Retro51

Two new adventures to add, although neither one was a full trip. Three counting a short one to Lake Worth. They were more of the "scouting" usage, on trips I want to go back and do later. Nevertheless, here they are.

Lake Bridgeport - at least a 9 out of 10, probably a 10 when I go back and do it up right. I already wrote a post about it, and I quote:
" I started at Wise County Park, near the boat ramp. Headed W/NW to where I thought the river would come in. Took a couple of false turns, and wound up exploring some bays. Was looking for a large island (called a hump on the map). Found an island and thout that was it, but it wasn't. The hump is actually huge, once I found it. Kept going to where the river was supposed to be. Found a marshland and a couple of bays- no river. Began to think it had dried up, until a motor boat passed me going all out and disappeared - up the river. So I then headed up river, for maybe 2 miles. I had found it, knew how to get there, and it's plenty big enough to explore, with mostly natural/wilderness shoreline. The writer said there was lots of wildlife, but I only saw birds. There are some houses going up along the river, so maybe this intrusion of man has cut down on the deer and so on, since the writer wrote the book." The book I refer to is [u]Personal Watercraft Adventures[u] by Thom Bell.

This was a great adventure, and being able to go up the river is a plus. I can't say much for the rest of the lake, since I only did a tiny portion of it, but this is what I got a kayak for. I do think there is at least one other trip, lower on the lake leading to the Trinity River (another river to follow), but that would be another day.

Lake Worth - 6/10 Started at Casino Park off the Jacksboro Hwy, paddled a long way looking for two islands. They were hard to find (or distinguish) because they are connected to land by a walkway of dirt and weeds. I think they are part of the nature preserve. I also didn't see any good landing spots. I won't do this again, although there is a big island lower on the lake that might be interesting, but it doesn't look too good on Google Maps.


Lake Whitney - at least a 9 (another scouting trip). I started at Plowman Creek Part and went up the Brazos. It's a long way to paddle before you get to the Brazos (and I bucked a headwind and waves on the way back - I was beat), and it's hard to tell where the river starts. But I enjoyed the whole trip - very interesting shorelines with huge white boulders and cliffs, in some spots. Saw lots of birds, fish jumping, and even a deer along the Brazos. This was a scouting trip to see if I could go up the Brazos. The river is huge at this point. I went to the RR bridge, and could see the bridge for Hwy 174.

I found out there are at least 2 spots I could have started from that would have put me on the river from the get-go, but I wanted to know how to get to the river from the lake, so I needed to do this trip at least once. Past the Hwy 174 bridge is Kimball Bend Park, and then Chisolm Trail Park is even further along, and probably the furthest up river you could start would be Ham Creek Park (and nature area). Just so you get an idea, from the book I use as a reference, he went 14 miles further up the river from Kimball Bend Park, and I was at least a couple of miles short of that park when I turned around. So I could have gone something like 15 miles further up river than I did (depending on river flow). At some point it does dry up and get smaller, but that would be way further than a day trip would let me go.

I will definitely go back and start further up river for more exploration, and could even make separate trips from each starting point (that would be 3 different trips without repeating the one I did Friday).