I was keen to see Caddo Lake in autumn, when its swampy forest of bald cypress turns orange above hoary tendrils of Spanish moss.… Read More
The post Fall at Caddo Lake, an imperiled wonderland in East Texas appeared first on Digging.
In the middle of my book tour last November, my husband and I squeezed in a long-planned trip to Caddo Lake. For years I’d been keen to see Caddo in autumn, when its swampy forest of bald cypress turns burnt orange, glowing above hoary tendrils of Spanish moss and flared trunks rooted in black water. After watching M. Night Shyamalan’s 2024 thriller Caddo Lake — a sign, it seemed — I decided it was time to see the mazey, gothic beauty of the place for myself.
It took some planning. A 5-hour drive from Austin, Caddo Lake winds across the state line between northeast Texas and Louisiana. Lodging is mainly cabin or guest house rentals in the hamlets of Uncertain (population 85) or Karnack. I nailed down a cabin in Uncertain in early January via a phone call with the genial owner.
To photograph scenic areas of the lake, I needed a guide with a boat. With the cabin secured, I let it slide for a couple of months, and that was almost a mistake. Turns out, I wasn’t the only photographer planning a fall visit and wanting a boat tour at the golden hours of sunrise and sunset. By the time I started calling around, in early May, I was getting “sorry, I’m booked up” replies.
Before panic set in, I found a spot with Paul Keith, a Caddo Lake photographer and fishing guide with a Skeeter bass boat. He gave us a memorable 2-hour sunset tour, followed by a sunrise tour the next day. This post features photos I took during the sunset tour. In part 2, I’ll share sunrise tour photos.
Birdwatching
Photographing wildlife is one of my great joys. I hoped for, but wasn’t lucky enough, to see an alligator at Caddo. However, we saw a number of birds including great egrets (above), osprey, pileated woodpeckers, herons, American coots, cormorants, and northern flicker.
Dick & Charlie’s Tea Room
We cruised past the famous Dick & Charlie’s Tea Room, a shack on stilts half hidden by ghostly cypresses. I’d seen it in many photos from Caddo.
A hand-painted sign lists the house rules: 1. There ain’t none. 2. There never was none. 3. There ain’t gonna be none.
Sunset tour on Caddo
Paul zipped the boat along tree-lined lanes of water, heading for a more open section of the lake where we’d have a good sunset view.
He stopped at picturesque cut-throughs like this, where the afternoon light set Spanish moss and cypress leaves aglow.
The Spanish moss hangs like ZZ Top beards, or silver Mardi Gras beads after a parade.
It’s fascinating to see trees happily growing in water. Caddo is said to contain the largest bald cypress forest in the world.
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