Collier's Ferry Opens a Quiet Big Thicket Paddle

TPWD describes Collier's Ferry to Lake Bayou as an out-and-back loop of about 7 miles, roughly a two-to-five-hour paddle. It launches at Collier's Ferry Park at 5390 Pine Street in Beaumont, a real public put-in you can actually drive to.

From the ramp you float a short stretch of the Neches River, then turn into Lake Bayou and Big Thicket National Preserve. TPWD calls this one of the remote and beautiful backwater channels of the preserve, a slower, quieter side of the same Neches that carries ships and industry farther downstream.

Check the TPWD trail page and the NPS paddling page before heading out. NPS notes that waterfowl hunting is allowed in the Lake Bayou area in season, and it reminds paddlers to check water levels before the trip.