Two Months Til Christmas Walking HOT On Lake Wichita Dam

It was to windy Lake Wichita I ventured on this Final Friday of October, day 25, to be precise, making it two months til Christmas.

As is usually the case, I am already done with all my Christmas shopping.

The Wichita Falls area officially went into water restriction mode this week, due to the ongoing drought.

As you can see, it has been a long long time since any water has spilled over the Lake Wichita Dam Spillway.

Acres of vegetation has sprouted up on both sides of the dam's spillway, as you can see via the view of the back of the dam's spillway from the Lake Wichita Boardwalk perspective.

Currently there is no precipitation in the 30-day forecast. That dire prediction can quickly change.

I know I am ready for reliably cooler temperatures to arrive. I was enjoying needing to wear long pants those couple chilly days we had earlier in the month...

Cooling Tuesday Breeze With Flies & Snakes At Lake Wichita Dam

 

Today's weather forecast is once again rain and thunderstorms. The current condition, sporting a mostly clear blue sky, makes such seem a tad unlikely.

On this first Tuesday of June it was to the Lake Wichita Dam I ventured for some nature communing with no shade from trees, but with a nice cooling breeze blowing in from across the lake.

In the above photo documentation we are on the Lake Wichita Boardwalk, looking northwest across the lake, with Mount Wichita being that little pimple you see slightly rising above the horizon.

It does not look like the water level of Lake Wichita has gained any depth from the downpour two night's ago.

When I looked down on the murky lake water from the end of the Boardwalk I saw something in the water I'd never seen before in Lake Wichita.

A snake.

Was it a Water Moccasin? I don't know. I was not successful at getting a photo of the water slitherer.

I think it has been well over a year since any water has spilled over Lake Wichita dam's spillway. 

In the above view we are at the end of the boardwalk, looking at the lake side view of the dam's spillway. It has been so long since water has reached the dam's spillway that green foliage has sprouted up.

The floating fishing dock is no longer floating. It is resting on the lake bed.

When I walked out on the dock I was attacked by a nasty swarm of small flies. This was unpleasant. I hightailed it out of there, back to the top of the dam, which was fly-free...

Post Christmas Windy Waddle On Lake Wichita Dam

Though suffering a bad case of Christmas COVID bloat I worked up sufficient energy this Saturday after Christmas to haul my carcass to Lake Wichita to do some dam waddling.

In the above photo documentation we are standing at the base of Lake Wichita Dam. You see a trail worn into the dam dirt with a biker at the top, on the Circle Trail, which trails on top of the dam.

A strong wind blew whilst doing my dam walking. Waves with whitecaps were rolling across the lake. I saw no one surfing, but did see several people fishing.

Prior to walking the dam I walked the Walmart. I was appalled at the number of idiots I saw defying the sign telling shoppers that a mask is required. These sorts all seem to have the same vacant stupid affect to their faces, like such as what one sees at a Trump rally.

ALDI is totally strict with the mask mandate. Wear one or leave the store. Earlier in the week I was in ALDI chatting with my favorite ALDI employee. She told me earlier in the day a woman created a screaming disturbance when told she had to wear a mask or leave. Another customer came to the ALDI employee's defense and so the maskless moron turned her wrath on that customer.

How can people be this ignorant? It's appalling...

Sunday Catching Fish With Egrets Biking On Lake Wichita Dam

If I remember correctly, yesterday I mentioned I was tired due to a tiring loud long thunderstorm the night previous which had hampered my ability to be peacefully horizontal, rendering me tired, real tired, all day yesterday.

But today, the morning of the second Sunday of the third to last month of 2017 I found myself not tired when I got vertical after a long night of peaceful slumber and disturbing nightmares.

And so, fully of energy, I decided to get myself some endorphins via aerobic activity by rolling wheels against the wind on the Circle Trail, heading south to Lake Wichita Dam, where I saw the lake level has somewhat fallen, thus making it easier for a flock of egrets to assemble on top of the dam's spillway to facilitate the easy catching of fish funneled over the spillway.

Multiple humans were also seen, joining the egrets in the fish catching thing. Also, unlike with the egrets, with two of the humans I saw a successful catching of fish, with the species appearing to be either perch or sunfish or both.

Judging by the throngs joining me today on the Circle Trail, biking, roller blading, skateboarding, jogging, walking, fishing, and pushing baby carriages, we are at that temperature sweet spot where Texans are more willing to engage in outdoor activity, weather babies that they usually be.

Oh, I forgot to mention, I also saw mountain climbing to the summit of Mount Wichita, which apparently has already dried out from yesterday's deluge. However, something looked oddly flattened about the top of Mount Wichita which had me momentarily wondering if it had suffered a height reducing lightning strike.

Tomorrow I will likely go for an up close look at the summit of Mount Wichita to see if the summit has suffered some sort of reduction calamity...