January 18, 2026
Our rental cabin at Caddo Lake in East Texas had canoes available for guests. We paddled a few times during our November visit, spotting great blue herons, great egrets, and woodpeckers among the bald cypresses and Spanish moss.
This is where you push off, at Spatterdock‘s lake access. Where’s the lake, you might ask? It’s there — under a floating blanket of giant salvinia, the invasive plant imperiling the survival of Caddo. See Part 1 of my series about Caddo for more info about the battle against giant salvinia (scroll to the end).
You slide your canoe into the greenery and paddle like you’re trying to get through oatmeal. Eventually you reach open water.
Nearby is Government Ditch, a water lane dredged by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the late 1800s to facilitate steamboat traffic, back before the railroad took over for the cotton trade.
It’s a hallway of cypresses festooned with gray Spanish moss, and it took my breath away the first time I saw it.
Those cypresses were mostly bald already, but fall color showed on other trees taking root among their knees. The “knees” being poky root extensions that stick up out of the water, for what reason, no one quite knows.
Golden leaves and Spanish moss
A great egret waded in salvinia, looking for lunch.
A great blue heron stood sentinel on a channel marker.
Which way to go?
As we paddled along the shore, where homes and cabins hid behind cypresses, we saw a few decked-out decks. This one was all-American — and Texan — in red and blue.
Chairs were set out for boat watching.
Another deck gave vibes from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe with its park-like lamp post. Yes, that’s giant salvinia covering the water.
I liked the unobscured view of this deck, although I’d worry about rocking right off it.
In a grove of cypresses, we heard the thock-thock-thock of a woodpecker. I looked up and saw several crow-sized, red-headed woodpeckers hammering away. They were huge! It was my first time to see a pileated woodpecker.
Here’s video shot from our bobbing canoe.
Cypress trunks like giant elephant feet
I put up my own feet for a minute to just look and enjoy the scenery.
Great blue heron roosting in the shadows
Last look at the mossy cathedral of Government Ditch…
…and its cypress knees.
The taller knees look like robed specters. I wouldn’t want to get lost out here after dark, spending a night in the Caddo Motel, as locals say.
Curtain call…
…with a blaze of yellow wildflowers.
Up next: Part 4, exploring Saw Mill Pond and car art at Spatterdock. For a look back at Part 2, a sunrise boat tour on Caddo with osprey and other birdwatching, click here.
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