Adam Bucki and I ventured down a 50 mile portion of the Upper Guadalupe River this weekend. It was the first either of us had been - we were not disappointed. The flow was high for this time of year, the river was beautiful and offered up some fun whitewater, the shuttle drivers were entertaining, the BBQ dinner in historic (and lively) Gruene was awesome, and the camping and first night's accomodations were lousy. All conditions for an Epic weekend.

We ran several very fun rapids each day and portaged around a total of two obstacles: a private (and illegally built) dam and a horseshoe falls (or was it a chute?). The dam could have been run, but there was no margin for error and we were a long way from take-out. The falls we portaged was about a 3 or 4 foot drop the width of the river. There was one potential route down between a rock and a Cypress tree, but we couldn't determine if the area immediately below was clear and decided we didn't have to prove anything to ourselves.

On a down note, we were in Gruene our first night for some dinner and were witness to a search and rescue on the river. A lot of water was being released from the dam at Canyon Lake (the lake is the feature that breaks the Guadalupe into the upper and lower portions). I understand this portion of the river was closed to commercial outfits due to the high water. The river was flowing up against the low-water bridge crossing at Gruene, spilling over the bridge, and creating a very hazardous condition. Some rafters apparently hit the brige and were sucked under right after we drove across. We walked down the hill and back across the bridge to check out the river after parking in Gruene, not yet aware of what had just transpired. We ended up trapped on the wrong side for an hour or two while search and rescue looked for a missing person (the others were okay). We left as soon as we asked and were able to get back across the bridge. It was a tragic ending for the missing person, and a rather surreal moment for us.