Jim Chapman, Cooper Lake, Middle Sulphur River

Map Paddle Kayak Jim Chapman Lake, Cooper Lake, Middle Sulphur River

Jim Chapman/Cooper Lake is a large reservoir about 10 miles north of Sulphur Springs on Interstate 30. This route starts and returns at Johns Creek Ramp. I went west along the north shore, up Jernigan Creek a ways, then up the Middle Sulphur River (which was a bit hard to find exactly, some missteps there). After coming back down the creek the route tracks straight across the lake, around a little island, and back to the start point. The trees were just starting to leaf and so the environment had an ‘it’s almost but not quite spring’ feel. I drove from Dallas to launch around 8 am because the weather was supposed to turn bad at around 2 pm, no problem. But paddling back at around 12:00 things already started to pick up, with cloud to ground lightning in the distance, and a bit windy. So I paddled hard to get off the lake. Once the boat was back on the top of the car it started to rain sheets and blow pretty good and did so the entire two hour drive home (which included, of course, a long traffic delay on 75 Central). A reminder to reread info in the link ‘Center for Cold Water Safety’.