Running the Devils

Dink Murphey
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A ten-episode audio field guide to paddling the Devils River — the last wild river in Texas. Ninety-four miles of spring-fed, turquoise, remote canyon water. No cell service. Almost no public land. TPWD caps overnight permits at twelve per day for the entire river. Built for the person actually going: history, honest self-assessment, permits, flow, gradient boundary law, a mile-by-mile walkthrough of the classic three-day trip, Dolan Falls, gear, and what to do when something goes wrong. Companion checklist and TPWD call script included.

  1. Jul 17

    BONUS: A Historical Account of the River - mile by mile.

    A bonus episode of Running the Devils, for the paddler who wants to know what they're floating past. You are moving through one of the most historically layered corridors in Texas. Most people paddle the whole ninety-four miles without seeing any of it — because you don't see history on the Devils. You paddle past it. You have to know where to look. This is the mile-by-mile guide, in roughly five-mile segments from Baker's Crossing at mile zero to the Dan A. Hughes Unit take-out around mile thirty-three, then the lost lower river down to the mouth. We cover Jack Hays and the 1848 expedition that renamed the Spanish San Pedro to Devils River. Camp Hudson, the 1857 Battle of Devils River, and the Great Comanche War Trail crossings. The Pecos River Style pictographs in more than two hundred rock shelters — Skyline, Halo, Quintero — three to six thousand years of continuous human occupation on these cliff walls. Dolan Falls and Captain Pat Dolan's Ranger patrols in the 1870s. E.K. Fawcett's July 24, 1883 cave inscription and the sheep and goat ranching era that followed. Beaver Lake and the stagecoach outpost above Juno. The June 28, 1954 flood that peaked at 122,000 cubic feet per second at Baker's Crossing. The lost town of Devils River, drowned when Amistad Reservoir filled in 1969. How to spot cliff shelters, tributary springs, and ranching-era artifacts from your boat. What you're floating over. And who came before you.

  2. Jul 17

    BONUS: Water - Pack Less, Treat More.

    A bonus episode of Running the Devils on the one piece of gear that determines the weight of your entire boat — water. Three days of drinking water is thirty-plus pounds. Most experienced Devils paddlers don't carry it. They launch with one gallon and treat the rest as they go. This episode is how to do that safely, with every treatment method covered in order of what actually works on this river. Chemical: Aquatabs and Katadyn Micropur chlorine dioxide tablets. Dosing, contact time (fifteen minutes for bacteria, thirty for giardia, four hours for cryptosporidium in cold water), the bottle-rotation trick veterans use, and taste management. Filters: Sawyer Squeeze as the workhorse, LifeStraw as a backup, gravity systems for groups. Failure modes — freezing, clogging, dropping — and the daily backflush routine that keeps your filter honest. UV pens like the SteriPEN, and why they belong in the backup slot rather than the primary. Boiling, and why fuel weight makes it your fourth line of defense. Iodine, and why it's obsolete for this application. Then the two-method belt-and-suspenders philosophy that keeps you drinking clean water even if one system fails — plus the full camp routine of dirty bag, clean bag, timer, and rotation. The Devils looks clean. It is not sterile. Every drop you drink from this river goes through a treatment step. Every drop. Pack less. Treat more. Drink often.

  3. Jul 17

    BONUS: Sidearms on the Devils

    A bonus episode of Running the Devils, written for the Texas License to Carry holder or the reciprocal-state carrier who's already decided to bring a sidearm on the river. This is not about whether to carry — it's about how to do it legally, competently, and responsibly on a multi-day paddling trip. We cover the Texas legal framework: HB 1927 permitless carry, why the LTC still matters for reciprocity and prohibited-place access, and the misdemeanor carve-outs non-LTC carriers need to know. Firearms are legal in Texas state natural areas — but federal rules apply the moment you touch Amistad or other National Park Service land. Practical carry on a wet, multi-day trip: retention holsters, waterproofing your setup, sealed-primer defensive ammunition, and the three body-carry positions that actually work seated in a boat. Why most serious river carriers end up on a chest rig. Then the hard part — discharge. Texas Penal Code Chapter 9 on justified force and deadly force. Stand-your-ground and castle doctrine as they apply to a tent, a canoe, and a gravel bar. Animal discharge rules for feral hogs, mountain lions, and rattlesnakes. And the exact post-incident protocol: satellite SOS, Val Verde County Sheriff dispatch, the four things to say, and the four things to say nothing more about until you have a Texas criminal defense attorney on the line. Carry legally. Carry competently. Hope you never need it.

  4. Jul 14

    10. If Something Goes Wrong

    The one I hope you never have to use. If you've done everything the last nine episodes cover — wilderness experience, physical readiness, permits, flow check, gradient boundary, WAG bags, gear — you've massively lowered your risk. You have not eliminated it. On a remote river, the difference between "this is inconvenient" and "this is a serious problem" can be very thin. We cover the categories of what can go wrong and the exact protocol for each: • Minor injuries — cuts, blisters, sprains — handled with your first-aid kit • Moderate injuries — bad sprains, fractures — the decision tree for whether to paddle out or call for help • Serious injuries — unconscious paddler, compound fracture, head trauma, venomous snakebite — the immediate satellite SOS • Heat emergencies — the top cause of Devils River paddler emergencies • Lost or damaged gear — repair kit essentials, spare paddle protocol • Flash flood — the immediate off-the-water protocol • Group conflict — the veto rule and how to use it We also cover the emergency contact chain: satellite communicator SOS, Val Verde County Sheriff at 830-774-7513, and what to expect from a rescue in this terrain. This is the series capstone. Listen once before your trip. Reference the checklist on the water.

  5. Jul 14

    9. Gear, Food, and the Pack List

    Everything you need to bring. Some of what you shouldn't. And the tricks paddlers who've done this river ten or twenty times have figured out — that you and I are going to steal. Category by category: PFDs (worn, zipped, every minute on the water), primary and spare paddles, WAG bags (one to two per person per day — this is non-negotiable), water strategy (bring it all versus treat river water, and why you carry two different treatment methods), food that holds up to heat and repacking, shelter and sleep system, sun and clothing, safety and first aid, and the dry-bag protocol that keeps your emergency kit accessible if you swim. We also cover what not to bring, what to leave in the shuttle vehicle, and how to pack a board or boat so the center of gravity stays where it belongs when you hit moving water. This episode pairs with the printable pre-trip checklist so you can pack against a real list — not against your memory the night before departure. Print the checklist. Lay everything on the garage floor. Check items off one category at a time.

  6. Jul 14

    8. The Lower Miles — Mile 20 to Take-Out

    You survived Day 2. Game Warden Rock, Dolan Falls, and the Three-Tier Waterfall are behind you. Today is your last day on the river — and it's the day people underestimate in the other direction. Day 3 is when paddlers relax. The hard parts are done. They stop scouting. They get complacent. And they get hurt. This episode reminds you that the river deserves your attention until your boat is on the trailer. We walk through the classic take-out options at the Dan A. Hughes Unit — Devils Back Campground at river mile 30, and Pafford's Crossing Day-Use Area at river mile 33 — and how the choice depends on your permit, your shuttle, and the 5:00 PM Monday vehicle removal deadline. The lower miles are, in many paddlers' opinion, the prettiest of the river. Tall canyon walls. Long, deep, turquoise pools. Schools of bass. Herons on the banks. We cover the pace to hold, the last places to check your gear, and the take-out sequence. We also cover the longer variant — continuing to Rough Canyon Marina at Lake Amistad — and why most three-day trips skip it.

  7. Jul 14

    7. Dolan Falls and the Portage That Matters

    If this whole series were a book, this is the chapter I most want you to actually read. More injuries, more lost gear, and more genuinely bad days on the Devils happen in the eight miles you paddle today than anywhere else on the river. Day 2. Mile Twelve to Mile Twenty. Two named hazards. Both mandatory to deal with. Both frequently underestimated. At approximately river mile 13.3, you approach Game Warden Rock, also called Sycamore Chute — a car-sized boulder with a four-foot drop below it. TPWD's own words: "boats are often damaged beyond repair here." We walk through how to scout it, how to run it, and when to portage. At river mile 16.4, you reach Dolan Falls — a ten-foot Class IV waterfall. This is a mandatory portage. Not a "you can run it if you're strong" — mandatory. We walk through the takeout, the portage route, the timing, and why lingering is not an option. At mile 20.4, the Three-Tier Waterfall — Class II-III — closes the day. We cover the scouting line and the SUP protocol. This is the safety-critical episode. Listen twice. Then listen again the morning of Day 2.

  8. Jul 14

    6. Day 1 — Baker's Crossing to Mile Twelve

    For the next three episodes, we go down the river — not talking about it, walking through it. Mile by mile. What you'll see. What to watch for. Where the good camping is. Where the hazards are. Today: Day 1. Baker's Crossing to Mile Twelve. Twelve river miles. Your first day on the Devils. We start the night before — the primitive paddler camp south of the Baker's Crossing bridge, meeting your shuttle service, packing boats, and the pre-launch checklist. Then we walk the day itself: the sunrise launch, the character of the first few miles, the transitions between still pools and moving riffles, the pace to hold, and the way to read the wind that comes up mid-morning. We cover what a good Mile Twelve camp looks like, how to set up so tomorrow's launch is faster, and the mental model to be in on Day 1: build the rhythm, protect the group, don't push. Day 2 is where the hazards live. Day 1 is where you earn the right to face them.

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About

A ten-episode audio field guide to paddling the Devils River — the last wild river in Texas. Ninety-four miles of spring-fed, turquoise, remote canyon water. No cell service. Almost no public land. TPWD caps overnight permits at twelve per day for the entire river. Built for the person actually going: history, honest self-assessment, permits, flow, gradient boundary law, a mile-by-mile walkthrough of the classic three-day trip, Dolan Falls, gear, and what to do when something goes wrong. Companion checklist and TPWD call script included.

Information

  • Creator
    Dink Murphey
  • Episodes
    13
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Dink Murphey
  • Show Website
    Running the Devils