When I say Lake Kahola, what comes to your mind?
If you aren’t familiar with Lake Kahola here’s some information. It was built by a federal work program in the ’30s with the 70-foot tall dam completed in 1937. It was thought at one time Kahola could provide a backup water supply for Emporia, but lake veterans tell me nary a drop of lake water ever reached E-Town.
Kahola is Indian for “spring water.” That seems accurate as the Lake’s water is typically crystal clear like a stream and fishing is amazing.
The lake of 405 acres of water sits on an 800-acre plot. Its 2 miles long with 7 miles of shoreline. There are 180 cabin sites leaving plenty of free shore with no new home sites allowed. I called them cabins, but there are a number of really nice homes at Kahola. In fact, rumor has it there a property for sale with an asking price of a million-plus!
The lake was owned by Emporia City until a while back when the Home Owner’s Association made a deal to end the leases and allow the properties to be individually purchased.
The 20 miles from Emporia to Kahola have always been unique – at least the last 7 to 8 miles which are now gravel. Old-timers told me they liked the bad roads to keep curious outsiders away. The roads are a challenge but manageable if you follow the advice of my longtime neighbor – the late Don Ek, who said “don’t exceed 40 MPH and you’ll never get a flat!”
The bad roads haven’t worked to keep people away as Wichita and Kansas City people own a number of cabins at Kahola.
With that said let me share a story about the things that make Lake Kahola so special. We purchased a vacant lot 20 years ago and Eric Johnson built us a very nice lake home. Over time we have used it in various ways with my sons becoming more and more involved to the point they now run the show. Jamie, who lives in Emporia takes the lead but brothers Brady from Manhatten and TJ from Shawnee have upped their participation greatly.
The Pandemic has made the lake an extremely attractive destination.
Sunday Bobbi and I received a text from Brady’s family saying they were headed to Kahola for some fishing and wondered if we’d like to come out later for a boat ride.
It worked out after golf we drove the nasty gravel to Kahola. What an enjoyable time! It was maybe 80 degrees, slight breeze, and sunshine. After sitting around the fire pit for a while we boarded our tri-tune party boat and circled the lake seeing many friends and enjoying God’s beauty.
Lake Kahola is a special place for many reasons and we experienced several of them last Sunday. We feel blessed.
I’m Steve Sauder
