My Lake Sister and I are now 70 years young and over (me). We are not fossils, but we feel like it sometimes. Geege lives at Lake Waccamaw. When I tell people I am going to Lake Waccamaw, they ask, “Is that in North Carolina or Wisconsin?” Seriously.
Lake Waccamaw is the best kept secret in our state. It is a 9,000 acre fresh water lake about 45 miles west of the Atlantic Ocean, and about 40 miles north of the South Carolina border. It is one of many Bay Lakes in the eastern Carolinas, all elliptical, and ancient. Lake Waccamaw has a perfect Ph, and that’s why there are five endemic species of fish peculiar to this Lake.
At one time, 65.5 million years ago to be accurate, this area was part of the ocean, and during the Cretaceous Period, the climate was relatively warm, the land was dominated by dinosaurs, and the oceans and seas were populated with now also-extinct marine life. That’s your geology lesson.
This morning, and I’d like to say it was early morning, but I’d be lying, Geege took me fossil hunting in the Lake. There’s an outfit involved, and if I’m about anything, I’m about the clothes. I was properly rugged up in running shorts, tank top and t-shirt, water shoes, gloves, sun hat, and sunglasses. I looked a picture in my fossil hunting glory, for sure. Our specialized equipment included sieves (like we used in Arizona to gold pan) and a garden claw.
The Lake was cold at first, wading out, but clear as glass. It’s shallow. Rain has been scarce this summer. After I got the courage to kneel in the sand first, and then sit, it felt like bathwater. For a couple of hours, we sat, dug, scooped, shook, and sieved the silt off the lake bottom. I found some good stuff: baby sharks’ teeth, some fossilzed shells, pieces of coral. All dropped before humankind appeared on the planet. We also found some glass, railroad spikes, a good piece of cypress knee, and handmade nails.
I’ve been coming to Lake Waccamaw since the mid 1990’s, and today was the first time I’ve actually gotten into the lake, I’m a little embarrassed to say. But today, it was all different. It’s mind-boggling to think about those ancient remains, scraping them off the bottom of the lake, and us two fossils (ha, ha) having our sacred time together with the sacred creations of pre-mankind days. And so, Amen.
Horton Hears Herself 