather three hours. Hulk Hogan kayaks the Guadalupe River, whereas we were not paddling much at all. We parked our tubes onto the rocks, and headed off to another trail, that was not the main river trail. This new trail was a canal of knee-deep, cool water, quite a bit cooler than that of the main river. The water was also very clear, with lots of little fishies swimming about. The trail was very well shaded with lots of trees hanging over us, again unlike the main river. The main river didn't really have that much to cover at all. we would have been struggling had we not so much sunblock and kept reapplying said sunblock. At the end of the trail, were a few small waterfalls, very scenic, remote, and tranquil. It was one of the best parts of this float.
As we continued back at the main river, we experienced only a few areas with rapids. So most of the journey was very slow moving, and shallow. This meant that at some points, we had to get out of our tubes and walk them over the shallow area, then hop back in. It wasn't terrible, just unexpected. I'm glad we remember to bring a lot of sunblock, water, and snacks. but after 6 hours in water, under the hot, late-July sun, we all needed something a little more substantial than fruit.
I guess the moral of the story is to believe the workers when they say that the tube will take six hours. And that no matter how long it takes, having friends makes it all of it better. I hope that this information enables you to have the best possible experience at the Guadalupe River.
“I would rather walk with a friend in the dark, than alone in the light.” ― Helen Keller
Would you, or have you ever, swung on a rope swing?
