Lake Murray - A Sequel to Empty Nester Camping Trip

The empty nesters made their plan to have a sequel to the empty nester's first camping trip real on the last week of October. We went to Lake Murray State Park for a foliage viewing/kayaking trip.

There were a few big changes from last trip : 1) we stayed in cabins instead of tents, 2) we had 2 kayaks and 1 small boat this time, 3) two more families joined the trip - got to know friends' friends.

We stayed in a one bedroom cabin, the rest of the group shared a multi-bedroom large cabin, a couple of minute walk away. The spacing between cabins there is large, so the cabin is secluded, and private.

The main activities we had this time include - watching Sunrise, hiking and kayaking.

Watching Sunrise

We watched Sunrise on Saturday October 31 at east front of the lake front resort reception hall. It was a cool morning. The hue from the dawn sunlight made the cloud in the sky, water in the lake pinkish. Many water fowls were out and about. A couple geese were near us by the shore. As the sky getting brighter, and turned golden, a huge group of birds burst into the sky from behind the island across the water from us, in the east. They dispersed and regrouped, circling around, and disappeared from the sky - likely settled somewhere on the lake...and the Sun rose. 

We saw beautiful Sunrise frequently, but with a prelude of birds parading in the sky … rare!

a couple of geese by the shore

unknown water fowls taking over the eastern sky

parade of birds

Sun rose

Hiking

It was a perfect day for hiking in the woods and by the lake shore.  We hiked on Buckhorn trail, which is mostly in the woods, but hugs lake for a short portion.

The autumn was there - bright foliage of red, yellow and brown. Tiny birds scurried in the trees, fishermen in the lake angling. 

Enjoying the foliage, and the conversations, the 2-hour 4.5 mile hike did not feel long.

maple

eastern phoebe

fall leaves

eastern blue bird

fishing from a canoe

the group

sea gulls?

Canada geese

lake Murray

foliage

hiking trail - Buckhorn trail

Kayaking

After our first empty nesters' camping trip, two families bought boats - one bought the same brand kayak as ours but blue color, the other family bought boat which has motor and paddles.

Kayaking on Lake Murray was a highly anticipated activity. We went to the north boat ramp area to kayak, the preselected paddling area is at a large cove at this western branch of Lake Murray as shown in the paddling trail map below.

To avoid darkness and evening temperature drop, we started kayaking in early afternoon, ~ 2pm. It was pretty windy that day. We had to avoid open water as much as possible and paddle along the shore line. We went to a cove in hope of see wildlife - but we saw few  - wildlife comes out to open in early morning and late afternoon. We did startle a group of American coots in the side branch of the cove, and saw vultures overhead. 

The cove, turned out to be full of lotus - we saw the withered lotus leaves all over the place. We could only imagine how beautiful it would be if we come here in summer. Viewing lotus and lily flowers has to wait until next time.

paddling trail

the motorized white boat

Lotus remnants and a sunbath turtle

Lotus field near the end of the cove

take a break near shore line

the blue inflatable kayak crossing open water - the water was calmer on the return trip

We paddled in unison 

Additional Explorations - November 1st

We planned to run 10K on the last day at Lake Murray. But we forgot about daylight saving time ending on this day, and got up late. So instead of running, we hiked on a shorter trail - healthy heart trail. 

It was a good choice by chance.  We saw many small birds in the trees along the trail, which hugs the cabin lot - blue birds, eastern phoebe, woodpeckers. 

At the end of this trail, it continues, so we decided to walk beyond the trailhead. We found by chance the pedestrian's board walk we saw in the the park's website - board walk cross a cove southwest to park office - a beautiful corner of lake Murray. We also found out that the trails to the south are actually all connected. 

Lake Murray is a good place for camping/cabining, kayaking, hiking and hopefully running as well. 

We will come back sometime in the future!

blue bird

woodpecker

a tone cabin

a beautiful cove

board walk over a cove

Note

1. We also tried to get to the canal on the peninsula across the lake from the resort, there is a road to it, but we were thwarted by the rough road of the last half mile.

2. Our activities were all on the western branch of lake Murray - the red lined areas. We did see huge flock of birds rising from the back of the peninsula - so the eastern branch of the lake must be more wild - that is where we should camping and kayaking next time