Visit Yarborough Pass, Padre Island National Seashore, Texas

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Yarborough Pass is a primitive camping area located along the Laguna Madre. It is accessed by driving down South Beach for approximately 15 miles then traversing on a high clearance four-wheel drive sand and caliche road for 1.6 miles. When conditions allow, driving is permitted on South Beach and to Yarborough Pass. Yarborough Pass can close temporarily after heavy rainfall due to standing water and thick mud in the roadbed. Traveling on the beach and dirt road beyond the paved road is done so at your own risk. Weather reports and tide charts are available online. High clearance four-wheel drive vehicles are required at Yarborough Pass. Yarborough Pass was dredged in 1941 at a spot then known as Murdock's Landing. It was named for W.O. Yarborough, a former member of the Texas Game, Fish, and Oyster Commission in recognition of his work. Millions of fish had died in the Laguna in the summer of 1938 and it was believed that the Laguna's high salinity was the culprit. Therefore a pass was proposed to allow the less salty Gulf waters to dilute those of the Laguna. The issue was contentious, but many people advocated the dredging because they wanted to see fishing restored to the Laguna, Baffin Bay, Corpus Christi Bay, and other waters in the area, which they saw as being effected. Burton Dunn, who had inherited the Dunn Ranch from his father, Patrick Dunn, allowed the Game, Fish, and Oyster Commission (forerunner of Texas Parks and Wildlife) to dredge the channel, even though he stood a chance of not being compensated in any way and the channel would make operations on his ranch costlier and more difficult. The pass was dredged, but unfortunately over the next several years sand filled it up again and again forcing the Pass to be dredged again and again. Eventually the State gave up on dredging the Pass and let nature reclaim it. By 1950 the pass had filled and the beach was once again unbroken.

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