By Tom Douglas 

Our group of canoe paddlers met up at Bay Area Park in Pasadena, TX at 8:00, where we were greeted by Galveston Bay Foundation staff who confirmed that our waiver forms were in order. With help and encouragement from the staff, we were on the water at 8:30.   

A cold front had passed through overnight, so conditions were cool and breezy, making a lightweight wind shell just the ticket for comfort. Noting that the wind was coming from the northeast, we elected to paddle upstream so that it would be at our backs during the return leg of our journey.

Almost as soon as we passed by the Bay Area Boulevard bridge, we spotted plentiful trash trapped in blown-down vegetation along the bayou’s eastern shore. A little farther along, there were several clusters of items up on the bank, prompting one of our paddlers to venture out of her boat to collect them. 

We figured that Big Island Slough (see the map, below) might provide more protection from the wind than the main channel of Armand Bayou. When we headed up into the slough, we found that there was quite a bit of trash all along its east side. We continued gathering trash there until our watches told us that it was time to turn back so that we could join up with the group of people back at Bay Area Park. 

Our Route up Armand Bayou and Big Island Slough by Tom Douglas 

Having filled up our available bags with trash, we had to resort to dropping the rest of what we collected during the return trip into our boats as a jumble of loose items. Once we were ashore at the park, we got it sorted out, weighed, and deposited into the pre-positioned dumpster. 

A Boatload of Trash by 2026 Trash Bash Staff 

Another Boatload of Trash by Tom Douglas 

Finally, it was time to enjoy conversation with new friends over lunch at a picnic table overlooking the bayou. 

This had been a good chance for us paddlers to “give back” to the larger community.