Caddo Lake - LA with Vixen

Sunday Susie had to work so when I called Don to see if he wanted to go kayaking, he said sure. Michelle also wanted to go and she asked if I had a PFD that she could borrow for Vixen. Of course I do, so they came over and we got Vixen fitted for Missy's vest and we went on our way.

We decided to go to Caddo Lake State Park out of Oil City. Don and I like that one because it is usually quite windy and we like the waves. Well...windy it was! When we got out on the water we were constantly buffeted by 20-30 mph gusts...but what fun!

We paddled for a while one way and decided we should try to go directly into the wind because going at right angles to it was getting us very wet!

Vixen seemed like she was enjoying the ride!

It was a fun day. We probably only went a mile in the whole time we were out (an hour and a half)! But it was fun and if you want to see a few more pictures that I took that day you can go to my Webshots Album to see them.

Well..until next time... Happy Kayaking! Cathy

Caddo Lake - Uncertain, Texas

I convinced my friend Becky to try out kayaking while I still had Don and Susie's kayaks. I knew that she would like it if she got out there and tried it. So Saturday afternoon off to Caddo Lake State Park in Texas we went. We have made many trips to that part of Caddo Lake before. We went on a photograhy tour of the lake by a wonderful photographer from that area and we were eager to see if we could negotiate the backwaters of the lake ourselves.

There is a great State Park there and I thought we could put in at their dock and it's only about 45 miles from the house. We drove to the dock, but it looked really closed in by water hyacinths and duckweed. I drove back to the ranger's station to ask if that was the best place for us to put in and he said that it would probably be better to go a few miles down the road to Uncertain and put in at a private dock which is on more open water. We decided that would be best. It is very easy to get lost on this part of the Caddo Lake system, and since I don't have a GPS, it could easily happen.



We got to the private dock and paid our fee and got into the water. The channel there is about 100 feet wide, and we were constantly having to watch out for speeding fishermen. Some of them would slow down as they went by us, others could care less if they swamped us...typical red necks.

But even worrying about that did not stop us from enjoying the short ride on the channel. We saw a small channel marked MM and decided to take a chance and see where that went since it was too small for the motor boats to go through.



It wound around for a while and it had a few birds around too, so I enjoyed taking pictures of them flying away from me as usual.





We decided that we had gone far enough for Becky's first time, and it was going to be dark soon, so we headed back to the main channel. I liked the way the wanning sunlight highlighted the cypress trees at the channel end.



When we got back into the channel I saw a few more birds, two egrets and one blue. You can go to my webshots album if you want to see them.

We made our way back to the dock and I got one last picture of Becky. It looks like she was enjoying the ride.



We got loaded up and we made the trip into Marshall and went to the Jalapeño Tree, one of our favorite Mexican food places. After that we made the trip back to Shreveport. It was great to get out in the water and to introduce Becky to kayaking. Now she just has to buy a kayak... :-)

Well, until next time... Happy Kayaking! Cathy

Mill Creek - Sept 06

We made the long trek up to Mill Creek in Missouri. Mill Creek, is a Corps of Engineer campground about 25 miles from Branson for the second year in a row. We made the reservations for September this year instead of October because it was mucho cold last year in October. It was so cold last year that I could not even swim. This year it was much different. It was HOT! It probably was about 95 all three days that we were there, and of course we missed the leaves changing color. I think I prefer going in October when it was colder and I really missed seeing the beautiful yellows and reds of autumn in the Ozarks.


This time I did not really get many good pictures, except a few of Mom and Dad. If you want to look at all of the pictures that I have posted, you can go to webshots and see them. I will post a few here, but most of them will be on my webshots page.

Most of the days were spent kayaking, cooking and lazing around on Dad's hammock. We got there Saturday afternoon and came home Tuesday. Sunday we took a drive into Branson and went to the outlet mall. Mom found a great pair of shoes for less than $20, and I got a new pair of sunglasses. So it was a good day. While we were there a big thunderstorm rolled through. I was a bit worried about the campsite, but couldn't do anything at that point. When we got back to camp we found that nothing had blown away, but when we went to use the microwave it would not work. I messed with the reset button for a while, unplugged the trailer from the shore line, etc. Nothing fixed it. I got out the book and it said that problem could be caused by a ground loop problem and to have the trailer checked by an electrician... So I will have to get Bill to look at it before I go to Daisy next month.

Monday afternoon Dad wanted to stay at the camp and chill, so Mom and I took a little trip to a neat place called Dogwood Canyon. It is a beautiful place filled with waterfalls, streams filled with mountain trout and great hiking trails. We took the easy way out and took a tram, it took us over two hours to go through the whole park area.
I got some good pictures of Mom. You know usually she doesn't like her picture taken, but this time, she seemed not to mind. And she looks really great for almost 82!
It was a very beautiful and restful place to go. And if we make another trip up there, I hope to return to Dogwood Canyon. It is filled with Dogwood trees which bloom in the spring... maybe a spring trip is in order?

I did a lot of kayaking, so much so that my thumb started cramping and just would not let up. So Monday I only went out twice instead of three times.

I was kayaking along a cove one of the days and saw a lot of white things going up a hill, so I went to look. The white things ended up being white chairs. I guess they just did not want to sit close to each other or something... I thought it was kinda strange looking so I took a picture of them.


Mill Creek was great, the water was clear as a bell, and the company was wonderful. I enjoyed the trip and now the countdown is on for Miami in November. Can't wait to see my brother and his wife. I took a picture of Mom and Dad just before we left... Mom won't smile big here, because she had taken out her front bridge! But I still like the picture.


Well, this blog was kinda short, but since most of the pictures are on webshots, I thought it was best to keep it short here... Until next time...

Happy Kayaking! Cathy

Caddo Lake - Sept 2, 2006

While Don and Susie were out of town, I kept their two kayaks and their trailer. So I invited my neice Michelle to go out kayaking with me Saturday. She in turn invited a friend (Zura - maybe wrong spelling...sorry). It was their first time to kayak and they did great!

They enjoyed catching up on things as they paddled along...

Flocks of geese kept flying by overhead, but they never landed.

We went a really long way. I think we were out about two and a half hours. We almost got to the power plant on the lake. As we turned back, the sun was getting pretty low in the sky. Michelle decided to explore the oil rig as she went by.

It was really a beautiful sky.

As the sun got lower, it dipped below a cloud bank...and made for a good picture taking opportunity!

I could not help but take a few pictures of the sunset with the oil wells...

And the two friends outlined by the sun...

After one last sunset picture, it was time to head back to the car.

One more great paddling trip. It was beautiful out there today. The weather was perfect...all around a great day to paddle!

Only a few more days before we head up to Table Rock...can you tell I am READY TO GO?

...Cathy

Lake Wright-Patman

We went for a last paddle before Don went out of town for the next three weeks to Lake Wright-Patman out of Texarkana. It was an easy drive up to the lake...about 80 miles or so. It is a huge lake and we had it practically all to ourselves. The whole 3 hours we were there I think we saw maybe 4 boats.



We had a great paddle. But it was very hot. We stopped twice to take a swim to cool off. We saw a lot of birds, but as soon as they saw us...off they flew!



We decided to paddle out to what looked like an island, but it turned out to be just a narrow peninsula of land. We saw some huge fish skeletons on the bank, so this must be a really great fishing lake...with very few fishermen! We got out to take a cooling swim and found out that the ground below the water was pretty much quicksand, so we got back in the boats and tried to scrape off the caked on clay that was on our shoes. We had to really scrub to get it off. After that, we decided to head back to the put in. There were lots of gulls sitting on posts that were in the middle of the lake.



I could not get close enough to take a really good picture. I had read that this lake has a huge number of gulls near the dam, so next time, I think we will put in closer to the dam area. Maybe the birds won't be so skittish there.

Well, we finally made it back to the ramp. We decided to take a cooling swim before packing up and leaving so we paddled over to the swimming area. Then we got back in the boats to head to the ramp, where I finally got a picture of an egret that was staying put long enough for me to get fairly close.



It was a nice lake and we got some really good long distance paddling in. I hope to go back when it is a bit cooler.

We leave for Mill Creek - Table Rock Friday...can't wait!

Happy Paddling!
Cathy