There is Hope

I just joined about four different meet up groups specific to the Austin area and specifically for camping/hiking/backpacking. I've been missing Thomas greatly but hope the void will soon be filled. These groups look pretty active and they are going to places I've been or have been wanting to go to, so I am really excited! I think I have a great chance at making some good friends to enjoy the outdoors with and feel a great sense of relief. The first group hike that I RSVP'd for is this Saturday at Barton Creek Greenbelt.

I also joined a message board run by Backpacker Magazine. There is a women only forum for female adventurers to get together and talk shop so I'm happy as can be about that too. I've been totally starved for good conversation regarding the outdoors and don't know why I didn't find these groups before.

Oh and honey, I know what I want for Christmas...a gift certificate to REI... I need a new day pack.

Bring it on rain...we can take it...(this weekend's trip report)

Even though it rained like mad during our overnight camping trip this weekend, we had a good time. There is nothing like the sound of hard rain from inside a tent. It's quite exhilarating. Our outing began with a rocky start because when Jen and her clan showed up at our house, it was easily apparent that they shouldn't be driving their car because the tires looked like they could shred any moment.

We were packed and ready to go and unsure what to do next because it was creeping up on noontime. Finally it was decided that Jen and I would go ahead to the campsite and start to set up while Russell and Gilbert went to get new tires for Jen's car. Jen commented after we all got done clucking away over what the plan was going to be that it was like a National Lampoon family vacation starting off and I just laughed because it was!

But things were looking up when we got to the campsite. We had two of the boys with us and we started setting up while they ran around like little maniacs chasing each other. Some of the gear was in the other car so we set up as much as we could then went for a short little walk with the kids to hopefully drain some of that stored up energy. It was perfect weather...overcast, but perfect temps and a nice soft breeze. We saw a road runner on the trail.

Once we were all gathered back in camp and had things set up it started to rain very heavily. We made a mad dash for the tent and sat around for a while wondering if we'd be able to get out again to make a fire, eat, etc... Fortunately it let up and we had plenty of time to get a good fire going before it started raining again to roast up some hot dogs and make smores. It rained off and on(more on then off actually) through out the rest of the evening and night but we dealt with it fine. I loved it!

A lake formed under our tent floor and made it feel wavy like a water bed mattress in some places. I've never felt water under a tent like that before...it was crazy. Thankfully the water didn't come up through the floor or cause the stakes to come out. However the tent leaked pretty bad all over, and it did puddle up in places inside. For some reason the rain fly had tons of water coming through it. Considering how much water did get in, we all managed to stay mostly dry. Except Jen and her clan were on the end of the tent where most of the water congregated and they didn't have sleeping mats, so some of their bedding got wet. I'm glad it wasn't cold last night.

I can't wait to get back out again and hope it is soon. Unfortunately camping isn't Jen's thing so she won't accompany me next time. She is good for about once a year camping. Same with Russell, I can only drag him out so many times before he starts to complain since camping isn't his thing either. I was actually shocked that I pulled this trip off and got others to go. Thank goodness because I really needed it!

Some quick notes about the park. There are no decent hiking trails and the park is flat as can be, but it served us well for a family camping place. I probably won't choose it again if other places are available, but it's good to know it is there in a pinch.

A road runner

A little walk

The Taj

A jumping spider hangs out on our picnic table

roasting marshmallows

Making smores

During a heavy downpour Russell and Ben teach Calvin how to play checkers

Our muddy shoes in the "foyer"

Ben sleeps late

The next morning Russell and Gilbert struggle to make fire in a wet pit with not much kindle to speak of.

Going Camping!

I look forward to it greatly! Finding a park that wasn't full was a bitch and I'm lucky to get a reservation, but I remembered that Thomas and I went to a few LCRA parks and they were commonly less full. I don't think we ever went to Lake Bastrop South Shore though , which is where I'm heading this weekend. I guess this is a good time of year for family camping. Primitive sites would have been much easier to secure but I'm not back packing this time. Jen is coming along with her family so it should be a lot of fun.

I have tons to do to prepare. Car camping is not near as simple as back packing because you can really load up with equipment and more comforts which takes forever to set up and take down. I hope to hit the trails in the park and think they will be much like Lost Pines...forested with gently rolling hills. I can't wait and Ben is really excited too.

Pics from that Last Hike

Elliott is actually wearing shoes! Usually when he hikes with me he is in flip flops.

On the trail

I love streams

For a good section of the hike we passed these tall yellow flowers. They were profuse and the bees working them over were in high numbers as well. Walking through here, one could hear the throng of bees. It sounded like we were walking next to bee hives! This was my favorite part of the walk.

Went Walking

Maps are cool

Small meadow

Nice Slug...it was about four inches long!


Barton Creek is Flowing Great right now

It's a Start

I went for about a five mile walk today. It was easy without a 30 pound pack on my back and I did it in two hours. The only hard part was climbing back up the hill of life towards the end of my walk, but even that was entirely doable.

I think I'll walk at the Wild Basin Preserve next...lots of ups and downs on that one. Maybe I'll throw on a heavier pack for old times sake.

Went on that Hike After All

Tim, Lynn, and I, went on a great hike up a good sized ridge and had a terrific time. The forest is so beautiful here and we saw some interesting things...such as bear scat, elk poop, what we think might be cougar fur, and several hawk feathers. I'm amazed by the number of game trails up in these hills. We followed them some but primarily tried to stay off of them as much as possible to keep our scent from permeating too much in order to keep the heards of elk from shying away. The ranch owners here want the elk to move in soon so they can offer good hunting for the hunters that come each season so that means we can't go hiking anymore while I'm here.

My sister had a very difficult time puffing up the steep slope, while I on the other hand had no trouble at all tackling it...which totally surprised me. I guess all my hill country hiking paid off, despite the fact that I haven't gone on a serious hike in some while. There are a few reasons for this that I won't go into now, but needless to say I'm passionate about the outdoors and miss it a great deal. It's going to be very hard to leave this place.

I hope the folks who can get high speed set up here, get it done before I leave so I can send all my pics from Lynn's computer to my computer at home and be able to post them soon. I have tons of cool pics!

Inner Space Caverns Today

My friend Jen called me up early this morning and asked me if Ben and I would like to join her and her kids for a little cave tour at Inner Space. Of course I didn't hesitate...I LOVE caves. I've been to this cave many times on their standard tour, but I never get tired of it. I still plan to do their wild cave tour in the near future, amongst a few others.

The kids had a blast of course...here are a few pics...

The boys

Unusual Formations

Flow Stone with pools of water

More Flow Stone

This is at the bottom of the last flow stone pic shown above. The water in caves is crystal clear of course due to being filtered through all the limestone rock. Calcite is the mineral responsible for these formations.

One of the rooms

More funny looking formations

Coming back out of the cave into the light above

Hill Country State Natural Area

HCSNA is one of the best places in our area to go back packing because it offers a bit of remoteness. There were absolutely no city sounds to pollute the ears, nor any people to bother us...only nature and beauty all around. It was a much needed trip and I had a great time as usual.

I will say though I was shocked to discover how out of shape I am! I was hot and tired after only about a mile and a half of walking in the sun and it was very upsetting to me. I knew I wasn't ready for an 8 mile hike after a month of virtually no serious activity thanks to illness, but thought I'd be ok for something in the 4 mile range at least. What a rude awakening after that first mile and a half! This place offers little shade on the trails and getting pneumonia really did set me back after all the progress I had made getting in shape. I was glad the walk to camp was only a couple of miles.

Anyway, it was raining the day we left(Sat) but radar indicated clear skies in the region where we would be and our rule is if it's not raining at the trail head, go for it. We did wonder a few times if we'd truly escape the thunder showers or not. Once we got there, a storm was in the making off in the distance and we knew it would be a close call on the trail since the storm was in the direction we were heading. Thunder rumbled and clouds looked bruised causing us to waste no time getting on the trail.

Mere minutes after arriving into the primitive camping area, the rain started. What perfect timing! There was a nice shelter that we moved a picnic table under and we sat around catching up with each other while enjoying the rain from underneath. It didn't last too long though and soon we were able to roam a little.

I put together some freezer bag meals for us again...this time it was chicken and stuffing with cranberries. Thomas and I both agree it's wonderful to eat a decent hot meal in the back country. We ate, then went on a lovely short evening walk. We went up a small hill to an old grain shed of some kind and I discovered Ant Lion traps in the sand. Thomas had never seen one before so it was cool that he actually got to see one catch its prey. If you click on the link, you can watch several videos showing Ant Lion behavior. These are funny little critters and were always a favorite of mine when I was a kid.

After getting back into camp Thomas read a bit while I perfected the art of doing absolutely nothing...it was wonderful. At some point I got up and decided to pitch my tent which was a quick and easy job...allowing me to get back to doing absolutely nothing. A very enjoyable and peaceful evening transitioned to an equally enjoyable and peaceful night. At some point the mosquitoes got too annoying to stay up any longer, so off to bed we went.

I partially woke up in the middle of the night to flashing lights and thought it was lightening off in the distance. I laid there wondering if I was really seeing what I thought I was, or if I was dreaming. I even spoke out telling Thomas he needed to put his rain fly on...doubt he heard it though...his tent wasn't very close to mine. Since I never fully woke up, I was back out rather quickly. I woke up some time later to very bright flashes which totally got my attention and realized Thomas was out of his tent putting on the fly.

So I got up and joined him. It almost felt like we were the only two people in the world at that moment as we watched a most spectacular light show over the ridge from our private location. We couldn't see the clouds at first, just the constant flashing that looked like flash bulbs going off all over the place. Then we saw huge thunder heads boiling up over the hills and felt for sure it was going to come our way. The breeze picked up a little too which was doing a nice job of keeping mosquitoes at bay while we sat and watched in awe for a while.

After returning to my tent, I waited in excited anticipation of the seemingly approaching storm, but it never came and I soon fell back asleep. If it had, I think we would have been worked over pretty good from the looks of that lightening.

The next morning we packed up, walked back to the car, and headed to the Cibolo Nature Center for another short hike before returning home. Oh yeah, we did stop off at Rudy's for some bbq because Thomas lost a little bet on what time it would be when we got back to the car from camp. He was closer, but he went over so I won the bet. The loser had to buy the winner lunch, but knowing Thomas the way I do even if I had lost, he'd probably still buy lunch. He's a sweety!

Ice Cream Hill. This shot was taken not long after we arrived in camp.

Another shot shortly after arriving in camp

The shelter

Looking out from under the shelter

Thomas brought this! It was just right.

After the rain cleared out

Thomas camped under this tree. I camped next to the scrubby trees shown left. The ridge in the background is where the light show occurred. Look how green this place is!

Still some wildflowers left

Mountain Pinks

On to Cibolo Nature Center...

A map of the place

Dinosaur track information

Dino tracks

Tangled roots of the Cypress. Their roots are vulnerable to foot traffic because they don't go deep into the soil. I try to avoid stepping on them when I can.

Looking downstream

Looking upstream

On our way out of the nature preserve we saw this beauty. Thomas told me what kind it is, but I've since forgotten. I'll go back and id it eventually.

YES!!! I Finally Get to Go Backpacking!!!!!

I am going back packing this weekend! I have missed it terribly and I'm very happy I finally have an opportunity to go. I wonder how out of shape I am after missing a solid month of exercise...guess I'll find out...

The real question is where will we end up going? Our choices are limited due to flooding and the fact that I don't want to go over 5 or 6 miles until I know how my lungs are going to handle it.

McKinney All Weather Again

Due to the fact that I couldn't breath very well, I had to decline the Enchanted Rock climb. But as the morning moved forward I got to a point where I was doing much better. I practically forced my husband and son who both hate hiking to go on a hike and picnic with me...ok, that's not entirely true. Russell claims he doesn't hate hiking, he just prefers to be indoors and he also tells me that our walk yesterday was his idea. Ben still hates hiking :). Anyway, I HAD to get outdoors and am glad I was able to for a short while.

Although Russell will most likely never be a solid hiking/backpacking partner for me, there is still hope for Ben...he's young and there is still time to mold him Mwahahahaha. I'm doing my best to get him interested in the outdoors and am hopeful that when he is a teen he will want to hit the big trails with me. But if in the end he has no interest I have to respect that. Here are some pics. Don't forget you can click on them to see larger images with better detail.

Cool fungus
This grasshopper is shedding its nymph skin. I can't tell if it has more nymph stages left or not. I'm thinking maybe it does...although this insect was a good inch long already. The wings seem underdeveloped. What an awesome find! Too bad I didn't get on the scene sooner, I could have taken several photos of the progression...would have been cool.

This is a different grasshopper from the one above. These were all over this particular tree and I think this one is young too, but man is it big! They kind of creeped me out a little.

Now here is a grisly scene of sorts. These butterflies are feeding on some sort of scat.

Here is a different view. You can see bits of grasshopper in the scat. Blech!

Yesterday's Walk...Barton Creek Greenbelt

I hiked yesterday for the first time in weeks and it felt great. I'm a little sore today but that tells me how much I needed it. I was sitting around the house trying to decide if I wanted to clean, garden, or walk, and of course walking won out...I'm so glad I could scrape up a couple of friends to go with. I'll walk alone if I have to, but much prefer friends to be along.

We went to Barton Creek and the water was flowing strong which is something I've never seen down there before. All the times I've been there, the creek beds were bone dry, so it was a total treat to see it like that. Oh and it was so beautiful too! I'm sick that I didn't have my camera along. That darn thing has disappeared again...no telling when I'll find it next. If I believed in ghosts, I'd swear one was playing tricks on me.

People were out everywhere playing in the rapids. We played in the water too. There were several people zipping by in their kayaks which was kinda fun to watch...we even saw one guy lose it in the rapids! The water was the perfect temperature and it was crystal clear even with all the people in it. Barton creek has solid rock river beds with river pebbles, rocks, etc...so not much stuff to get stirred up in many places.

We tried to walk a long time, but the trail ended up dead ending into the water with no way to get around. I was driving to the park but Jerry showed us a back entrance that I've never seen before, so I'm unclear exactly where on the creek we were. We turned around and went back the other way but didn't go too far before we found another cool spot to play in the water. It was getting late and time to head home at this point, so we didn't get to walk much further. We probably only got about two or three miles under our belts, but we did a ton of boulder hopping and current fighting, which made up for lack of distance.

It was the perfect introductory hike to get back into the swing of things since my illness. I am going to walk three more times this week and hopefully I'll be ready to hit the trails more hard core soon. I am planning on camping this weekend and want to be ready. I miss it so much!!

Another Awesome Trip Under the Belt!

Inks Lake delivered. I don't know if I've ever seen such a spectacular display of wild flowers in my life. I saw varieties I've never seen before and asked Thomas to take a picture of a couple of things for me. Hopefully I'll be able to share them soon. There were some very interesting mushroom varieties too. It will be fun to try and identify them. I'm just sick that I didn't have my camera along.

The first day of our trip we went to the Devil's Watering Hole and swam in a nice stream with a very nice waterfall cascading down over giant smooth rock into a natural pool below. Under the water were boulders that were quite large. The place was stunning. That water fall was fantastic to sit in, but it was swift and a couple of times I tumbled off the rock into the pool from the force of the water pushing me over smooth slippery rock. It was big fun and I have a nice bruise to show for it.

After swimming and sunning at that spot for a while, we picked up our stuff and headed over to another part of the lake that was deeper and we swam for about an hour there. It was very refreshing..the water noticeably colder. I loved every second! A couple of times I dove down underneath into dark murk...kinda spooky. Poor Thomas, he lost his sunglasses in the lake. I wanted so bad to dive down and find them for him, but it was hopeless. They're gone for good unless a scuba diver runs across them some day. It would be a good find...those were some very nice and expensive shades. Hmmm...maybe I should send my sister in law out there to get them. She's into scuba diving now. :)

After swimming, we went back to the car and changed clothes in the parking lot and got our packs and hiking shoes on, readying ourselves for the shortish walk to the primitive camp site. Once in camp we didn't waste any time setting up and getting food made. This time we had a southwestern style dish with rice, sun dried tomatoes, hot peppers, all kinds of spices, some black beans, chicken, and some corn, all wrapped up in hot tortillas. It was kind of like a stew though and quite messy because I added too much water. But damn it was delectable. After dinner I had to go wash up in a stream. I was glad it was there! That was a recipe I made up on the fly early Saturday morning so it wasn't kitchen tested first. But we were quite pleased with the results. I think I'm getting the hang of this freezer bag cooking. I need a kitchen scale now to weigh the meals.

Our campsite was such a peaceful and pretty place. We were treated to the sounds of gurgling water from the brook below us only a few feet away. It was campsite number 3. We will return there again some day I'm sure. It's been so good getting out doors and finding the inner peace and connection with nature that I long for.

Pedernales Trip report

I've now been to Pedernales Park twice. The first time was a day hike, and the second time which was this past weekend, was an overnighter in the primitive camping area. I was a little disappointed that there weren't many wildflowers in the area where we were, but we did find a beautiful patch the next day while out boulder hopping. The cool streams of clear water and small water falls more than made up for the lack of flowers.

The walk from our car to the designated camping area was rather short...maybe three miles.
There were plenty of people out and about on the trails but many people stayed to camp. We found a nice spot though and weren't bothered by our neighbors. We sat down and rested under the trees for a bit and started to settle in. It was so good to get into camp.

After resting up and downing some calories we went to a pretty little waterfall and waded a bit. The water fell into a crystal clear shallow pool and there was another area in the stream where water poured out from the ground. It was such a nice spot.

We walked back to camp and Thomas started up the stove so we could cook our freezer bag meals. One dish had chicken, mushrooms, rice, peas, carrots, and peppers. The other meal was a pretty decent version of sesame orange chicken. Both dinners turned out pretty tasty. Those hot freezer bag meals are a genius idea and I've been having fun putting them together.

After our meal we lazed around for a while, read some, and then turned in for the night. The whippoorwills were calling to each other and the katydids sounded off one after the other sometimes seemingly right over my head which was cool. In the distance we could hear the roar of the falls. I had no trouble falling asleep in such peaceful surroundings.

The next day we played on the boulders and took lots of pictures of the falls. The river was rushing swiftly and there were some pretty good rapids in several places. You could feel the power and energy of the water when close to it, which was exciting. I'd love to see what the falls look like under flash flood conditions. There were signs all over the place warning people not to swim, wade, etc...and to be prepared to leave the area quickly. Apparently the flooding is always sudden when it happens and the water rises many feet very quickly in a boiling rage.
So yeah, I'd like to see that...from a distance of course.

It was so good to get back out in nature for a longer stretch. I was able to finally re-connect to the natural world and not worry about anything. I can't wait to get out there and do it again!

Pedernales Photos

A heart!

Buckeye sipping moisture

Frog

Lizard

Whirlpool

River rafting anyone?

White water

The falls

Giant walking stick

My hiking partner

My hiking shoes

Truth serum

Trail dinners...orange sesame chicken and chicken with rice and veggies

Nice place to skinny dip