Trip Report PINS/Yarborough – Disappointing

Only three hardy Kayakers made the trip.  We rendezvous at the PINS Malaquite Visitor Center.  We made our way 15 miles down the beach to the Yarborough Pass.  Driving the first leg of PINS was easy.  The weather was beautiful, surf was flat, water blue green all the way to the beach.  Upon arriving at the Yarborough Pass we got out of our vehicles and walked the pass.  We all agreed that not all of our vehicles would make it thru the pass without getting stuck to the Laguna Madre.  Plan B, we then decided to travel down the full length of PINS (60 miles) to the Mansfield Channel.  In the first leg down the beach Mike E complained that he needed to travel faster than 20 mph so he took the led to the Mansfield Channel.  On the way to Mansfield we hit soft sand.  Mike soon discovered that when his vehicle was in 4x4 he couldn’t travel faster than 10 mph.  It took more than a couple hours to make it down to the Mansfield Channel.  Upon arriving about 200 yards short of the Mansfield Channel we ran out of road/track.  The surf had cut away the track.  For us to make it all the way we would have to drive in about 100 yards in 2 feet of surf wash.  We noted that there were three groups camped at Mansfield, we walked up to their camps and spoke with one of the groups.  They reported trout were being caught at dusk, reds were being taken off the jetty, and they had driven in the surf.  We wanted the multiple fishing options that the Channel offered, surf, access to the Laguna Madre, and fishing the Channel, however none of us wanted to risk soaking our tire bearings in salt water, so we turned around with the plan to set up camp on the beach at Yarborough.  We started our beach driving at 10 am and arrived at our final camp destination at 6 PM.  8 plus hours driving the beach on Friday.  While transiting the beach, the surf conditions changed dramatically.  Surf was now choppy, water clarity dirty.  Safety lesson – while making it back to Yarborough Bob D the third (last) man in the convoy hit something resulting in a flat tire.  Mike E and myself had traveled 5 miles down the beach before we realized we had lost Bob.  We stopped and waved down a vehicle coming down the beach behind us and enquired about Bob.  They reported he had a flat right front tire, that he was sitting on his tailgate drinking a beer.  Mike and I were both short on gas and couldn’t risk going back without the fear of running out of gas.  Bob finally meet up with us, reporting another vehicle assisted him in changing his tire.  The lesson learned that the first vehicle and last vehicle both need to be in contact with each other.  Saturday morning brought us a new day, the coyotes had visited our camp during the night and gotten in our trash.  We had track marks all around our camp location.  The Saturday surf was choppy and dirty.  No way to launch kayaks safely into the surf.  Mike E decided to break camp and head for home.  Bob D didn’t want to head back to Austin on Sunday without a spare tire, so he headed to Corpus to find a new tire.  Leaving me alone to mind the camp.  I spent the day wade fishing the surf, caught 1 skipjack.  While wade fishing I observed a vehicle planning to drive the Yarborough Pass, 2 people got out of their truck and walked the pass, they returned to their truck, and another truck came out of the pass.  As soon as the truck came out of the pass the first truck drove into the pass.  About 30 minutes latter a lady walked out of the pass to the beach and flagged down a passing vehicle. The recruited rescue vehicle backed into the pass for the rescue.  30 minutes later the lady was on the beach again flagging down another vehicle for the rescue.  It gets stuck.  The lady appears on the beach a third time and flags down a broken down Chevy Truck that has a winch.  This vehicle rescue’s the three vehicle’s with the winch and sand anchor.  An hour later a Park Ranger in his F150 drives in and out of the Pass with no difficulties.  Sunday Bob and I broke camp and head for home.  The outing was disappointing, none of us got to launch our yaks, and I was the only person to wet a line.  As they say better luck next time.

Tight Lines

Ken J