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Registered Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: NE San Antonio
Posts: 403
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Re: Cooper Lake SP in a cabin January 2009
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Whew! We made it back about 7. We took the very long and scenic route. Our trip began Tuesday night with a few hours of driving and getting a room in Temple. Wednesday we stopped at Mother Neff. It had become a Day Use only since the flood in 2007. There is no running water in the park....moving on. Next stop Purtis Creek. The lake is great for fishing. There were several boats out and the weather was nice. The swim area was roomy and somewhat separate from the boat ramp area. It reminded me somewhat of Lake Mineral Wells. (IMO MW is prettier). Next, Tyler. What a pretty little park. It is just what you think of when someone says "camping". A lake in the middle with a dense forest of tall pines, the forest floor blanketed in their needles, log cabins scattered about the hillside, canoes ready and waiting to be taken out....yes it is nice there. Final destination for Wednesday (and Thursday nights), Lake Bob Sandlin. We arrived just before 5 and they gals had already turned off all the computers. They had already assigned us a cottage, had our name and site number on a map, taped to the office bulletin board. The key was already inside the cabin. The cottages were spread out, most were lakefront. The first night, there was a couple 2 sites away. We never heard or saw them, but I knew they were grilling steak for supper! They left and another family with 2 small kids came in for the next night and they left very early. We pretty much had the loop to ourselves. The shower house was beautiful. There are doors for toilets AND showers. Cultured marble counter tops.....very fancy. The cabin was a nice upgrade from a tent. I could imagine several of my non camping friends enjoying a spot like that. We got the heater turned on, made a quick dinner, and cleaned up for the evening. I didn't want to mess with a fire the first night. Thursday we got an early start. We stopped by Daingerfield, since it is on the way to Caddo. It is very similar to Tyler from what I saw. I'm sure both Tyler and Daingerfield look even better in the spring when the Dogwoods are blooming. We then went to Caddo. I got the number of someone who gives boat tours but he never answered his phone. I guess he was taking the holiday off. We looked around the boat ramp area, the fishing pier, and the boat rental dock. We had a picnic lunch on that dock. The weather started to become overcast and the park took on an eerie feel. We had seen all the swamp, cypress, and spanish moss that we could stand for the day. Back to Bob. Rainbow trout had been stocked in the trout pond at Bob so we caught some for dinner. It was slow going. I was beginning to think we were going to have carrots and couscous for supper. Luckily we only needed 2 and that is what I caught. We started a big ol' campfire, cleaned those fish and prepared them with dill and lemon, wrapped them in foil, and onto the grill they went. After dishes, we roasted marshmallows until it was to cold outside. We played some checkers before going to sleep. Friday morning we woke to a damp and foggy sunrise. I walked down to the water in my night shirt and flip flops with the camera to get some great shots of the lake covered in fog. I also caught a Great Blue Heron at our site. After breakfast and packing up, we went to the trout pond. There was a very nice family there from Dallas with a son, my son's age. They boys played in the woods while the adults fished. I was not keeping mine and offered them to the family, as they were not having near the luck that I was. Once I had my five, I gave them some smaller hooks, and we left to drive over to Cooper South. Cooper's cottages were even more fancy than Bob's. It was obvious they never started out as a screened shelter, they were built to be a cottage. It had a window on each wall with wood blinds, 2 bunks, one was a full, a AC heat pump which worked VERY well, a counter top (no it wasn't marble), with a microwave and a fridge. Outside was an extra long picnic table, lantern stand, a grill and a pit. Since I was feeling lazy, I microwaved an all in one, frozen meal in a bag. Troop 198 and his wife came over to visit for a while and then returned after supper to hang out by our campfire. T brought stuff for s'mores and we all had some. Saturday breakfast was at 8:30 at the cabin. It was a bring your own plate and silverware affair. Their cabin was so nice and the view, wow. It could make you want to stand there and do dishes all day....not really all day. T made a scout breakfast and we all chowed down. We talked about a hike in the afternoon, which sounded like a good idea. We returned to our site so my son could try to find his pocket knife on the beach where he lost it the night before. I found it after about 10 minutes of searching. We made a primitive log shelter on the beach with logs and fallen trees we gathered. We have made several of these at other parks. I'm sure they get dismantled by weather or people, but it's fun to play in so who cares what happens to it later. We met up at the trailhead for a hike. The trail was easy and we were all doing fine, until we started to hear gunshots, like someone was hunting at 2 in the afternoon on their land, VERY close to the trail. We decided to cut the hike short and go to the playground instead. Back at our site my son played on the beach in the shelter while I pre-packed and made supper. There was a very nice sunset this night so I took a bunch of pictures of my son on the beach. However; only a few of the pictures had a cute sweet little smiling boy. Most had a jokester, making faces, sticking out his tounge, and rolling his eyes. The back round was still pretty. T and his wife invited us to join them for dessert, COBBLER! We swapped scout stories and camping stories for a couple hours. If my son had not run out of patience, we could have probably talked until we were hungry for more cobbler. That was some good stuff. Morning came with a howl of a cold front. The wind blew hard across that lake at the cottage. While my son was still sleeping, I packed up so we could leave once I woke him. The weather was really pleasant the whole time we were out. It's hard to understand why the park was so empty. The first night at Cooper, there were 2 other sites occupied. One was gone before we even got up the second day. The other left before we returned from the hike. When I went to shower the second night, I saw a screened shelter being used, fire going, chairs outside etc, but when I returned to the restroom before bedtime, they were gone. Is this place haunted or what? All I can say, is that if my favorite park had these ac/heated shelters, I'd have my name on one of them for sure. We stopped at Cedar Hill on the return trip, along with Cleburne, Dinosaur Valley, and Meridian. I got a treat at Cedar Hill. I like taking pictures of animals, especially seldom seen ones. We were walking down to the barns at the Penn farm at Cedar Hill when 2 bobcats chasing a rabbit came tearing down the path straight at us. I told my son to stop, I wanted to get their picture. One cat left the area the other lingered around the barn. He must have been tired or knew I only wanted his picture because he let me get with in 10 feet of him and take many pictures of him. I showed the pictures to the lady who gave us the map and when I started showing the pictures, everyone from the office came out to see. The interpretter wrote down her email and asked that I send them to her. (Which I'll do once they are downloaded). I stopped at the Wal Mart a block away from the entrance, printed a few copies, had the girl hold them, and called the park to have them come pick them up. An 8x10 would have been nice but their printer was broken. I wish she would have told me that before, I could have gone to CVS. Oh well. T, It was a pleasure to spend time with you guys. We had a great time.
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Charcoal is a spice, dirt is a condiment, and there is no 3 second rule.
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Cooper Lake SP in a cabin January 2009
To Camp or Not to Camp -Lets go Camping- Have Fun
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