Caddo Lake just doesn't look like Texas. No deserts or plains here. It's tucked away in the far northeast, on the Louisiana border with Arkansas just a couple of bullfrog hops away. It's gorgeous and mysterious.
"It's a beauty that neither words nor photographs do justice," explains John Winn, a tour guide who has lived at Caddo Lake most of his life. "It's a magical, mysterious place that time has forgotten."
Don't think for a moment that John is exaggerating.
Up here you'll hear little but the wind, cicadas, and birds. Get up before the sun to watch the dawn on the lake and you'll believe there are dragons in the early morning mists. Oh, wait... are those gators?
Caddo Lake—named for the Native Americans who once lived here—is a maze of 26,800 acres of interconnected bayous, channels, cypress thickets, and sloughs. This area is one of the largest cypress forests in the world with some trees as old as 400 years. Getting lost on these waters is easy. That's why if you're visiting for the first time, start out at Caddo Lake State Park or hire a guide like John who will take out among the bald cypresses draped in Spanish moss, past the lotuses and lily pads, and over the giant salvinia, a rootless, floating weed that grows so thick you'll think you're on the floor of a forest and not the surface of a lake.
"One day on Caddo Lake will be a day never forgotten," John says.
John will make certain of that, piloting his boat into both the dark and the bright areas, places where the herons laze about, where the alligator gar roll up easily to briefly break the surface of the lake and back down again, where frogs scamper and nutria lurk. He will tell you tales of the lake and share its history. He will take you deep into this maze of swamplands and bring you back out.
Once in the hidden sloughs of the swamp, you will find it difficult to believe you're on the water because the tangle of aquatic vegetation is so thick you'll believe you could get out of the boat and walk. But don't. The lake might average only about eight feet deep, but that's enough to get you all wet.
Caddo State Park is located in the town of Karnack, the childhood home of Claudia Taylor. You may know her better as Lady Bird Johnson. Down at the state park, you can camp (Campsite 64 is downright gorgeous), hike a couple miles in the forest alongside Big Cypress Bayou, use the boat ramp to paddle off into the swamp, have a picnic, or fish from the lighted pier.
If you like to fish, you've come to the right place. The lake contains 71 species of fish—the most diverse in Texas—and is especially good for crappie and largemouth and white bass.
Look around and enjoy stately trees, a large variety of waterfowl, alligators, turtles, frogs, snakes, raccoons, minks, nutria, beavers, squirrels, armadillos and white-tailed deer. More than 250 species of birds make their home here.
You may rent canoes at the park headquarters or jon boats down the road in the town of Uncertain.
You'll find great lodging in the park, too. The stone and wood cabins, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, are comfortable, spacious, and tucked into the forest.
Oh, and before you go, read the park's alligator safety tips.
If you're hungry, stop at the Big Pines Lodge down the road. You'll find good steaks and burgers, but don't miss out on the all-you-can-eat frog legs, buckets of beer, jalapeño hushpuppies, and fried 'gator. Chow down on the patio and enjoy the great view.
By the way, you're going to hear people tell you that Caddo Lake is the only natural lake in Texas but that's not quite true. We have others, like Sabine Lake and Green Lake, and you'll find lots of small lakes along the lower Rio Grande (although they're called resacas). Plus Caddo Lake is not as natural as it once was since it was dammed for flood control in the early 1900s. Today dams and reservoirs keep its waters entirely under human control.
But that bit of trivia doesn't detract from the overwhelming natural, timeless beauty and peacefulness you will find on Caddo Lake.
"A lifetime is not enough time to see and enjoy it all, for it is always changing," says John. " Every season of the year has its special characteristics to marvel and behold."
For More Information
• Caddo Lake State Park, 245 Park Road 2, Karnack TX 75661, 903-679-3351, www.tpwd.state.tx.us/state-parks/caddo-lake
• Caddo Outback Tours, John and Diane Winn, 1869 Pine Island Road, Karnack TX 75661, 903-789-3384, caddolaketours.com.
• Big Pines Lodge, 747 Pine Island Road, Karnack TX 75661, 903-679-3655, bigpineslodge.com.
• Caddo Lake Area Chamber of Commerce, caddolake.org.
