The 5 Best Tubing Access Points on the Guadalupe River

The Guadalupe below Canyon Lake is twenty-some miles of green water, limestone ledges, and outfitters who have been shuttling tubes since before most of us were born. You can put in almost anywhere along that stretch, but a handful of access points do most of the heavy lifting. Here are the five worth knowing.

1. Gruene River Access: the heart of it

Gruene is the pin everybody drops when they're meeting up. It sits a few hundred yards from Gruene Hall and the dance floor, the parking is decent for what it is, and you can walk to a beer or a chicken-fried before or after. The float downstream from Gruene is the most photographed stretch of the river and the busiest on a holiday Saturday.

Pick Gruene if you want the classic Guadalupe day with food and music on either end.

2. Rockin' R River Rides: full service

Rockin' R is the outfitter most people end up using even when they didn't plan on it. Tubes, coolers, life jackets, a shuttle that runs on the half hour, and parking that actually fits a Suburban. They run two main floats, a shorter Horseshoe Loop and a longer Chuck's Run, and you can do either with or without a guide.

Pick Rockin' R if you don't own tubes, you've got a group of more than six, or you don't want to think about logistics.

3. Camp Huaco Springs: quieter water

Camp Huaco Springs is a few miles upstream of Gruene and a different river in temperament. The crowd is smaller, the float is a little shorter, and the campground right there means you can stay the night and put in again Sunday morning before the day-trippers arrive. The water this far up runs colder and clearer.

Pick Camp Huaco if you're camping, you want to skip the crowd, or you've got dogs along.

4. Second Crossing: the locals' put-in

Second Crossing is where the folks who live in New Braunfels go when they want to float without the holiday-weekend energy. It's quieter, the parking is honest, and the float down to the next take-out is long enough to feel like a real day on the river.

Pick Second Crossing if you've been to Gruene a hundred times and you're ready for something with less neon.

5. Guadalupe River State Park: the upstream payoff

Guadalupe River State Park is forty-some miles upstream of New Braunfels, above Canyon Lake, and it's a different river up there. The water is colder, the cypresses are taller, and the float is more about looking around than the party. You're paying for a state park entrance instead of an outfitter shuttle.

Pick the State Park if you want the prettiest stretch of the Guadalupe and you don't mind the drive.

Before you go

Whichever one you pick, check the live flow the morning of. The Guadalupe at three hundred CFS is a different river than the Guadalupe at two thousand, and a Saturday plan that worked last June might not work this June. The map at the explorer shows every gauge we track and how each access point is sitting relative to recent rainfall. If you haven't read it yet, the gauge guide is the quickest way to figure out what those numbers actually mean.

Float safe. Tell somebody where you're putting in and where you plan to come out.