There’s not much in the river above the Canyon Lake Dam but white rocks; it’s underground springs that are feeding the lake today, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. But tubing outfits beneath the dam are still doing a reasonable business with a “low and slow” Guadalupe River as parched Texans make the trek past Gruene for some liquid relief. On Sunday afternoon, tubers from Houston to the Rio Grande Valley were hefting their oversized inner tubes into the water. But experienced tubers warned: Be prepared to use your “paddle muscles.”
“Usually on a weekend like this we’re selling out of tubes,” said River Sports Tubes four-year employee Dustin Wright. “This year we’re only renting about half.” The piles of tubes inside the shed backed up his assessment.
While the weather isn’t expected to improve this summer — and longer-range forecasts are less than comforting — this may be as good a time as any to embrace the new normal.
