This trip report is for canoers and kayakers that want to see where they're going before they go. Please visit Kohne Camera & Photo while on your way. We're a full service imaging lab and camera dealer operated entirely by photo enthusiasts ready to attend every photographic need you have.
Now, a paddling report from Beaver Dam Lake in Steuben County, Indiana:
The DNR people must have put a million tons of dirt and gravel at the boat ramp because other than there, you'll not be able to get out of your boat. It's peat, marl, marsh, and mud all around the shore. Yep, I know, it washes off; however, safety when disembarking is pretty important when hauling a bunch of picture-taking equipment. Check your bladder before launching; you'll not be getting out easily later on lest you go knee-deep into the yuckfest by the shore.
There is one house visible from the water just like at Pigeon Lake (the one in Steuben County, that is); the rest is wild. To visit here in April or May would be better than in June just because lily pads take over the place quite a bit during the summer. No matter. It is quiet (except for the birds which offer a 24-hour singing sky). I saw muskrats, cedar waxwings, redheaded woodpeckers, one deer, a billion sparrows, a great blue heron, the obligatory redwinged black birds, Canada Geese, yellow warblers and a...well...a squirrel.
Just north (left) of the boat ramp, by about 200 feet, there is a stand of dead trees, and this is why you'd most want to make the trip to Beaver Dam Lake.
Dead trees attract woodpeckers and I found a couple of red Headed Woodpeckers here. The males and females look entirely alike but the females are usually a bit smaller than the males.
Cedar Waxwings were also out this day; I'd only seen them in a book before now. They normally eat berries so you'll find them nesting late in the summertime when the berries have become ripe. Other times they eat bugs. I sat in my kayak and watched them pluck bugs out of the sky while flying around. One of them took a break so I could get a proper portrait.
There doesn't seem to be any beaver dam at Beaver Dam Lake but there was a beaver lodge near the north end of the lake. A muskrat was swimming around, went into one side of the lodge and came out the other so if there are still any beavers there, they must be friends with the muskrats. I think instead that the lodge is just empty of beavers, but I'll look again next time I'm there.
Location: I find that Indiana likes to have two lakes by the same name. Apparently there are so many lakes that they ran out of names? My Indiana Gazeteer doesn't even list the lake pictured here. Beaver Dam Lake (the one here) is in LaGrange County in the extreme NE part of the state. About 10 miles west of Angola is a blinking yellow light on Route 20 at Route 327 [Roadhouse Restaurant on one corner, gas station on another]. Head north on 327 for a few miles to County Road 300N (cemetary on far left corner - can't miss it, but no traffic signs or lights here) and head west. By now you're already in the Pigeon River Fish & Wildlife Area. Within a few miles, there will be a gravel pull off from the road on your left which overlooks a protected rest stop for migratory birds and is marked as such.
(Sandhill Crane family as seen from the gravel viewing area)
Immediately west of the gravel area is a County Road which leads north and south (CR 1100, I believe).
If you turn south, you'll get to a concrete ramp on the Pigeon River, downstream of Mongo Dam by a few miles, fully unmarked but in plain sight. Perhaps I'll check that out sometime. Might be worthwhile.
Turn north, instead. When the road T-bones at an unmarked intersection, turn left. Much less than a mile later, and at a 90-degree turn to the left, you'll see the entrance sign for Beaver Dam Lake on the right. Drive down the short hill and you're there. Again, this place is nowhere and I notice it is entirely unlabelled in my Indiana Gazetteer. Maybe that's why nobody goes there. This is the only place I've been to that a DeLorme Gazetteer does not recognize as existing at all. Maybe I'll write them a letter to tell them about the place.
Nah...
