My wife and i will be headed out to "the cove" tommorow, the 8th of July. We went out today as well and the farmer who leases the land out was actually mowing the path that leads to the cove and was very friendly as we passed by...By the way today was perfect and absolutely no bother from anyone else on the lake. For those of you who are nervous I have never had any trouble in many many excursions to the cove... take care all...
PS: should be there around 12:00-4:30 or so

Max,

I am a woman who would like to visit the cove, but have read the postings not recommending a lone woman visiting due to the remoteness of the cove. Would it be possible to join you and your wife on one of your visits?

Bomber,

Have you considered going to Camp Gaea? It is less remote than the cove, and it's an established nude use area. There is usually a mix of people there (male, female, straight, gay...). I believe it (as well as the cove) is clothing optional, so you can disrobe at your own level of comfort.

Max,

I'm curious about the conversation with the farmer - you indicated he was mowing our "Buffalo Trail" and friendly.

I wonder if the topic of skinny dipping and nude use came up -- I assume it's known among the neighbors. With the number of cars and pickup parking along the road it's obvious that quite a few people visit a remote part of the lake and not many carry fishing gear.

In a way I hope they do know and recognize that we're good neighbors - or at least neutral neighbors who're enjoying the sun and water in our own unique way.

One way to make sure we don't offend those who live along the road is to always be clothed when coming back to our cars and in view from the road and also not trashing the roadside where we park.

I give us high marks for keeping the Cove itself clean and picked up - every time I've visited this year the area has been pretty much pristine.


Current surface water temperature is 78 degrees per the Corps of Engineers page:
http://www.nwk.usace.army.mil/cgi-bin/daily.pl?site_name=smithville


Dick

Last Monday I followed a mower, and hay equiptment trucks into the area. The last truck in the line of vehicles, had two young women in it. They waved to me.
Then again when I was leaving, I saw the same truck and it was the young women, and again they waved. It looked to me that they where a support group for the men mowing. They seemed friendly enough to me.