Lake Buchanan and Lake Travis in Texas

Trip Overview

Using the excellent directions and description of the earlier Lake Buchanan report, 3 friends and I left the recommended campground at 10:00 am for a paddle up the Colorado river in search of the bald eagle. It was a beautiful sunny (55 to 65 degree range) January day with a low wind speed resulting in a glass smooth lake surface for much of the 14-mile roundtrip. We viewed several large blue herons, cormorants, wood ducks, crows and red tail hawks on the paddle to the nesting area but no eagles. There were a few fishermen out in their powerboats and the vanishing river cruise boat passed by us. We saw one other kayak but there was relatively little traffic on the river and lake. On the return trip we decided to stop at the waterfall for a brief break before heading across the final open water (approx 3.5 miles) to camp. As we rested in our boats having a snack, we looked up and a beautiful bald eagle soared about 30 feet above the waterfall. We arrived at cars at 3:30 pm in an excited state after a great day of paddling while meeting our objective of spotting a fine bald eagle.

Accommodations:

Primitive camping for 2 of the party. Two members drove out from Austin that day. (Approx. 1 1/2 hours) There are several fish camp type cabins in the area, too.