Today I rode out to Draper Lake. This time I felt like visiting at least one of the many land points, so I started with Point 1. On the way, I passed this swampy overflow basin. It was here before the bikeway was built, so they left a culvert connecting it to the main body of water. However, the current very low lake level means this little pond is temporarily orphaned and swampy.
Out on Point 1 there’s a long projection of land that juts out into the water southward. It stays there because it’s almost all rock, particularly underneath the thin layer of dirt. In this image, I tried to capture the shallow rock formations that indicate how durable this finger is. Not many real boats can tolerate that kind of thing, so it turns out some people do model boating on this point. I saw someone working on one out of the back of his van. He never got around to launching it while I was there.
Here’s just more of the rocky shoreline. I took a lot of shots, but only a few turned out. The sun was awfully bright and coming from an angle that made it difficult for this particular point on the lake.
But for all the underlying rock here, Parks and Rec will still be placing rip-rap on the existing shore in the near future. Thus, the massive pile of small boulders in this next shot, some spilled down onto the shore already. There is an awful lot of improvement work going on around the lake right now, to include roads upgraded, while others have been permanently closed. A few more small areas have been placed under preservation, meaning no more riding there.
In this area of the lake, the old shoreline road is still open to human powered rides and feet, paws or hooves. It was a pleasant ride, and this next image shows that the rock layer extends quite some ways along the shoreline. It was quieter here as it’s sheltered from the southerly breeze, which was driving the waves today.
The construction crews finally posted a banner on this massive ten acres of concrete indicating that this facility will be the new home of Pratt & Whitney. They are still laying a few more concrete pads to fill in some gaps, but the steel framing for the building has already begun showing up. They aren’t wasting any time on this thing. Every time I come out here, the progress is noticeable. This is just a quarter-mile from the southern edge of Tinker AFB, a major aircraft repair depot, so the reason they are building here should be obvious.
I would’ve liked to have seen that model boat as well. I feel like that’s something I should’ve gotten into when I was younger, but never did. Imagine a whole gaggle of folks launching their boats in a place like that. Kind of a fun head image.
The guy was shielding it from view while he was working on it. Otherwise I would have gotten a shot of it.