Good Friday Hiking Around Mount Wichita Being Revitalized

This first Friday of the 2023 version of April took me to Mount Wichita in Lake Wichita Park, for some pleasant temperatured nature communing.

What you are looking at, with Mount Wichita in the background, is the current status of the Lake Wichita Revitalization Veterans Memorial Plaza, due to be completed by the end of May. 

So far that under construction Veterans Memorial Plaza is the only Lake Wichita Revitalization being vitalized. Originally this Veterans Memorial was to be at the fishing dock on the east side of the lake. I remember, way back in, I think, August of 2017, going to an event at Lake Wichita Dam where a local car dealer donated a giant half million dollar check to help pay for the Veterans Memorial.

I first heard of the Lake Wichita Revitalization Project when I moved to Wichita Falls, way back in the previous decade. 

Currently Lake Wichita continues to shrink, creating what looks like tide flats. 

In the above photo we are as close as possible to the water, without the ground being muddy, looking back at Mount Wichita.

And here you see a brave guy who managed to get to the summit of Mount Wichita. Years of erosion has made climbing this mountain a bit treacherous, particularly the going downhill part.

I do not remember Mount Wichita looking as green, previously, as it looked today...

Rolling Wheels To Lake Wichita Finds Big Caterpillar Dredging Lake Sludge

I took the first photo you see here a couple days ago at a point in time when there were a few clouds in the otherwise clear blue sky.

I parked my bike and took this photo because it seemed to me someone was making some sort of subtle political statement, what with someone moving a "SUPPORT LAKE WICHITA" banner and a "VOTE YES" sign at a location quite visible atop the Lake Wichita Dam, at the point where the Circle Trail reaches the top of the dam.

VOTE YES turned into a NO VOTE on May 5, failing to pass the two bond proposals which would have finished circling the Circle Trail and would have finally funded the revitalizing of Lake Wichita.

I have not heard if there will be another attempt to get Wichita Falls voters to vote YES, or not. It would seem a better job could be done of convincing voters it is in their interest, and for the betterment of their town, to vote to support returning Lake Wichita to its historical former glory, that and finally completing the Circle Trail.

So, this morning I opted to do my semi-regular bike ride to Lake Wichita via that aforementioned Circle Trail. Upon arrival on top of the dam I saw the sign you see above is still there.

Looking up, from the banner sign, across the lake, at Mount Wichita, I saw that a piece of heavy equipment which I have been seeing stationary for over a week, was, on this day, in full action mode.

I figured by the time I got to Mount Wichita I would be getting an up close look at what this heavy equipment operation is doing.

And now we are at that location, sort of in the shadow of Mount Wichita. A fellow biker bikes towards the Caterpillar dredger dredging mud sludge from Lake Wichita.

And then I rolled on for a closer look. Is this a stage of the Lake Wichita Revitalization underway? If not, what is going on here? There were several City of Wichita Falls dump trucks parked a short distance away, engines running, headlights on, manned with drivers, waiting, I assume, to haul away that which is being dredged.

I thought the plan for revitalizing Lake Wichita called for the lake to be drained and then the sludge dredged, in order to render, eventually, a deeper lake.

Has enough money been raised by the car washes and other somewhat pitiful Lake Wichita Revitalization fund raising efforts to pay for some dredging?

I first learned of the plan to revitalize Lake Wichita soon upon arrival in this town in spring of 2016. Learning the details of this plan it seemed like a good idea. And the informational website devoted to this project, when I first saw it in 2016, indicated the project would be underway by 2018.

Somehow I do not think this Caterpillar dredging on the shore of Lake Wichita indicates the lake's revitalization is underway. But, if not, why is lake sludge being dredged?

Army Engineer Corps Gives Okay To Lake Wichita Revitalization Project

At six o'clock the last Tuesday evening of July I found myself atop Lake Wichita Dam listening to people speechify, including the esteemed mayor of Wichita Falls.

What the mayor had to tell the assembled listeners was that he held in his hands the approval document from the Army Corps of Engineers authorizing the Lake Wichita Revitalization Project.

I somehow thought this approval had long been given, but, perhaps, I mis-read, or mis-remembered the news regarding this issue.

From what I have seen of the plans to revitalize Lake Wichita it seems to me to be an excellent, well thought out, doable plan, which if turned into a reality will be a HUGE asset to Wichita Falls.

If you go to the website supporting this revitalization you will get the idea this revitalization is underway at this point in time. I'm guessing optimistic sorts thought the revitalizing would be doable and underway by now.

And then there is that vexing raising the funds to pay for the project problem.

Since I have been in Wichita Falls I have seen car washes raising money for the Lake Wichita Revitalization Project.  I have seen other charitable acts raising funds. A lot of locals seems to think revitalizing Lake Wichita is a good idea.

At tonight's ceremony multiple entities presented large checks, as in both the amount and the physical size of the checks.

While the speechifying was going on Mount Wichita hovered in the distance. When will Mount Wichita actually see the lake the mountain overlooks getting revitalized?

More than once since I have been in Texas I have been  perplexed as to how public works projects get funded, particularly extremely viable, extremely valuable public works projects such as the Lake  Wichita Revitalization Project.

An enhanced  Lake Wichita will be a HUGE improvement to Wichita Falls, an enhancement of the community the value of which would seem to far exceed the cost of the project.

So, why is it a viable public works project, such as the Lake Wichita Revitalization Project is not put to a public vote where the public approves a bond issue to fund the project, thus enabling the project to come to fruition, and benefit the community, in a timely fashion?

Without relying on car washes, brick sales and charitable donations?

Extremely perplexing...

Long Walk Checking Lake Wichita Revitalization Project Progress

Yesterday, if I remember right, I mentioned that Lake Wichita Has Been Reported To The Trump Administration.

I think I also mentioned that according to information I gleaned from what I believe to be the official Lake Wichita Revitalization Project website that Lake Wichita's Revitalization is expected to be completed somewhere in the mid 2017 time frame.

I think mid 2017 would be around June and July, about five months from this current Friday in February.

Til today it had been at least a month, likely longer, since I'd hiked to my neighborhood dam, that being the dam which causes Lake Wichita to exist.

I thought it would be interesting to check out Lake Wichita Dam, and the lake, to see if I can detect any of that much talked about revitalizing, what with the middle of the year and that completion date rapidly approaching.

Well. I could detect nothing that has changed since I last looked at Lake Wichita.

In the above photo we are rock and rolling on a wave tossed floating dock. That pimple on the horizon is Mount Wichita, looking like a floating oasis far out to sea.

The long range plan for a revitalized Lake Wichita includes building a new pavilion  on the lake.

Below is what remains of the former Lake Wichita Pavilion.

The Lake Wichita Pavilion was quite an attraction in its heyday. Eventually the pavilion became neglected and then at some point in the 1950s the pavilion burned to the ground, I mean water. The pilings you see above, sticking out of Lake Wichita,  are all that remains of the Lake Wichita Pavilion.

I think the Lake Wichita Revitalization Project is an extremely good plan. I hope this plan comes to fruition. Soon.

Near the start of this century the Texas town I previously lived in announced a water revitalizing project, which eventually became known as the Fort Worth Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.

Or, more commonly, as America's Biggest Boondoggle.

The FWTRCCUPID Vision never has seemed like it was as well thought out and as good an idea as the Lake Wichita Revitalization Project.

The FWTRCCUPID Vision has had projected project timelines over the years that never manage to happen. For instance a couple years ago American's Biggest Boondoggle had a TNT explosion celebration to mark the start of construction of one of three little simple bridges being built over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

Construction on that bridge was supposed to begin soon after the TNT explosion. Many months later construction did start on that bridge, with a four year construction timeline. About a year ago construction on that bridge was halted due to the discovery of design errors. No one knows if or when America's Biggest Boondoggle's bridges will get built.

I hope the Lake  Wichita Revitalization Project is not plagued with Fort Worth type inept incompetence.

Way back in 2010 I remember riding my bike on Fort Worth's Trinity Trail. Soon I found myself seeing a lot of dirt being moved and the trail re-routed, along with a massive amount of signage announcing "Trinity River Vision Underway".

Way back then the official name for what has become America's Biggest Boondoggle was a lot shorter than it is now, fitting easier on a sign.

That dirt I saw being moved way back  in 2010 was to make a pond for an absurdity which became known as Cowtown Wakepark, a product of the Trinity River Vision. Cowtown Wakepark soon went out of business, due to multiple issues, most of which common sense would have obviated the Cowtown Wakepark ever being built  in the first place.

I do not see an unseemly amount of signage about the Lake Wichita Revitalization Project, certainly not at the bizarre Orwellian propaganda level of what continues to be seen in Fort  Worth with its embarrassing boondoggle.

Is that huge "Panther Island Bridges Under Construction" sign still displaying near the Henderson Street Bridge near the location of Panther Island Pavilion? Where there is no island or pavilion?

Lake Wichita Has Been Reported To The Trump Administration

I gleaned what you see here a few weeks ago from the Wichita Falls Times Record News, that being the newspaper which serves the area of Texas in which I currently reside.

I read the accompanying article and still could not figure out how Lake Wichita was in a report for Trump.

I have now been in Wichita Falls long enough to notice a thing or two which sort of vex me.

One of those vexations is the Lake Wichita Revitalization Project, which I learned of within days of arriving in this burg.

This coming May I will have been in Wichita Falls a year. Lake Wichita is no closer to being revitalized than it was upon my arrival.

I have made note of multiple Lake Wichita Revitalization fund raising projects, such as car washes.

Trying to raise money for a big public works  project via things like car washes seems goofy, and well, just a bit bizarre to me.

Revitalizing Lake Wichita seems like such a good idea to me I have no idea why funding such is not submitted to the public, asking voters to support a bond issue to raise the money to pay for it. The cost estimates I have seen are in the $30 million range. This does not seem that large a figure for a town of over 100,000 residents. But it does seem like a large figure to try and raise with car washes.

The Texas town I lived in before moving to Wichita Falls, Fort Worth, has a bizarre public works project which has been crawling along most of this century. With little to show for the effort, despite a lot of money having been spent, much of which has gone to pay for the large number of employees employed by what has  become known  as America's Biggest Boondoggle, or the Trinity River Central  City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.

Currently America's  Biggest Boondoggle has been stuck for a year trying to figure out what went wrong with the construction of three simple little bridges being built over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

I hope the Wichita Falls Lake Wichita Revitalization Project is not of the same ilk as Fort Worth's badly designed, ineptly implemented project, ambling along with little to show year after year.

Last year at some point in time I read that the Lake Wichita Revitalization Project was ready to submit its plan to the Army Corps of  Engineers. This submission sounded as if it was imminent. But a few months went by when I read again that the submission was about to be made.

On the Lake Wichita Revitalization Project website I learned the following regarding this project's  projected timeline...

We expect to acquire a permit by the end of 2015 or early 2016. The project should take 1.5 to 3 years. With appropriate funding this project could be complete and ready for water by the middle of 2017.

Well,  we are rapidly approaching the middle of 2017. I have seen nothing which indicates this project is underway.

One of the reasons Fort Worth's water project has turned into America's Biggest  Boondoggle is the son of Fort Worth's Congresswoman, Kay Granger, was hired to be the Executive Director of  the project, even though he had no experience overseeing a large engineering project. J.D. Granger was hired in order to motivate his mother to obtain federal pork barrel money for the project.

I am assuming that no Wichita Falls Congressperson's ne'er do well offspring has been hired to over see the Lake Wichita Revitalization Project, or I would have heard reference made of such.

If not the hiring of the incompetent offspring of a local politician being the reason, what is the explanation why the Lake Wichita Revitalization Project seems stalled?

Everything about this project seems like a good idea to me, with the result likely proving to be a HUGE asset for Wichita Falls and its surrounding area.  Go to the Lake Wichita Revitalization Project website and see for yourself all this project entails. Unlike Fort Worth's, this is a vision which makes sense and seems very doable.

In other words, it seems to me the sooner Lake Wichita gets revitalized the better life will be for the people of Wichita Falls and the people who visit  this town....