Kayak on Lavon Lake at its SW Corner

 To try out our new inflatable kayak,we went to Collin Park at Southwest corner of Lavon Lake this morning. 

We arrived at Collin Park ~ 8:15 AM. It was a hazy morning, and not too many people at the beach, one family was swimming, a boy and a man were fishing. A old lady came by to give us a ticket reminder to pay fee on the way out.

Due to practice last night it took us about 10 minutes to  assemble the kayak, and inflate it on the grass by the parking lot. Not bad, close to what the kayak manufacture advertised. The kayak, with paddles, water bottles, camera with telephoto lens, was about 50 lbs. Lily and I carried it to the beach without trouble. 

Lily and the new inflatable kayak

Lavon Lake

With many coves along its shoreline, not too many motor boats, Lavon lake is good for kayaking.

We paddled along the west shore of the lake, going north. 

Despite years of experience, we had a hard time to paddle straight! This is primarily due to our inexperience with the flat bottom inflatable kayak. We had to slow down or stop to adjust kayak's orientation. 

Passing a portion of shoreline with mangroves,  we reached a sandy beach, saw killdeers and American crows, and hundred yards away one man sitting on an otherwise deserted beach. His dog ran to the water's edge to check us out. 

Mangroves

Killdeers on the sandy shore

quiet shoreline

paddling north

At the northern tip of the Collin Park, there is a cove. We turned into it. First we noticed many ducks, and then I saw a grant egret at the end of the cove, a snow white in green, it felt that we were back to Everglade!

Then Lily's phone ringing disturbed the tranquility - the ducks took off and flew away - quite a scene - like what we saw at Bosque de Apache , of course at a much smaller scale. The egret, on the other hand, stayed, turned around and flew to the top a mangrove. A few minutes later, it disappeared from view. We turned around, and paddling back to the south tip of the park, where we parked our car. Getting used to the kayak, this time we paddled straight and fast.

A little bit over 1 hour on Lavon lake, we enjoyed it the way only kayaking can provide. 

A solo egret at the end of a cove

Startled 2nd group ducks took off, 1st group had more ducks

 

Notes

1. Inflatable kayak saves place, and is easy to transport. but it is hard to paddle straight. But with experience it was not too bad. Also we will use the fin next time kayak on flat water.

2. kayak by oneself requires more planning, e.g. where to get into water. We put the kayak in where it was muddy. On the way out of water, we paid attention to the beach, and landed at a more rocky/sandy beach. 

3. Collin Park charges relative high entry fee, but the fee did not lead to clean beach, or toilet.