Nature Journal #2 - Benbrook Lake


Last night, our class gathered, carrying hats and water bottles and lifejackets and other tools, and climbed into the vans headed to Benbrook Lake. Behind us, we towed brightly colored canoes and kayaks: navy blue, red, yellow, green. As Anna and I paddled our canoe around the lake, I felt a rollercoaster of emotions. At first, when we first pushed off of the shore and started paddling out, I was excited and eager. I felt the sun and the wind on my skin, watched the windsurfer skimming over the white-capped waves in the distance, and laughed as we all tried to get the hang of paddling against the strong wind. I was eager to get to the other side of the lake, if possible – I wanted to get closer to a cliff-like collection of rocks that the water was crashing against. As we paddled and steered as directly as we could against the wind, we noticed someone pointing: a turtle! He bobbed his head up out of the water before disappearing below the surface. I wondered if he’d been watching us and what the water was like as he swam away underneath the surface. As we paddled on, Anna and I grew tired and almost capsized a couple of times as we rolled over the waves at just the wrong angle. We watched from a distance as several of our classmates’ boats – pushed up against the shore by the wind, hit by wave after wave – tipped over. We smiled once we knew that they were okay, grateful that it wasn’t us, and tried to be as careful as possible to avoid a similar fate. Toward the end of the paddle, we got more and more tired of struggling against the wind to stay on course so we decided to surrender, taking a break from rowing and letting the wind push us wherever we wanted. We surrendered and enjoyed the break. When it was time to head back to the beach, our tiredness was beginning to win out, and our arms and back were sore. We struggled to stay on course, either overcorrecting and pushing ourselves out to the middle or being pushed back to the shore.

As we all pulled our canoes and kayaks onto the beach, the sun was setting. Carrying the heavy canoes, waterlogged and muddy, up the slope towards the vans was the final challenge of the night. But we helped one another, working as a team. And, after the adventures of the evening, everyone seemed more familiar and open. We talked and laughed about our experiences, shared our water with one another if needed, and watched the water and the sunset.





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