On The Lookout For Dinosaurs

Nervous. We arrived late and put up our tent by the light from my car's headlights. It was pitch black under the trees, with the sounds of the bayou pressing in on us. I was with a few of the interns from Tiger Creek, taking a camping trip to Caddo Lake State Park on the Texas-Louisianna border. One of the girls had never camped before, and because I think it's a shame if someone hasn't experienced the great outdoors in that way, I promised I'd take her camping before her intership was up. I ended up taking all of the summer interns to Caddo Lake in two groups, one group in July and the other in August. The first time we went to Caddo was because I wanted to check it out and try canoeing; the second time was to camp and do some more canoeing. Confession: Both times I went, I wanted to see alligators!

Our July trip was short and sweet. We arrived at Caddo around dawn and did a little bit of hiking, then rented a couple of canoes and set off for a watery adventure. Now, I've explained before that I don't like boats. Like, at all. So it was a huge step for me that I even wanted to get into a canoe, and have that canoe floating on the surface of a bayou. I was pretty apprehensive about getting into the boat. Oh, and did I mention that the bayou and connected lake, the only natural lake in Texas, is known alligator habitat? There are signs all over the place warning against swimming.

Canoeing was actually fantastic. We kept close to the shorline, watching the cypress roots carefully for alligators. We really, really wanted to see one! Not so much right under our canoes, but from a safe distance. I'm sure we did paddle over plenty of them and never knew it. From the lake, the July group and I explored the nearby wildlife refuge and enjoyed our lunch. It was an abandoned military base, and honestly it was a little creepy. We didn't stick around too long before heading home.

The August camping trip was quite the experience. Camping right next to the bayou definitely made us aware of all movement outside of our little circle of lantern light. We were brave enough to go looking for alligators, hoping we'd get lucky at night and catch one or two in the beam of our flashlights. We stood on a floating dock, listening to the night sounds surrounding us, staring up at the stars and keeping an eye out for gators. We went to bed and actually slept very well before getting up and doing some canoeing of our own. I had brought Callie with me, and she was a rockstar in the canoe! She just watched the shore pass by like the rest of us, eventually laying down and napping. We headed home after that, with me hoping that the next time I visit I might get lucky enough to see some of those relatives of dinosaurs. Bring on the gators!