Lake Caddo - Uncertain, Texas

Look where our gang ended up in November. Lake Caddo in Uncertain, Texas.


(This cabin is featured in the opening of "True Blood" an HBO vampire series. Many of their scenes are shot here in Uncertain on Lake Caddo.)

Old cypress trees stalk the swampy bayou like prehistoric dinosaurs. Their woody cypress knees rise up out of the tea-colored bayou, ringing the banks like bony stalagmite fingers. Haunting Lake Caddo are the majestic cypress ladies, with their silver Spanish moss shawls, lacy tendrils that tumble and spill down like hair. The perch, nutria and beaver are plentiful here; people, however, are not.

Billie Carter, our tour guide, told us that visitors get easily lost out here. Looking down upon a Texas roadmap, Caddo Lake resembles a fleeting ghost gliding through the middle of Texas and Louisiana, splitting the states down the middle. The lake is made up of many small lakes that conspire together in cypress breaks, and watery channels leading to mysterious islands.



(On our way... ) (East Texas bacon, simply the best!)

(I am Uncertain if this is really David, or a ghost.) (Theresa checking out the Lake Caddo map.)

An official lake map can be purchased at one of the few marinas on the lake. Different areas on Caddo Lake are designated with names like Whistleberry Slough, Hog Wallow, Death Hole, Swanson's Landing (which was once the first terminal for East Texas' first railroad), Jap Island, Onion Island, Buzzard's Bay, Red Belly, Hell's Half Acre and Hay Rake.

At first glance, a more sophisticated person would assume that it was an aggressive ski map from an exclusive winter destination. You could easily get lost in there without a guide.

(Half of our bikes.) (Pete and his best new friend.)

(Coolest cabins ever.) (Dump my ashes up there - Amen!)

Visitors are urged to pay keen attention to the boat road numbers, which are nailed under the duck nest boxes onto the ancient cypress trees. I once saw a plump, gravity-defying 5-foot water moccasin slither out of the water, up one of the trees and into one of those boxes and lodge three tiny ducklings into its slick, writhing body. It plopped back into the dark bayou with hardly a splash and gracefully faded into the murk. It surfaced again immediately after it had passed underneath my small kayak. (Insert full-body shiver.)

(These boat houses were connected like a pier labyrinth.)

Uncertain is no resort, yet the accomodations provided by Billie and Dottie Carter are cozy, ample and super-clean. Full kitchen setup, bath and bed linens, back porches stuffed with cozy pillows on willow furniture and daybeds for a mid-afternoon nap.

Over the past ten years this lake has seen an influx of summer cabin purchasers from all over the country. Uncertain, Texas is a rustic destination darling. Art for the artists. I absolutely love this place, highly recommend it. We are making plans for another romp in March.