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HomeNL-2023-05 9 Champion Lake


Champion Lake
April 16, 2023
by Natalie Wiest

The day dawned bright, cool, and beautiful and continued that way for our trip.  Temperature ranged from 63 at the putin, to 74 at takeout from the boat ramp at Champion Lake, Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge near Dayton, Texas.

 

Joe Coker and I coordinated this trip, with Joe being the guide on the water.  Eight people in seven boats participated, Ellen Shipman and myself in the green canoe, and kayakers Lisa Kinsey, Alice Nissen, Bob Spiegelhauer, Tyrone White, Fran Wilcox and Joe in the lead.


image001
Joe Coker 

 

The water level was pleasantly high, which we estimated at 8-feet on the gage at the fishing pier.  Tyrone’s GPS registered 5.8 miles.

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Paddling through alligator weed

 

As we headed out to Caney Creek, it looked like there was going to be tough paddling ahead as the channel was choked from side to side by alligator weed in several locations.

 

 

Farther along, red azolla combined with the alligator weed.

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Paddling through the red azolla.

 

 

Thankfully as we got farther upstream and into the side channels and ponds, duckweed took over and was a lot easier to navigate.  Here we are heading into area #5.

 

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Blanket of duckweed

 

At this water level we were able to paddle through the trees in many places, then took the channel to #12 where we enjoyed a leisurely lunch.  The day was certainly picture perfect and many photos were taken.

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Alice Nissen

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Tyrone White

 

It was nice having all that open water.


image013Open Water  

 

Area #12 is a favorite for the density of youngish cypress establishing itself.  Although the winds were quite high this day, sitting down in the trees as we were, it was barely noticeable.

 

From here we did a “do it yourself” kind of route roughly following the route by #9 but winding through the trees.  We came into the older, deeper, and more established part of the swamp as we neared the south shore.  I always love the Spanish moss hanging from the trees, and blooms of water lilies as the light and water depth allows.

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Fran Wilcox

image017Waterlily Bloom



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It was a flat gorgeous day on the water, wish you all could have enjoyed it with us.

 

 

 




The author, Natalie Wiest