Clear Lake Park at Lavon Lake

The first time I looked at the map of Lavon Lake, I was intrigued by the tiny island at the center of the southern part of Lavon Lake. That tiny island is part of Clear Lake Park. I imagined a marvelous view of Sunset on the lake in our bright yellow kayak Emma.

Our first attempt to kayak at Clear lake was on September 26. We got to the entrance of the park ~ 8am, but the park was closed and opens at 10am! So we left for Tickey Creek Park, further north from Clear Lake. The next time we went there was the afternoon of November 7th, one week after we kayaked at Lake Murray, Oklahoma. That's this blog is about.

It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon with light breeze. We got to the launch spot, the boat ramp, around 4:30pm.

Despite the light breeze on the land, the wave in lake was not small! We started paddling along the red line in the paddling trail map, to be on the sunny side of the island. Fall was in full force, foliage there was splendid, much better than a week ago when we were at Lake Murray. Of course, with blue sky, any foliage is beautiful! 

The southwest side of the island is a haven - water is calm, air is warm. A motor boat was lingering around as we paddled in leisure and took quite a few photos. 

paddling trail 

But things changed drastically as we turned toward northeast into the yellow zone in the trail map, wind got much stronger, and more seriously the waves were big. Initially we were paddling in parallel to shoreline, which made kayak 90 degree to the wind, and waves crashed into kayak. I was really pleased that Lily was not panicky at that time, we just quickly adjusted, making kayak facing the wave head-on, and the problem solved. Of course this made the turn much slower. 

The shoreline at the yellow zone was rugged, the view was as beautiful as SW side. The island is barren at its eastern tip, there is a huge Cross there. Once we made the turn at the tip of the island, the water was still wavy, but wave amplitude was much smaller. The NE side of the island was in shade, an egret was standing on the shore, and flew ahead of us as we got close, there was another motor boat in the water. The sunlight that permeated through foliage was mesmerizing. 

a dead tree in the lake

We crossed the narrow gap between the peninsula and the island again and paddled close to the shoreline, and into the blinding setting Sun. Not much to see, we turned around, and a bit further from the shore, and wave was big again.

During this period, there were more and more water fowls in the open water, grey sea gulls, ducks, American coots ("black duck"),  and double crested cormorants. It has to be near sunset when water fowls come out of their hiding place, just like what we experienced at Lake Murray  

We paddled back to the cove south of the parking lot, it was still early before Sunset, we continued and paddled into the cove north to the parking lot, and along the way we spotted a tiny sandy beach. So instead of getting back to the boat ramp which is slippery , we beached the kayak at the sandy beach, made a clean exit for us and for our kayak Emma! We could not see Sunset because the trees at west side of the park blocked the view.  Nevertheless it was a beautiful afternoon for kayaking, and it was thrilling!

double  crested cormorants

seal gulls

American coots

foliage in setting sum

red 

golden yellow 

Note

Hindsight, I would have paddled in the coves and around the island last so we could see sunset in open water. Basically reverse the route.