Guadalupe Mountains NP, TX

Day 24, Tuesday

Today we drove from Big Bend to the Guadalupe Mountains National Park, also in Texas, but near Carlsbad, NM.



The three groups traveled separately, but arrived at Guadalupe Mountains within a two hour period. The winds for tonight are forecast at 85 miles per hour. I did not disconnect the trailer from the pickup truck and we couldn't put the slide out in the wind. The weather was considerably cooler. We all wound up eating dinner in the trailer. A bit snug because of the unopened slide, but adequate and fun besides. This park like Big Bend provided no hookups. We are still depending up propane and the trailer battery.

Day 25, Wednesday



Today we all hiked up the Devil's Den trail.


It was an interesting hike up the canyon that passes by the campground. It was a good walk. Jim & Becky volunteered to buy some ice for everyone -- the nearest ice was 35 miles away! They wound up driving to Carlsbad, even further. We all ate dinner together and afterward drove to the Frijola Ranch in order to hike to the Smith Spring to view wildlife.

Day 26, Thursday


On this day, Bruce and I hiked up the Guadalupe Mountain trail and ate lunch at the top. We talked the entire way up.


What a surprise when Jim showed up shortly after our arrival at the top. The three of us hiked back down together. This was a 8.5 mile round trip, about 6.5 hours (including lunch). Valerie, Becky and Dauna drove to Frioli Ranch, and toured the place, talked to rangers and volunteers, and hiked to the pond where Becky painted a picture of Nipple hill. We all ate dinner together one last time.

Big Bend National Park, TX

Day 21, Saturday

On this day we drove to Big Bend National Park in Texas. The scenery was spectacular. When we finally arrived at the campground, we discovered Bruce & Valerie had already arrived (they weren't expected until tomorrow). We grabbed a spot near them. They arrived two days early and had already put in a day of hiking. It was nice having company to visit during dinner (graciously provided by Bruce & Valerie). It was 100 degrees when we arrived. The campground, Rio Grande Village, provided no hookups. We loaded our water tank at the central water supply before setting up camp. We ran our portable generator until 8:00.

Day 22, Sunday

On this day we hiked the Lost Mine Trail, a popular trail in the Chisos Mountains. The trail was about 5 miles round trip, with a 1000 foot altitude gain. The scenery was breathtaking.

We ate lunch where the trail ended. At this elevation, there was a cool breeze -- a welcome relief from the 100 degree temperatures at the Rio Grande Village. Jim & Becky arrived, also early! Now we're all here. A great dinner with all of us together. 100 degrees to sleep in. We did not use the generator today. We needed only a refrigerator, stove and hot water and depended solely upon propane for our needs. Battery power pumped water and provided some lighting.

Day 23, Monday

On this day we all hiked together, from the Chisos Mountains basin, up the Pinacle Trail.

We all hiked to the pass (3.4 miles and 2000 foot gain). Bruce, Jim & Becky hiked up Emory Peak, a real climb (800 feet in one mile) culminating in dizzying cliffs on all sides. The rest of us rested at the pass and visited with hikers passing by. Another group dinner, walks on the trails around the campground and to bed with the temperature once again 100 degrees. Again, we did not use the generator, just propane and the trailer battery.

Davis Mountains State Park, TX

Day 18, Wednesday


On our drive to Davis Mountains State Park, Texas, we stopped at Langtry, TX. After a brief attempt to connect to the internet, we enjoyed the desert garden at the Judge Roy Bean Museum. The scenery was spectacular on the drive from Seminole Canyon to Davis Mountains. After setting up the trailer, we drove to Fort Davis for dinner and a walk around town.




When we returned to the park, we took a drive along the Skyline Drive -- a scenic drive in the park. Great views of the surrounding rocky canyons. No TV in this park (a few RV sites provide cable).


Day 19, Thursday


We had a great walk in the morning. It was cool and overcast. The trail led up among the rocks above the campground and circled back toward the Indian Lodge along the ridge tops. After lunch we walked along a bike trail which ran below the Skyline Drive. We visited the interpretive center where people were watching bird feeders (with microphones piping in the bird sounds) through slanted glass windows. When we returned to the campground we learned that a mountain lion had been sighted on a trail just above the Skyline Drive.


Day 20, Friday


On this day We drove to Fort Davis to do some laundry, and then drove to Alpine to pick up some groceries, fuel and beverages. We also picked up some used VHS movies. We stopped again in Fort Davis on the drive back to the state park to pick up some used paperback books at a thrift store. After a walk around the park, we drove to the nearby McDonald Observatory to attend a night time outdoor star show and telescope viewings.

Seminole Canyon State Park, TX

Day 16, Monday

We had a shorter drive today. We were happy to have straight roads again. This evening we are at Seminole Canyon State Park, Texas. It is right on the US - Mexico border near Del Rio. I was a bit apprehensive about our destination -- I figured it would be treeless and hot. I envisioned a desert. Fortunately it was overcast from a cold front so the lack of shade wasn't unbearable. We were both overwhelmed by the vegetation. There was hardly a plant that we recognized. The "desert" was in full bloom everywhere we looked. Ninety percent of the vegetation had thorns, but every plant was new and fascinating. We walked all the paved roads in the park in the late afternoon. No TV reception here, other than two Mexican stations. Just after dark the winds started blowing. The trailer rocked and bounced and shook all night long.

Day 17, Tuesday

It was overcast and chilly when we started our walk this morning. We planned to hike all of the trails -- about six level miles. The park is focused on 4000 year old rock art painted at spots on the walls of the canyon. Indian history at this site goes back 12,000 years -- when mastodons and camel roamed the area. The trail we walked first led to the junction of Seminole Canyon with the Rio Grande river.

The Pecos river joined the Rio Grande just a few miles up river. At this spot, all the canyons are flooded up the steep canyon walls by a dam down stream. The canyon walls plunge up to 160 feet, with the waters below being up to 100 feet deep. No rock diving here ! Across the Rio Grande is Mexico. Between us are two 160' "fences" with a 100 foot deep moat! The sun came out around lunchtime and it got real warm. The second trail led to that point of the Seminole canyon where the waters did not flood the canyon bottom. That afternoon, we drove to the town of Langtry, about 20 miles away. We were looking for a Visitor Information Center which was supposed to provide Wi-Fi service. Langtry has a population of about 30. Most of the buildings are abandoned and falling down. The only reputable building we found was the Judge Roy Bean museum which closed just when we arrived. I checked for a Wi-Fi network and found one, but was afraid to connect to it. Nothing at the museum entrance mentioned Wi-Fi or a network name. This near ghost town did not instill confidence. When we got back to the trailer, a review of the information available revealed that the Judge Roy Bean museum contained the Visitor Information Center. That night, the winds blew again. We retracted the trailer slide, afraid the winds would damage it.

Lost Maples State Park, TX

Day 12, Thursday

Our drive on this day was to be about 240 miles. We decided to stop at Pedernales Falls State Park for lunch and an opportunity to stretch our legs. This stop added about 30 minutes of driving, but was well worth the stop. The falls were pretty dramatic. The overlook trail came out near the bottom of the falls. Up river was fall after fall. The falls were really solid slabs of sloped rock that the water rushed down, between clear green pools of water.

We tried to walk upstream since the falls upstream disappeared to the left in a curve in the river. But the rocks were not smooth and were broken up with section dropping ten feet to the next. So, we scrambled over the rocks at the very end of the series of "falls". This are was essentially one large rock with a large crack through which the river rushed. A backwash pool was discovered, full of fish, many over a foot long.

A portion of the route to Lost Maples was poorly chosen. We have never been on such steep, twisty turny roads. Nevertheless, the truck managed to pull the trailer through this vehicular obstacle course. We arrived pretty late at this park and didn't do much other than walk a part of the main trail as the sun went down. This park is south of Kerrville, TX. The park is about half full. No TV reception.

Day 13, Friday

The park trails form two large loops. On this day we walked the East Trail. The day started out wet and overcast, but we gambled that the weather would improve and started hiking around 10:00. Our truck was the only vehicle at the trail head parking lot. To someone from Georgia (below the Piedmont), rocks are fascinating. This park has fascinating rocks -- though by the time we left, we pretty much had our fill of rocks. The East Trail was mostly a road. It followed one creek up to a primitive walk-in campground called the Ponds. There was a beautiful pond there, the biggest deepest pool in the park. From there the road climbed for over a mile until we were at the top of the ridge, with long views of the pond below.

The road continued to the other end of the ridge and then the trail turned into a rock scramble down the other side to another creek (mostly dry). At the bottom, the road resumed and we walked back to the parking lot. We returned to the campground, showered and headed for the nearest town and laundromat. While washing our laundry we were talked to by a local. Among other things, we learned that donkeys kill dogs and coyotes. We had wondered why we often saw a couple of donkeys with herds of sheep or goats. By the time we'd returned to the campground, it was full. The wind was strong all night as a cold front moved into the area.

Day 14, Saturday

On this day we hiked the West Trail. The weather was almost cold with a strong wind, but the clouds were gone and the sun was out. The hike and scenery was much the same as the previous day, except at the trailhead, there were about 30 vehicles instead of just our truck. Today the Ponds (and the other backcountry walk-in campsites) filled up with tents. That afternoon we relaxed at the trailer while I modified a pair of new shoes so that they would not cripple me the first time I used them.

Day 15, Sunday

This day we woke up to find frost all over everything. The wind is finally gone, the sky is deep blue and cloud free. We did a light cleaning of the trailer. BY afternoon, the crowds had cleared out. We rewalked part of the east trail. We had tentatively planned on hiking in Garner State Park, but ran out of time enjoying the trails of Lost Maples.

Meridian State Park, TX

Day 9, Monday

Today we drove to Meridian State Park, outside of Meridian, Texas. The drive was approximately 265 miles and took five and a half hours. There was a lot of construction on the two lane roads, making them one lane. That slowed us down some. After checking in, we walked all of the roads on the south side of Lake Meridian. We were excited about what we found. There were hills and large rock shelves, and the lake was full! There are trails all over this side of the lake, a trail around the lake, and a loop trail on the north side of the lake. Additionally, there was only one other camper at this park! We had the whole park to ourselves. The eight RV sites are very close together, but we are at one end of the RV area and the other camper is at the other end. The park is located amoung some ridges above a flat plain. The ridges are very dry and rocky and are wooded with mostly juniper, but with some Texas Oak and an elm variety.


Day 10, Tuesday


Today we walked all the trails in the park, nearly ten miles of trail. Fascinating rock shelves all over the park.

One exceptional rock shelf hung about 50 feet above the lake. Some of the trails were not clearly marked and there were more trails than the park map indicated. Still, we enjoyed our day. Sunshine finally filled the sky around noon. This was the type of park we were hoping to stumble across. The other RV camper left today, but a tenter arrived. The tenting area is separate from the RV area -- there are about eight tent sites. What a great day. We also drove to town to refill one of our propane bottles and refuel the pickup truck.

Day 11, Wednesday

Since we had already hiked every trail in Meridian State Park and walked every road, we decided to visit another state park about 25 miles away (there were three parks less than 30 miles away!). We decided on Dinosaur Valley State Park.


This park turned out to be even better than Meridian State Park, with even more trails to hike. The trails involved steeper trails, more rock shelves and fantastic views. cloudless, deep blue skies all day.



After viewing dinosaur tracks in the limestone bed of the river, we hiked approximately six miles of trails, eating lunch beside a small stream flowing into the river. We even stopped for a swim in the river that flowed through the park. There were easily another two days of hiking available at this park -- we hated to leave. There was only one tent at this park (46 sites). The sites were well shaded and spread out a little.

Magnolia Ridge, TX

Day 6, Friday

Today we drove 305 miles in six hours, to the Magnolia Ridge Campground, a Corp of Engineer campground on the Town Bluff Lake, near Jasper, Texas. This area was hit hard by hurricane Rita. The camp sites have been largely cleared, but the surrounding woods are full of fallen trees and bulldozed debris. And, the lake has been drained! In order to make repairs to the dam and deal with an infestation of hydrilla, the lake has been drained for two years. The campground is aptly named since the surrounding woods are dominated by huge magnolia trees. This is a small campground with only 40 campsites. The campsites are well spread out, separated by about 100 feet. The trailer sites have concrete pads. A separate concrete pad and cover is provided for the picnic tables. Even if the lake was full, it would not be visible from most of the campsites. A cypress swamp separates the campground from the lake. The lake would only be visible from the two boat ramps.


Day 7, Saturday


Today it got real cold. We bundled up and made our own path through the woods (the nature trail no longer exists) and walked around the entire campground on the roads. The park must have been real nice prior to the hurricane and draining of the lake. When the snow and hail started, we retired to the camper for the day.


Day 8, Sunday

We drove to Jasper for some groceries and diesel fuel. On the way back, we stopped at Martin Dies State Park, a nearby state park, to see how they had recovered from the hurricane. At the main campground, they had already cleared their nature trails -- about 3 miles of walking. This park is on the same drained lake. A secondary campground was also visited, to walk more nature trails. After a picnic lunch we looked for the trail head. Though we scrambled through the hurricane debris for a ways, we eventually gave up and headed back to the truck. We first stopped at a fishing dock and watched a half dozen nutria and a few alligators on the exposed bank below the dock. We drove to another spot in the park and managed to find our way to the nature trail. Most of it was clear enough to enjoy. We walked another three miles. Since it was Sunday, we discovered there were only three campers in our campground when we returned that afternoon.

Fontainebleau State Park, LA

Day 4, Wednesday

Today our destination was the Fontainebleau State Park, located at the north end of the causeway across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans. Though we stayed on secondary roads for much of the drive, today we also used the interstate. Since the drive avoided all large cities, the traffic was light and the interstate was a pleasant surprise. The drive was about 250 miles and took about four and a half hours. The Fontainebleau State Park has not yet recovered from hurricane Katrina. Only the old campground is open to campers. The old campground is essentially a parking lot. It has been about 20 months since the hurricane hit, and re-construction is still the major activity. We walked about six miles, following a nature trail and a loop hikers trail. The forest must have been beautiful before the hurricane. Now is is largely a demonstration of how many ways the wind can snap a tree like a toothpick, even when the tree is three feet thick. We did see a Northern Black Racer and lots of evidence of deer. Some beautiful old live oak trees near the park picnic area survived the huricane without any damage.

Day 5, Thursday

Today was Silas's first birthday. We drove into New Orleans to spend the day with him, Ben and Stephanie. The bump-bump-bump ride over the causeway gave us motion sickness. The traffic was essentually parked on the interstate, so we took to the city streets. We after meeting up with the birthday folks, we hopped into their car. They drove to the French Quarter where we picked up lunch. We then had a picnic on the Mississippi River, behind the Audubon Zoo. We spent the first part of the afternoon in the zoo.

We had a great time. Though our grandson is only one years old, he seemed to be captivated by the animals. After the zoo, we returned to their home to get ready for the birthday party. The neighborhood and friends turned out for the party, a street party with an inflatable pool for the kids and basketball goal for the older kids.

That night we were joined by Eric and Ben's cousin Perry for dinner at Jack Dempsey's. When we got back to our campsite around midnight, we discovered we had neighbors. A bunch of drunken young men greeted us like old friends. They had a roaring fire built about ten feet from our front door. When we opened the door to our trailer, the smoke from their fire set off our fire alarm! Though we went to bed, their party continued for hours.

Isaac Creek Campground, AL

Day 1, Sunday

Our first destination was Isaac Creek campground, a Corp of Engineer campground on the lower Alabama River, near Monroeville, Alabama. We were on the road by 8:30. We planned to avoid the interstate and use secondary roads through the Alabama countryside. Union Springs was our favorite town -- lots of beautifully maintained victorian homes, a thriving town. The drive was pleasant until the rain started. It rained pretty steadily for the last hour of our drive. After driving 305 miles in six hours, we arrived at Isaac Creek campground. The rain finally let up. We liked this campground.

Most of the sites provided concrete pads for RVs. Most of the sites were situated along Isaac Creek, with small "courtesy docks" for those fishermen/campers staying at the campground. The sites were well spread out and most are located in the mature woods which provide lots of shade. Only a few campsites were in the open, facing Claiborne Lake, a reservoir created by a nearby dam (with locks). Isaac Creek is barely flowing as it empties into Claiborne Lake. The creek is muddy and inhabited by alligators. Swimming is discouraged.

After getting set up, we walked down to the dam and got soaked by a thunderstorm on our walk back. No problem, we just changed into dry clothes, had a delicious meat loaf, fresh brocoli, and mashed potatoes dinner and watched a little TV before going to bed exhausted.

Day 2, Monday

We used the campground laundry facilities to wash and dry our soggy clothes from yesterday. We checked out a museum next to the dam and locks to see what the hours would be -- Friday and Saturday only (so it won't be open while we're here). We drove about a mile below the dam to see what else the Corp of Engineers development offered (baseball field, bathrooms, fishing platform and boat ramp).
The sun came out after lunch -- the beginning of a mostly sunny afternoon. We headed over to a nearby boat ramp, looking for a trail to follow. Nothing. Eventually we found a trail behind the fenced park equipment yard. It was an old woods road along the edge of a pine forest, above the creek. Eventually we found a real pretty cypress pond behind a recently rebuilt dirt dam. The road across the dam led to a recent clearcut above the creek. This may explain why the water is so muddy. Further on we crossed the paved road to the dam and continued on through the woods on a clover covered road to the boat ramp a mile south of the dam. The trail continues further down river -- we decided to save that for tomorrow. The trail was finally identified as the Cypress Swamp Trail. We then walked back to the campground, back along the woods road we'd found. The total walk came to more than nine miles! Mostly level ground, but still may help get us ready for the mountains out west. Now for a well earned beer!

Day 3, Tuesday

We planned to walk early but decided to go to town to get the truck fueled for our Wednesday departure. After fueling the truck, we treated ourselves at a local bakery, then headed back to the campground. We packed a lunch, and changed into shorts and drove to the trailhead we'd spotted the day before -- resuming our exploration of Cypress Swamp trail.
The trail (another woods road) followed a ridge high above the river. Suddenly we spotted something large, moving through the brush, heading out of the woods and onto the trail. We stopped dead in our tracks. The last thing we expected to run into in these woods was a seven foot alligator. He stopped with his head projecting into the trail. There was no way we were going to walk in front of him. He was about twenty feet from us.

Since we didn't know if we could outrun an alligator, we backed down the trail, putting a little more room between us. We waited and after five minutes, he proceeded across the trail and down the ridge toward the river. We listened to the large limbs cracking and popping as he alligator scrambled down the ridge. When he sounded far enough downhill, we resumed our walk. The trail later curved down and away from the river, eventually delivering us to a large cypress swamp! We suspect the alligator was moving from the cypress swamp to the river when he earlier crossed our trail. We flushed a lot of turkey along this part of the trail. The trail continued beside the swamp until reaching the northern end of the swamp. The trail then curved back to the west and returned us to the clover covered road we were on yesterday. We followed it to a spot near where we'd left the truck and settled in for our lunch.

Before we'd finished eating lunch we spotted a Alabama fisheries truck (with a large tank mounted on the back) pull into the boat ramp area. It started to back down the ramp, so we hurried to see what they were going to do. We assumed they were going to dump some fishery raised fish into the river. We were surprised to learn that the fishery boat waiting at the end of the ramp netted a rare Alabama sturgeon (last one seen in 1999). They were hoping it was a female and the fishery truck was there to transport the sturgeon back to the fish hatchery.
Since we'd walked all of the Cypress Swamp trail, we decided to explore another woods road around the cypress swamp we'd found yesterday. It didn't take long to walk to the end of that woods road, passing one small cypress pond after another. We found some interesting holly trees and took some pictures. Then we followed the park property line back to the Cypress Swamp trail and back to the truck.

Tomorrow we leave, headed for Louisiana.

The Adventure Begins

I recently retired after working for the Air Force for over 33 years. My wife and I enjoy the outdoors and dream of spending each Spring and Fall on-the-road, traveling around the country, visiting some of those scenic places that fill travel magazines. Those glossy magazine photos always caused a desire to be "there" -- to walk around the lake, to follow the trail into the woods, to climb the mountain, to swim in the surf. We hope to poke into the nooks and crannies of known and little-known fragments of nature -- to be there.

Last year we purchased a nine year old fifth wheel trailer and a five year old pickup truck.

In February, we took our first trip since retirement. Our previous trips were limited to two or four days at one location -- this first trip would include five locations and over two weeks on the road. Our itinerary was five state parks in south Georgia and north Florida. We hoped that any problems would appear during this trip, while we were less than a day drive from home. There were no problems! We had a wonderful time! We didn't want to return home!

Our first destination was Seminole State Park in Georgia. This park is located in the southwest corner of Georgia, near Lake Seminole. The park is an example of a long leaf pine and wire grass community. This is an environment that depends upon fire. Both the long leaf pine and wire grass survive periodic burning. In turn, the fire removes the brush and hardwood trees that would also grow here. The park boasts of a significant population of threatened gopher tortoises. We walked the many trails in the park, looking for tortoises but found none until we walked the perimeter of a "controlled burn" conducted in the park. We were astonished to find tortoise shells everywhere in the burned area. Apparently the tortoises are less successful in surviving the "controlled burns".

Our next destination was St. Joseph Peninsula State Park in Florida. This park is located on the panhandle of Florida, between Apalachicola and St. Joe. This has been our favorite vacation spot for years. During our previous visits, we stayed in cabins. The park is at the end of a peninsula between St. Joseph Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. The peninsula is undeveloped beyond the campgrounds and cabins -- seven miles of white sand beach, huge sand dunes, inland palms and scrubby hardwoods. Hours of hiking, and normally a great place for sunbathing. During this visit, the temperature dropped to the 20s. Dressed for walks in this cold weather, we couldn't escape the impression that we were walking over snow covered hills (and not over sand dunes).

Next, we visited Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park in Florida.

This park is located a few miles south of Gainesville, Florida. The park is mostly wooded, with palmettos and live oak, full of Spanish moss. The water features are full of birds and alligators. The prairie has a buffalo herd. The visitor center is exceptional.

Our next destination was a short drive away -- Faver Dykes State Park in Florida.

This state park is located south of St. Augustine, Florida. The palmettos surrounding the campground were full of armadillos. Pellicer Creek was full of birds, from eagles to pelicans. My brother-in-law brought his kayaks to use while exploring the creek. In this area we also visited Guana River State Park, Anastasia State Park and Washington Oaks Garden State Park. The gardens at Washington Oaks Garden State Park were memorable -- everything (but the rose garden) looked their best. Special thanks to my sister, brother-in-law and niece for a wonderful visit and a tour of the best sites in the area.

We then headed back into Georgia, to Crooked River State Park at St. Marys, Georgia.

This park provided many miles of trails with self-guided brochures. The vegetation and wildlife was much like the north Florida state parks. While here, we spent an afternoon at Cumberland Island National Park. Miles of undeveloped beach, lots of trails for hiking.

We saw lots of Atlantic coastal birds we hadn't seen before. The wind sculptured trees on the island are the hallmark of the park.
After our stay at Crooked River, it was time to head home and start preparing for our upcoming two month trip to the desert south west.