The Clear Creek Paddle Trail Strings Three Parks Together by Water

Clear Creek gives the county's north side a kind of water day the Gulf can't: calm, tree-lined, and beginner-friendly. League City and Galveston County built a 6.5-mile paddle trail down it together, opened in October 2012, with launches at three parks. You put in at Countryside Park on Alderwood, take out at Heritage Park on Coryell, and Walter Hall Park on Highway 3 (a Galveston County park) sits in between as the third landing.

Because all three have canoe and kayak launches and parking, you can run the whole stretch with a car shuttle, or just paddle out from one park and back. The creek meanders through neighborhoods and pockets of trees, slow water where a first-timer can find their stroke without fighting wind, tide, or boat wakes.

It's the same Clear Creek that flows on toward Galveston Bay, so a morning on it is a quiet inland counterpoint to the bayfront and island launches elsewhere in the county. Walter Hall, on Highway 3 in League City, is the easiest mid-trail put-in if you only want a short paddle.