This weekend I had the opportunity to join Dr. Williams and his daughter on the water at the Fort Worth Nature Preserve. I had the pleasure of taking out one of his kayaks. Growing up, I raced kayaks for a few years in the Puget Sound, but it has been quite a long time since I last went out. As of late, I have primarily used stand up paddle boards (SUPs).
Heading to the Nature Center, I had fairly low expectations to be honest. I imagined it would be like paddling on the trinity by campus. While this still would've been great, I had this picture in my head. I could not have been more wrong.
We started out by moving through a marshy like area where the river was filled with lily pads. It felt like I was in Florida or some sort of tropical area. I found it really unique how the water beaded on the lily pads when they were splashed. As we continued on, we saw a plethora of large birds and a surprising number of turtles. While this was great, the highlight was the amount of allegators we saw! I think we saw over 4 and I had never seen one before.
This trip unlocked the memory of paddling for me. I grew up going on trips quite a bit but I have since forgot how much I enjoyed it. I feel like most people jump to hike over paddle, but it is arguably more enjoyable with a similar nature experience. With my upcoming training in Missouri, I plan to incorporate paddling more into my nature expeditions
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