American Lotus on Lake Pithlachocco (for all
you locals, that's Newnan's Lake - I like the
Indian name better - besides, how come an area
settler gets to name a lake where Indians lived
several hundred to a few thousand years ago?
yes, I digress...) Anyway, large stands of
Lotus thrive on the east side of the lake, and
I spent several mornings and evenings in 2007
canoeing out to these areas, trying to get the
shot. I think I got it. There's a series of
stationery cards in the "Little Gifts" page
from these same adventures. Cool things about
the lake? NIce Cypress trees. Lots of Gators.
Shallow. Lots of muck on the bottom. Good
Catfishing. Don't swim in this lake. Amoebas.
When the lake went low in the year 2000, Dugout
canoes were found on the north end of the lake.
Lots of them. Probably the largest collection
of preserved dugout canoes ever found. The
water level dropped by 3 or 4 feet, and half of
the lake disappeared. 11,000 acres of lake
turned into 6000 acres of lake, with a large
beach all the way around. The gators loved it.
Wasn't really the kind of beach people used for
usual beach purposes. It quickly turned into a
grassy beach, then an overgrown beach with
weeds the size of small trees. Then the lake
came back up, and now when you paddle near the
shore, the bottom of your boat hits twigs and
plant debris left over from the low water.
Circle of life stuff...