Desoto National Forest - Aiery Lake Recreation Area

Aiery Lake is a great place to fish, a great place to camp and a great place to take photos. It is also a great place for an embarrassing story from yours truly.

This area of The Desoto National Forest is a good stopping point while hiking the Tuxachanie Trail. Depending where you begin your hike, this area is either 13 miles or 8 miles from the beginning of the trail. Personally I would rather do my long hike on the first day and the short hike the next day, but either way, Aiery Lake is a good stopping point.

There are several areas to camp at Aiery Lake including some closer to the parking area. I think if you get away from the parking area you will have a more enjoyable experience, but if you want to be close to your vehicle, you can be. There aren't many facilities here, but there are actual bathrooms which is much nicer than digging a latrine in the middle of the woods (I know from firsthand experience).

The Lake itself is beautiful. On a calm day the surface of the lake looks like glass and gives the perfect reflection of the sky and surrounding wilderness. If you're like me and love the view of objects reflected in the water, this is a must see. My kid thinks it would be pretty neat if I could somehow catch the mirror image of my Jeep reflected on a lake, but I have yet to find a suitable location. The lake here doesn't have vehicle access to the opposite side so I will have to keep searching.

I am not much of a fisherman, but based on the number of people fishing, I suspect fishing is pretty good in the lake. If I would have had a pole I would have gladly sat around all day taking in that view, drinking beer and pretending to fish. Since I didn't have any of those items, I just watched others fish.

So there are all of the reasons to go to Aiery Lake. Even if you are just passing through, it is a beautiful area and I encourage you to stop.

As for this area being the location of an embarrassing story, I am somewhat reluctant to tell it, so please don't ridicule me too badly. Many years ago when I was a 13 or 14 year old Boy Scout, my troop hiked the Tuxachanie Trail. When we were almost to Aiery Lake we noticed two or three similarly aged girls and decided to try and impress them. In my underdeveloped juvenile brain I decided that the way to impress the girls was to use my "talent" of singing. I chose what was quite the popular song at the time and as we approached them I started singing. I must have underestimated the distance between us and them because by the time we passed I had come to part of the song which went a little something like this: "I did it like this, I did it like that, I did it with a wiffle ball bat sooooo I'm on the run, the cops got my gun........". As you can probably guess my lyrics were overwhelmingly unsuccessful in impressing anyone, much less the girls. I don't know if it was my singing, or if they saw some sort of poisonous reptile, but they ran as fast as their legs would carry them in the opposite direction. Later that evening in the camp site we decided a reconnaissance mission was in order. My friends and I walked over to their area and stood in the darkness trying to work up the courage to talk to them. I guess lurking behind a tree wasn't very impressive either as we got the cold shoulder once again. Looking back all I can do is laugh at how awkward and embarrassing the entire experience was.

So there you have it. Aiery Lake is a great place unless you're a goofy awkward teenager.

Loved this place for a day hike! The trails are well maintained and there is plenty of parking. There are also trash cans and a public restroom at the parking location. They have several large campsites as well right by the lake.