Lake Woodlands
May 20, 2017
by Julie Hammond

For our paddle at Lake Woodlands it was decided to change launch points, thanks to Terry Herdlicka for her wonderful phone call.

I had not known that Northshore Park had just re-opened a few weeks earlier. Riva Row Boat House is a difficult place as parking is not close to your launch site and the put-in and take-out is a grass hill. So, as Terry put it, you would be not only carrying your boat up a hill, you would also not be parking close to the put-in/take-out point.

I was excited when Terry told me that Northshore Park was open at the dock, as the park is still closed and under construction. This is because there is a large parking area and you can get your car right next to where you load and unload your boat.

I advised all paddlers of the new launch location and everyone arrived on time. It was nice to see a handmade Chesapeake Sea Kayak. I had looked at those on-line and even considered taking the week-long course to make one at their site. So it was cool to see one in action. It's actually a fast kayak, faster that what I thought it would be, very nice. I really enjoyed seeing that kayak and the pride the owner took in making it.

The paddle was quite nice and the paddlers liked the front and center view of all the expensive homes. There were dreams of which ones they would like to live in. Paddling was right up to the back yard and even up to their lion water fountains. At one point we saw a bird and the discussion was that the fake bird was some nice yard ornament and nice that this ornament used real feathers. We discussed whether it was real or not. We decided that it must be fake as it was frozen in time and never moved. When he thought we had moved off far enough, sure thing, it moved. We all had a good laugh that the bird was indeed real.

As we paddled on we went to the on-water gazebo then on to paddle under a bridge and back. Fran was good enough to tell me I was okay and could make it - I dislike closed in spaces, thanks Fran. From there we paddled back up to the beginning where we had launched, and took out.

We found a nice bridge with a bench under it for some shade. Everyone ate their lunch, loaded up and went home. The comments from everyone is that they had a very relaxing paddle and enjoyed it very much! We planned to have more paddles on Lake Woodlands as it was very relaxing for everyone. We are sorry, there were no pictures taken; the camera was not working.

Best Regards,
Julie Hammond

The author, Julie Hammond