Hiking in Lake Ray Roberts State Park

It was an evening well spent on the banks of Lake Ray Roberts in the State Park. Though I walked only about 3.5 miles in the lush green forests of the Lake Ray Roberts State Park the experience was definitely worth while. I am glad I have been buying the Texas State Park Pass every year, this enables me to enter any state park in the state of Texas absolutely free.


Anyway earlier this evening I just decided to go there and take a dip in the cool waters of the lake. Drove down to the state park and found that I was among the handful of visitors there. I decided to walk one of the trails there before hitting the water and so was off on the Randy Bell Scenic Trail which is about 2.7 miles long but since I took several detours to get by the lake waters, I probably walked a good 3.5 - 4 miles.


The trail is moderately hilly and completely paved so it is impossible to trip, fall or lose the way. Moreover being surrounded by thick undergrowth, trees, and grasses there is lot of wildlife sighting opportunities. Today I saw several white tailed deer, which are not scared of humans at all, they continue to graze unperturbed even as people walk along the trail. Even the animals know they are safe in the park, if it were in a different setting, the deer would be shot and eaten.

Lake Lavon from the highway

Recently I drove over a bridge built across the northern ending part of Lake Lavon. The bridge about a mile long provides scenic views of the lake when it is full. Unfortunately due to drought of the past two years the water levels have dropped significantly. Nevertheless the lake is still very beautiful and offers a soothing ambiance.

Lake Texoma

Earlier this week we visited Lake Texoma, I have already blogged about the Eisenhower State Park through which we got access to this 100,000 acre water body. We hiked about 2 miles in the park along the beautiful hiking trail that follows the banks of the lake. The waters are flanked by high sandstone cliffs and unfortunately in some places the rock surfaces are inundated by names of people who want to leave their mark on unprotesting nature. The state park brochures, maps and signs implore visitors to leave nothing but their footprints. Some visitors think it important to carve out their names on the rock faces thus defacing the natural beauty of the place. I can understand uneducated folk in third world nations indulging in such nefarious activities but here in America... it is a shame that people are still not aware of how to protect their environment. I was too disgusted to capture any pictures of the rock defacement.

Here are pictures of the wonderful Lake Texoma.

Eisenhower State Park & Lake Texoma

I was off work for couple days after the long weekend during which America remembered its war heroes with respect and adoration. Now that I have the Texas State Park Pass I wanted to explore all the state parks within easy access. So we decided to drive an hour north to Denison, TX which is home to two major attractions: Eisenhower State Park located on the banks of Lake Texoma and the Eisenhower birthplace museum. The former is located outside the city and is a quiet, wooded and hilly locale.

View of Lake Texoma

Lake Texoma is actually a dam built across the Red River bang on the border of Texas and Oklahoma. The lake spans across a vast area of nearly 100,000 acres and has an additional few thousand acres of wooded parkland around. The wilderness around the lake teems with wildlife, deer, possum, armadillo, and other creatures live in harmony with visitors to the park. The park has a 3.5 mile hiking trail which weaves and winds through the wilderness. The path is not flat like in other state parks I have been to, it is actually undulating and hilly and has adequate tree cover to protect us from the harsh summer heat.

Hiking Trail in the Eisenhower State Park

The only disappointment here was the really small swimming beach in such a large lake and park. Then the amount of trash that was left over after the long weekend visitors had left. I wish there were a more efficient trash management system in place.

Swimming Beach in Eisenhower State Park on Lake Texoma

Wilson Creek Trail & Park, McKinney

A sole tree stands as silent witness to the changing weather in McKinney, Texas. Children play, adolescents come here to court their romantic partners, adults and seniors throng to get some exercise. The needs of different sections of the population are different but the park and its components including this tree fulfill all the diverse needs successfully. Some lessons we as a society need to learn, to live cooperatively, rather than competitively. Lot more can be achieved this way than the present way.

Lake Views in Plano

Plano city has a few small lakes of its own. Though the city gets its water supply from Lavon Dam located in Wylie, Plano is proud of its lakes and water bodies. The city protects these natural water resources pretty well. Every water body is pretty much stocked with fish, has a trail around, and is located inside a green belt area or park. Here are some pictures of a lake in Bob Woodruff Park, Plano.

Mineral Wells State Park Visit

Sunday was pretty eventful, visited one more state park in the vast state of Texas and this time it was closer home... about 100 miles south west. The park is named after the city of Mineral Wells which was a thriving spa, health resort, town famous for its fresh water resources. At its peak the town's water was known to cure all human diseases and people traveled to this little town to spend few weeks rejuvenating themselves. Well that was probably more than a century ago. Today the town is just another small town in Texas with a large ranching community and tourism that the State park draws. Well this is the closest location from DFW metro area for rock climbing, some hill hiking and of course swimming and wildlife watching.
Here are some pictures of the location and I will post further about what we did in the state park soon.

Mineral Wells Trading Post... the only store on the state park

Lake Mineral Wells - vast waterbody

White Rock Lake - Quiet Aqua Forte

One thing I love about Texas is the way lakes, creeks, and to a certain extent green areas are protected and allowed to thrive. This is possible partly because of the low density of population and vast land area which the early European Colonizers found virtually free to occupy. The conquest of early settlers, hard work of their offspring are being enjoyed by this generation of native born Americans as well as newly arrive immigrants like myself.

This past weekend I participated in a free Kayaking event organized by one of the leading adventure sports gear marketers REI. They offered a free experience to wannabe kayak owners, canoe enthusiasts, and fishermen who would possibly want to own their boat. Even though I belong to the enthusiast category who may not buy a Kayak or any other watercraft in the immediate or near future I still wanted to enjoy a day on the water free.

So there we went to the lake and used some of the equipment provided by REI such as Kayaks, life jacket or in America it is Assisted Flotation Device and had a great time. Here are some pictures.

Still Water Kayaking @ White Rock Lake, Dallas

Yesterday we went Kayaking at the White Rock Lake, Dallas. It was a free marketing event organized by REI, the adventure & outdoor sports gear store. There were all kinds of kayaks and all visitors were allowed to get into them and try their hand at it. Being mildly windy it was a little challenging to kayak in the area, but nevertheless it was a lot of fun. Here are some pictures...

Water... Water... In every picture...

I was blogging about my love for waterfront getaways and was posting pictures of the various beautiful waterfronts I have visited during the past 2 years in the US. There are so many pictures that I had split the post into several instalments to be able to do justice to them. The vast azure oceans in California, frothy beaches of Santa Cruz, calm coves of Big Basin National Park, the numerous community lakes and small water bodies all provide great picture opportunities. Here are some of those pictures... would love to hear whether you like them or not.

Frothy oceanfront at Santa Cruz, CA

Big Basin coves, waters appear calm... but beware

The true vista of the ocean

Beautiful picture postcard scenery...

Waterfront Vistas in the US

Water: The elixir of life!!!

One of the most fascinating things to me is the ecosystem of large water bodies. The numerous life forms that are supported by lakes, rivers, dams, and of course the mighty oceans attract me like iron to a magnet. I could spend endless hours just looking at fish swimming around in a pond. Just looking at the vast azure expanses of water soothes my soul.
Of course I love to take a dip wherever possible... When I was in Bangalore, India weekends I'd head out to Manchinbelle dam, Kanva dam or YG Gudda dam and take a refreshing dip. Here in the US that is one thing which is possible only for the rich. All the dams and public water bodies are fenced up and the water front lands have been sold to private entrepreneurs who charge an arm and a leg to enter and access the water. The only ocean front I have visited is California where waters are so cold that it is impossible to get in without a wet suit. So here I content myself by taking pictures of lakes, rivers, dams etc... Here are some of my favorite water fronts in the US.

Lake Travis, Austin, Tx

Grapevine Reservoir, Texas

A large dam on the highway which links San Jose with Los Angeles

The Ocean at Santa Cruz

Lake Tawakoni - Reservoir which looks like an ocean!

Yesterday we visited Lake Tawakoni State Park, sited deep in the countryside of Hunt County of Texas. Though it is sited less than 100 miles from Dallas, the drive is through several tiny villages and towns. Since spring is just starting, the weather was not too hot and lush greenery could be seen all around, hence we could enjoy the drive without feeling hot and bothered. According to Texas Parks and Wildlife website, this is one hell of a big lake. The water spans across 36,700 surface-acres and stores the waters of Sabine river. When we visited the lake it was very very windy, due to which waters of the lake were as choppy as a stormy sea. Here are some pictures of this wonderful lake.
Like all other state parks in Texas there are numerous recreation and leisure facilities available. Clean bathrooms, trash pick up sites, camp grounds and electrified camp sites (luxury in the wild???)... biking trails, walking paths, etc are available. But my favorite is of course the vast sandy swimming beach where one can enter the water and enjoy to the heart's content. The love of water is inbuilt in me, belonging to the fishy zodiac sign.