On this next to last Sunday of the third month of 2025, it was to nearby Sikes Lake I ventured, joining the throngs enjoying trying to walk in a strong breeze blowing in from the Northeast.
So far, Sunday's wind does not seem to be generating dust clouds, leaving a mostly blue sky covered only by a little wispy clouding.
I know I have made note of it before, but today I was freshly struck by the seeming absurdity of signage forbidding swimming in Sikes Lake, along with advising that university approval is needed for any Sikes Lake boating, canoeing or kayaking.
I have been walking around Sikes Lake for years now and have never seen anything but birds and litter floating on the lake. Does this mean university approval is never granted, or that no one has any desire to float a boat on Sikes Lake?
I suspect the lack of boating is due to no one thinking it to be something anyone would want to do. What with the lake being shallow, and there being no boat launch locations. That and Lake Wichita is only a couple miles distant and has multiple boat launching locations.
As for swimming. I can't imagine anyone would think that to be a good idea. Shallow Sikes Lake looks murky on a good day, and downright muddy after rain drains into the lake.
I have not gone swimming in a Texas lake since early this century, when I took a dip in Lake Grapevine, after mountain biking the Horseshoe Trail. That lake dip ended my Texas lake swimming due to an incident with what I thought was a water moccasin. All I saw was the head and that set me swimming fast to shore, where I looked out on the water to see I had been chased by a turtle, not a snake.
At that point in time a couple elderly gents were fishing from the dock I had jumped into the lake from. I told them I thought I was being chased by a snake, not a turtle. One of the elderly gents then told me that earlier that day they saw two water moccasins slither out from under the dock.
And thus, that ended me ever again swimming in a Texas lake...
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