Streaming Around

 

Colorado Bend State Park has a lot of whitetail deer, not to mention many feral hogs, and a few exotic species.  There are 4 weeks of deer hunting, but only 24 hunters per week. The 4th week of the hunt is for youth. Youth must have an adult with them…whew!

Hunters have to submit their applications earlier in the year to enter a drawing. They can, and are encouraged to kill any feral hogs or exotic animals they see, and can do so without a license. The hogs and exotics are not native to the area and the hogs do a lot of damage. While the exotic species are not seen often, there are some Aoudad around. The picture above is of an Aoudad shot this past week.

Hunters get Wednesday through 2pm Friday to hunt, but only in their designated assigned area that they share with 2-4 other hunters. There are 5 areas for the 24 hunters. They can kill 2 deer per license, but only one buck. The whitetails are quite small, with most of the deer being 60-65 pounds after they are field dressed. Dressed, not as with clothing, but being without their vital organs. They must bring their kill to the maintenance center to be weighed and tagged. Hogs and exotics are not counted.

It was quite an event to witness. So much different than the wide open spaces of Wyoming and Montana where I had hunted for elk and mule deer in years past. But only about 5% of Texas is public land, so hunters don’t have many choices.

Twenty deer, and one Aoudad were harvested the first week. We’ll see what happens this week. We’ll miss the rest of the hunting season as we pull out for Mesa, AZ next Monday.

We took a 3  mile hike  with our host neighbor Tywla Tuesday (Nov 18); starting here at the maintenance site where we hiked on the former access trail to get to the main trail. The main trail is a new one that goes around the canyon we see from our front door, then up the other side. There is a small pool at the mouth of the canyon. The pool is called a Tinaja, hence the name of the trail. It is a great trail with lots of scenic views. Tywla’s husband Bob drove over to pick us up so we didn’t have to walk back.

Look closely at the picture above…see the silver shiny thing? That’s our Airstream from across the canyon. Look closer and you can see our red Ford truck.

It’s difficult to see that there is a canyon in the picture, but we certainly knew it was there walking down and back up. The Tinaja trail, and many others here were built by a volunteer group called Friends of Colorado Bend. Click on the link to see some great trail building pictures, including one of the actual Tinaja pool.

Our host neighbors Bob and Twyla pulled out Friday (Nov 21) and headed off to man an oil field gate near Cotula, TX. Rather remote, but they are paid $160/day for checking trucks through the gate; plus full hook ups for their RV are provided. We’ll miss them but it sounds like they’ve settled in well.

Typical morning sunrise we see out from our camp site space. Fantastic!

We have been running and going so much, so have abandoned making any new posts. It’s time to catch up.

We had several comments from an earlier post  about the Bad Bob’s store in Bend. And…he really is bad. Come to find out, he is musical too. Saturday, October 18, we went with Park Host neighbors Bob & Twyla to the Pecan Capital or the World, San Saba (about 20 miles), for a street festival they were having. Stopped in at Bar D Brew House, a local brewery (very very rare in these parts); and lo and behold The Kindred Spirits band had a gig there. Note Bad Bob playing lead guitar in the center. The fellow on the right playing base is Dicky (we thought he looked a lot like Lurch from the Adams Family). We realized later he works the counter at Bad Bobs. We saw him there, just didn’t recognized him in the band.

Colorado Bend State Park has turned out to be a real joy for us. We have a nice quiet parking area, footsteps from a  free laundry, lots of interesting hiking trails that expose so much of the area’s hidden cedar covered beauty and wildlife. The views are outstanding.

There are over 400 caves, and more being discovered with time. They are not Carlsbad Caverns, but do have a draw to those first time cave dwellers. We’ve been in Gorman Cave and Dynamite Cave. Caves are all restricted unless with a ranger. There are only about 20 caves permissible to enter.Speaking of critters. This little armadillo guy has been making a evening visit around where we have a trailer parked. He (or could be a she I guess…can’t tell) is very fun to watch as he roots around in the ground…looking ants or something to eat. What a life eh?

We haven’t figured out why this sign is here. It is not that dangerous, but there does seem that some people get lost, scrapped up,  or dehydrated. But the short time we’ve been here, everyone has left alive.
While Connie has been helping at headquarters getting campers checked in, as well as painting and cleaning the park’s compost toilets (interesting concept…google it). Ed has been spending most of his time working out of the Maintenance Center. (above). We are parked about 50 feet away, so it is very convenient. Headquarters is another 4 miles down the road. Connie often drives the the “Gator” down. The gator is a cross between an ATV and a golf cart.

One of the foremost draws to CBSP is Gorman Falls. No matter how you get there, you have to hike. Some paths shorter than others. The falls are quite beautiful, even during the current drought, but we are told far more picturesque when there is more rainfall. The Falls is an impressive, 60-foot-high waterfall. The falls’ travertine formations and associated lush vegetation are very scenic. Small travertine dams have formed quiet pools of clear water that support a variety of aquatic communities, including one of the purest strains of our state fish, the Guadalupe bass.

 

Tuesday afternoon, a beautiful day, we ventured on a hike to get acquainted with just a couple of the many trails; Spicewood Springs and Spicewood Canyon. Very picturesque hike. Can you make out the Colorado River in the far background of the canyon picture?

Fall is peeking around the corner and leaves are just starting to turn  for the winter. We are anxious for the full fall colors to show their brilliance. We wound up hiking about 6 miles. The evening beer really tasted great!
We ventured in to Lampassas Monday to do a little shopping. Noticed fuel prices were down some more. Got a couple pictures of the ranch gates mentioned in a previous post, so wanted to share. There are many. Will be interesting to research how/who owns the ranches, and perhaps a little history.