Saturday Trip To The Shale Pit

On Saturday the family took a short excursion to The Shale Pit at Lake Waco. The shale pit was formed when the Corps of Engineers used it as a source for fill dirt in construction of the Lake Waco Dam. Back in the early 70's my best friend, Mark and I would venture to the pit and explore and look for fossils. Thirty plus years ago you could go to the pit anytime you wanted and explore. At the time I imagined that the surface of the moon must look like the pit, desolate and barren. As I grew up, entered college and began a family I never went back to the pit. In the intervening years it changed. It came under stricter control of the Corps of Engineers and life started to blossom in the pit. I would occasionally think of the pit and recently even drove out to the area only to find that it was fenced off and gated.

Then , last week Julie announced that she wanted to go to the Shale Pit at the lake. It seems that she had been there before with one of her college classes. So she contacted the Corps and got the necessary permits and away we went on Saturday. Julie, Scott, Jess, Jace, Chris, and myself piled into the truck and went to the pit.

My how it has changed in the last 35 years. There were cedar trees, grasses, flowers, cattails, water, and wildlife. I never saw them but I found tracks for deer and raccoon. We found skinks, frogs, crickets, and minnows. There was even a waterfall, probably from recent rains. What an amazing transformation for the apparent surface of the moon in my eyes 35+ years ago to something that appears to be teeming with life.

I loved it.

And to think that my daughter discovered the very place 35 years later that Mark and I had discovered oh so many years ago.

Below are a few pictures that I took of the day.

From Lake Waco Shale Pit

From Lake Waco Shale Pit

From Lake Waco Shale Pit

From Lake Waco Shale Pit

For more pictures visit my slideshow of the trip at Visions of My World.

For more interesting reading concerning Lake Waco and the dam visit the Waco History Project: Places in Time page and click on Lake Waco.


© 2009 Barry T Horst


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