Thursday, April 22, 1999

Leigh and I left Austin at 9 am and arrived at Caddo Lake State Park by 3:30 pm. I told everyone that it takes between 6 and 7 hours to get to Caddo. You can't get much closer than that. The drive was long but problem free. It was a lovely day and wonderful flowers lined the highways. It was a little late for bluebonnets. Most of them were gone. What few there were, were around Austin. We saw a little red clover as we approached Caddo Lake. Mostly we saw fields and fields of yellow flowers blanketing both sides of the highway. The grassy fields were bright green and it seemed as if every cow had its own Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) standing near by.

When we arrived at Caddo Lake State Park, we picked out our campsites (Numbers 50, 51 and 64) at the little park headquarters & museum. As we drove to our campsites, we found Pam and Joe Farley had beat us there. Pam and Joe had taken three days to get to Caddo and had already been there for a day in site #45. They are retired, of course, and a delightful couple. They had been to Caddo once before, had gotten a bit "turned around", and were anxious to try it again. They were also the very first people who told me they would come along when I announced the trip to the Austin Paddle Club months ago.

Leigh and I drove out of the park to collect firewood and by the time we returned, another half dozen people had arrived. All were impressed with the 8 pounds of shrimp I boiled for dinner that night. It's actually an easy traditional Caddo Lake first night dinner. The shrimp are boiled and then (after the water has been drained off, of course) the whole batch is dumped in the center of our newspaper covered table. Sauces (red and tarter) are provided in bowls along with lemons and warm French garlic bread. I melted the butter with garlic, tore the bread open and poured the hot butter into the bread. Everything is eaten with the hands; no plates. Afterwards, the newspapers are rolled up and thrown away... far away, from our camp.

The campground was lush and green. Most of the green was poison ivy. Never have I seen more poison ivy than at Caddo Lake State Park. The Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum) had tiny green leaves. Most conifers are evergreens, but not the Bald Cypress. (Hence its name.) We arrived late enough this year that the Cypress were green and lovely. In broad daylight, a Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) was seen flying to a Cypress Tree. Later, we saw a Coal Skink (Eumeces anthracinus). That evening, on the bathroom wall, we also saw our first Green Tree Frog (Hyla cinerea). They are such lovely animals. Interesting flora and fauna abounds at this park.

The first two nights were warm. The mosquitoes were pretty bad. I planned this trip a little late in April. We had a warm spring and I paid for this mistake by having a more than normal population of pesky mosquitoes buzzing around our heads. Even our citronella candles didn't do much good. I had to leave the van open to sleep and lost lots of blood. The last two nights I set up my tent. We were able to keep the mosquitoes out and I slept much better.

Friday, April 23, 1999

Long before I got up, Chuck Tise's boys were out fishing in Mill Pond in Karen's (Chuck's sister-in-law) lovely cedar stripper canoe that Chuck had built. They saw a small (about four feet long) American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis). They also caught White Crappie (Pomoxis annularis), White Bass (Morone chrysops), a Chain Pickerel (Esox niger), and perhaps a Bowfin (Amia calva). Seems there's always good fishing in Caddo.

After breakfast tacos, (if you haven't guessed yet... food is an important part of the Caddo trip) we went to Pine Needle Lodge. There, on the tiny dirt road leading to Pine Needle, all six cars sat. It was closed. The gate was locked and no one was home. I've never found it closed before. I turned everyone around and took them to Uncertain and Shady Glade. Shady Glade is a little campground, boat dock & store. It was the boat dock we were interested in. We launched our armada and headed north. We tried to circle Taylor Island but the west side of the island was too brushy. We then paddled around Taylor Island the other way and into Mossy Break and the Jackson Arm area. It was a delightful 4 hours in the swamp, looking at all the Eastern Kingbirds (Tyrannus tyrannuswater), Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodianus), and Great Egrets (Ardea alba). We saw several Broad-banded Water Snakes (Nerodia fasciata confluens) and lots and lots of turtles. Most of the large adult turtles were the Western Chicken Turtles (Deirochelys reticulararia miaria). Their shiny dark green shells were easy to spot. We actually caught a couple of hatchling Mississippi Map Turtles (Graptemys kohni). After we all got a good look at these turtle hatchlings, we released them back into the murky water. There were Splashers; lots and lots of splashers that startled everyone. I gave a little Caddo Lake history lesson as we sat in our boats. I told folks all I knew about navigating the lake. Once you are out in the swamp, it is easy to see how one could easily get lost.

We observed spadderdock and bladderwort (a carnivorous plant that traps microscopic aquatic bugs on the "bladders" that keeps the plant and yellow flower afloat). As we circled a Beaver dam, we came across a pair of Mallard Ducks (Anas platyrhynchos). It was just another typical fantastic Caddo Lake swamp adventure.

That night we had a communal dinner. There were about 14 people there until Chuck Tise brought in his crew of about 15, but they stayed to themselves a bit. All together we now occupied 7 campsites in the State Park. Dinner was great with all sorts of different types of dishes. Mary Anne brought out some fine vegetarian chili. Susan donated an Italian vegetable and noodle dish. Roxanne made a great batch of Cajun rice with ground beef. The Farleys brought over a salad. We were all pretty well stuffed after this feast. It was nice to just sit around and gaze into the campfire.

Saturday, April 24, 1999

Saturday started out well with some great migas Roxanne brought over. This was the big swamp trip day. Leigh and I took the van out early to check the area. Pine Needle Lodge was now open so I took them there. We were out by 11 am and not back until 5:30 pm. I first led the group into Patterson's Slough. We then headed up Carter's Chute and Boat Road 3. About 1:30 pm we pulled onto Goat Island for lunch. I pulled the Coleman stove out of the canoe, along with the ice chest. Leigh and I cooked sausage wraps (sausages, BBQ sauce, onions and brown mustard all wrapped up in tortillas) for the whole group and we ate until no one could eat any more. Chuck Tise somehow found us and pulled his group in to say "hi". We then had 17 boats on the water. We saw more of the same kind of scenery plus I caught a Texas Rat Snake (Elaphe obsoleta lindheimeri) with a hurt eye. There were more turtles and we saw one sad looking bunny rabbit out on a cypress knee, surrounded by water. We explored duck blinds and talked with fishermen. It seemed that everyone was catching fish that day: crappie, bass, sunfish and the occasional pickerel.

Anja, the three year old daughter of Axel and Alex Thomsen was a real trooper on this trip. We all wondered about the decision of taking a three year old out on a daylong paddle. She was a joy. With her little wooden spoon tied to the Thomsen's canoe, she paddled along with the best of us. When we turned off Boat Road 3 and attempted to paddle Jenkins Slough (where I was reminded that even though there was water, it's not always navigable) she was slapped in the face with a twig. She shed a few tears, which became a reality check for all of us. It was getting late and the slough was overgrown with brush. The going was so slow that we abandoned this side trip and made a beeline for the safety of our Pine Needle Lodge boat dock back the way we came. We loaded the boats, drove to the State Park, and replayed the beauty of Caddo Lake in our heads.

That night, I figured everyone was too tired to take charge of dinner, so we had shishkabobs. I had told the group to bring food for this meal and we had a whole table full of fixin's: pineapple, 3 kinds of meat, marinated tofu, several types of fresh mushrooms and much, much more. Everyone made his own and cooked it. Leigh and I also threw a bunch of corn wrapped in foil into the coals. The Thomsens brought strawberry shortcake for dessert. Mmmmm... Yummy!

Sunday, April 25, 1999

Sunday was a lazy day. We watched a Tufted Titmouse (Parus bicolor) duck into and out of his hole in an American Sweetgum Tree (Liquidambar styraciflua) by our camp. Most of the campers were packing to leave. As Leigh and I lounged around our more and more vacant campsite, a large Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) walked up and down the tree across the road, looking for insects. After almost everyone had left, we drove around and took in the sights. I took her by the Whispering Pines Lodge where my brother and I rented a bed and breakfast for my folks in 1998. The owners, Victor and Cindy Williams, seemed glad to see me again. They are so nice. I showed Leigh the Alligator Snapping Turtle shell they keep in their boathouse. We also drove by Blair's Landing where I first paddled a kayak, so many years ago.

That night the weather seemed pretty threatening. We cleaned up our camp and had just finished cooking steaks and vegetables as the rain started. We ate dinner in the van and when we were done, so was the rain. There was just enough rain to get the frogs and toads out. There were a couple of Woodhouse's Toads (Bufo woodhousei) hopping down the road and another Green Tree Frog on our picnic table. The rain had stopped and the skies cleared, so we had another delightful quiet evening alone on the shores of Caddo Lake.

Monday, April 26, 1999

Monday we were up and checked out by 7am. We decided to take the highways home to try and make some better time. I'm glad we did. The rain hit us pretty hard and slowed our driving time. We still made it back about 20 minutes faster than going out. We went straight to the U.T. campus, cleaned up in the bathroom in my office and actually made it to the Mark Russell show before 2pm. Molly Ivens, Cactus Pryer, and Liz Carpenter were so funny but Ann Richards really brought down the house with her good ol' boy turkey huntin' stories. They were so funny! All were on a roll. I was so glad we made this show but even as I laughed, thoughts of Caddo Lake paddling still filled my head.

The people made this trip to Caddo a delight. Thank you all so very much for coming on this paddle with me. All of you are gems. I can hardly wait until next spring and my next Caddo Lake adventure. For those of you wanting to hear more about Caddo Lake, the folks who went on this year's trip will present the July APC program. We hope to see all of you there.

- Bill Brooks