Calcasieu River: Hineston to Union Hill

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Photo ofCalcasieu River: Hineston to Union Hill

Author

olmcdon

with 2 trail buddies

808 52 520

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Trail stats

Distance: 15.81 nm
Elevation gain: 0 ft
Technical difficulty: Difficult
Elevation loss: 23 ft
Max elevation: 156 ft
TrailRank: 39
Min elevation: 156 ft
Trail type: One Way

Moving time: 4 hours 39 minutes
Time: 8 hours 41 minutes
Coordinates: 4761
Uploaded: April 15, 2024
Recorded: April 2024

4 Claps 4 comments

near Hineston, Louisiana (United States)

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Trail photos

Itinerary description

"Epic" was the word of description used at the take-out. Great day on the Calcasieu at near record high water levels. Flood stage is 12 feet at the Glenmora gauge. The river had already crested at 18.1 on Friday and was down to about 16 feet by our paddle on Sunday, still pretty impressive. Overland flow made navigation pretty challenging in places, the main channel was often difficult to decern in the flooded timber, this led to many false "short-cuts". The current was pretty swift in places, and we had one unplanned wet exit in our journey. Thankfully all ended well, however, it was determined that the water was, "cold" - deep too...

Waypoints

Put in: LA 112 just south of Hineston

That is a road to the left and the area where I am parked was under water Thursday. There was water flowing across the highway just south of here.

Waypoint

Access to the main channel is pretty tricky at this water level. We paddled under the old bridge and then east on the north side of LA 121 to gain access to the channel, still pretty uncertain of the route as we made the turn to the south. Lots of current!

Waypoint

Lunch

Paddle-up to the bench, No dry ground anywhere!

Waypoint

Strouther's Crossing

Two days ago, the bridge was under water. A couple of brave folks drove the road while we were there. Still lots of water flowing across the road on either side of the bridge.

Waypoint

Takeout

LA 113 bridge. Made it!

Waypoint

The final challenge was current at the bridge. We paddled up the access road on the SW of the bridge. Short drag to the truck!

Comments (4)

Chicotgal Apr 15, 2024
Great pics, Dan. Surprised you were able to get so many shots with that current.
Chicotgal Apr 15, 2024
And, watching live, I was falsely relieved, when y'all were so close to Hwy 13 but were paddling over a forest road having missed a bend in the river. So close to the end of journey but, alas, ended up having another mile to get a little further down to correct take-out.
That ended up being a 15 hr.day including the travel time. Whew! I made the right call for me by staying home and the Masters and Bill's live trip recording.
olmcdon Apr 15, 2024
Nine hours on the river, it was a long day! That last detour was just rude but quickly and easily corrected. The major one north of Strother's cost us over an hour trying to fight our way back. Looking at the track, we missed the main channel at the Hwy 121 bridge, re-gained it, lost it, and on and on! Lots of water everywhere. One thing I note looking at the photos, everyone is smiling in every shot. It was a good day...
Bigav8r Apr 17, 2024
Would still do again 10/10

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