Kayaking the San Marcos River 

Thanks for the video. We did this yesterday March 23, 2024. The video was very instructive and helpful. Cummings dam is an issue. There are no longer stairs on the right. People are now being advised to portage on the left. We did have rope and with the assistance of some younger folk we were able to lower the kayak and then pass around the dam structure through the wooded area on the right. Thanks for your great videos.

That's awesome taking a trip with your parents. You are truly a lucky man.

I should have listened to you. I took a group of youth from our church June 29th and 30th 2022. The river was amazing. I have canoed 100’s of miles many rivers and boundary waters. So I thought we could do it. We had 6 canoes and when we got to the chutes we decided to go down them instead of portage. MISTAKE! I was 1st down and first to tump. We took on too much water in the canoe and it literally filled it. 4 canoes followed my lead and tumped the two that didn’t swamp were the two canoes that portaged it. I lost my nice mask and snorkel and a fishing pole, another pole was lost by another canoe, and an apple iPhone was also lost due to my pride in thinking we could do it, but I should have listened to you. Despite this we loved the trip, the next day we went down to shady grove, probably should have gone down to staples as this second leg of our two day trip was pretty quick. Thank you for your wise council. I should have listened and apologized to the group that night for not listening. Love your videos!

Oh man I went for this kayak trip about 2 years ago and oh Lord we crossed it in 3 hours, I still remember it, it was a good experience felt as if I was stranded in the jungle all alone .this brings me back all the memories.

Thanks for the guide! Beautiful section!

Wow what a beautiful place and to enjoy it with your mom and dad

This was a great video and super helpful!

Man that was a awesome kayak trip with your parents. Man that is awesome just to see a family get out and enjoy being on the water together. I know that water felt good for 99° degree day on the water. I like those sandals that your dad was wearing. I'm trying to find some sandals like that to wear this year for kayaking. There are times when I have to get out and walk in the water over top of rocks & it's not comfortable Sometimes walking Barefooted 👣 over top of rocks especially when you have a very extremely wide feet. Good video thank you for sharing.

Great video! A pleasure to watch.

i did this exact route hundreds of times when i lived on riviera street one block off the rio vista dam tressle ..... 84 to 85....no stairs at cummins then....the two years i lived in san marcos are the best of my life so far.....

These guys sold me an incredible boat for my dog and I. Thanks for the expert advice

Awesome video bro

It's good luck to jump off the wall at city park before you take off. Duane did it right!

Beautiful river, great looking trip. I think most people have gotten too risk adverse and believe that traditional sit in canoes are not good for rapids or drops like that. My ancient Grumman Aircraft aluminum canoe? Heck no! But any of the flat bottom Old Town boats would have been fine IMO on that drop. I may have grown up in Oklahoma and Texas but I spent my summers in Northern Maine where everyone had an Old Town. Tough as nails boats!

Did you run into a ton of low branches along the way? I did this paddle trail a few weeks ago - took about 4 hours. Super fun overall, but I wish the downed trees could be more easily taken care of.

Great video, been wanting to do this stretch for a while! Do you have to portage at 299 or did you go under? That road looks really low.

Excellent video! I wish that I was in shape to do that. I love the Sam Marcos River. Is there an area that you would recommend for a senior with a Hobie.

👍🏽

I've always floated San Marcos in a tube and got shuttled back to where I started. I just got a SUP and want to go downriver then just paddle back up. That said, is San Marcos hard to paddle upstream? I am referring to the section that starts at the lions club and ends where you started on this video. Any helpful info is appreciated. Thanks.

How did you guys get back?

Awesome video man, thank you very much! A couple of questions: 1. Planning to do almost exact same route with my buddy but on paddle boards. In your view, how doable is that? 2. How much time did it take y'all to get from Rio Vista to the campground?

What's the shuttle situation there? I'm looking to travel down because there are zero outfitter or shuttle services in northern texas.

I'd love to do go on this river, just moved to San Marcos. I have 2 45lb dogs I want to take with me. Is there something I could buy to make this possible? Or is that too much to ask?

How did you go back to city park where you started? I just moved to Austin and looking for a kayak, do you have any recomendation for rookie?

How do you go back to where you start it?

are there alligators/crocodiles in there!