{"id":11,"date":"2006-10-01T10:09:41","date_gmt":"2006-10-01T15:09:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/othertime.com\/weblog\/?p=11"},"modified":"2006-10-01T11:22:04","modified_gmt":"2006-10-01T16:22:04","slug":"caprock-canyons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/othertime.com\/weblog\/?p=11","title":{"rendered":"caprock canyons"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nthe past week has been spent in caprock canyons state park<\/a> in quitaque (kitty-kway), tx. we started to plan the trip long before we were married and decided that since it followed so quickly on the heels of our wedding<\/a>, we’d call it a honeymoon. it was an AMAZING trip.\n<\/p>\n

\nthe drive from houston takes about 8 hours, so we split it over two nights. we bugged out after work friday and stopped in ft. worth at the worst comfort inn ever. no, no, no…it was worse than that. anyway, we spent the night and got to the park the next day after noon.\n<\/p>\n

\n\"got<\/p>\n

this was the sign that met us as we pulled up to the trail that would lead us to our primitive camp site. water was a central concern of ours and we carried about 7 liters a piece at all times. it’s dry country and although the temperatures didn’t get out of the mid-80s while we were there, the sun was constant so hydration was key.\n<\/p>\n

\n\"getting<\/p>\n

here we are getting ready to set off for camp. the trekking poles were the best idea we’ve ever had gear-wise and on this trip they were positively a necessity. it’s very difficult to cover terrain like dry stream-beds and rocky outcrops under load safely without them.\n<\/p>\n

\n\"scenic<\/p>\n

let me say up front that the pictures that we took just don’t do this place justice. i didn’t realize that texas had places like this. the colors and the scope of it all simply don’t come through in pixels. that said, this is what we saw as we set off for camp.\n<\/p>\n

\n\"creek<\/p>\n

the hike to our campsite was about 1.5 miles and took about 45 minutes. the trail crossed a stream-bed about 4 times on the way and the road was rocky and rugged. our site was nestled up deep in the canyon and we had quite a view of the stars every night. watching the sun go down over the canyon rim and seeing the subtle shifts in the pastels of the landscape made television look like a pretty sad substitute for fun. we also got our nightly serenade from the coyotes and owls.\n<\/p>\n

\nour first day was spent lost as we wandered around and experienced the shortcomings of our maps. we saw some stream-beds and ate a lunch that tried to kill me. we also made a trip out to see the official texas state bison herd. there’s lots of stuff about the herd out there. for instance, members of the herd were shipped to zoos and even yellowstone’s bison are descended from it. but we saw only two bison. and that was after a 45 minute wait. we imagined them talking back over the ridge and saying something like “c’mon fred…there are two humans out there. it’s your turn! give ’em a show!” he wasn’t very enthused, but he ate some hay and walked around all bison-y like.<\/p>\n

\"lone<\/p>\n

gorgeous creatures. even a herd of two was fun to watch.<\/p>\n

ha. ha. and she wonders why she doesn’t get to carry the camera.<\/p>\n

\"j.c.<\/p>\n

the end of sunday had me vomiting rather harshly (bad cheese) and stacey cleaning up camp (not the vomit…i made it outside, thanks). so let’s skip to monday, shall we?\n<\/p>\n

\n\"going<\/p>\n

this is the start of the 2500 ft ascent that we made up the canyon wall to hit the haynes ridge trail. it was some tricky, technical hiking and was a lot<\/i> of fun. SG had a wonderful time navigating it and we really enjoyed the view going up.\n<\/p>\n

\n\"sg<\/p>\n

handy things those trail markers.<\/p>\n

\"the<\/p>\n

and finally, the view from the top. it was amazing<\/i>.<\/p>\n

\"hiking<\/p>\n

hiking back to camp was a little less steep after we’d made our descent.<\/p>\n

\"stream<\/p>\n

one of the many stream-beds we would cross on our way to and from camp.\n<\/p>\n

\non tuesday, we took the eagle point trail. this wasn’t up along the ridge of the canyon, but rather through the middle of one of them. the trail was wider and meant for bikes and horses as well as foot traffic. there was less difficult terrain, but it was hot and sunny. good conditions for being very tired.<\/p>\n

\"eagle<\/p>\n

on the trail that day, we caught sight of an eastern collared lizard. note the nifty blues and violets:<\/p>\n

\"eastern<\/p>\n

after eagle point, we hit lake theo and napped on picnic tables. we were the only people there. in fact, for most of the week we felt like we were the only people in the park. the silence was incredible and the peaceful solitude was refreshing.<\/p>\n

\"lake<\/p>\n

there is a great “amplitheater” (ask SG about that) that has these nifty metal bison ringing it and a magnificent view of the canyon. plenty of educational material and all that jazz.<\/p>\n

\"amplitheater\"\n<\/p>\n

\nwednesday was all about slacking. another trip to see the two bison and some time at the lake resting. we were getting ready for breaking camp thursday morning and hitting the trail for what we hoped would be a fantastic adventure: the clarity tunnel bats!<\/p>\n

\"j.c.<\/p>\n

we broke camp later than we’d wanted to and hiked to the car. the caprock canyons trailway is a rails-to-trails project that runs about 60-some miles. we picked it up at monk’s crossing and were going to hike the 5 miles out to the tunnel, go through the tunnel, watch the bats, spend the night then hike back and head to the canyon again.<\/p>\n

i mentioned rails-to-trails. this means that trains once ran this. that means very little grade. and in the case of this trailway, compared to the canyon’s majesty, very little to see.<\/p>\n

\"keep<\/p>\n

yeah. nothing. it was a slow (feeling) 5 miles to the tunnel. that is, before we were nearly killed by a marauding cow.<\/p>\n

\"KILLER<\/p>\n

this beast could easily have killed us both in the blink of an eye. i’m prepared and trained for bear maulings, wolf attacks, snake bites and even sharks, but a feral cow? SG muttered something about “just tip it, you moron” and walked past it like it was the most natural thing in the world. me? i kept my poles and knife handy and got some pictures of this killer in its natural habitat. remember kids, never show fear.<\/p>\n

\"the<\/p>\n

at the tunnel we made camp and suited up. long sleeves, long pants, hats, duckbacks (pack covers) and handkerchieves over the face are a must. there are 500,000 bats in this colony. they are brazilian free tailed fruit bats. tiny things that produce a lot of waste. as we entered the cave it was like walking in deep sand. this was, of course, guano. nasty. i dug out my mini-disc recorder and got some great recordings of the bats flying around and making their noises. when i got close to them, the all clung to the walls or got out of my way. the motor in the mini-disc recorder didn’t agree with their navigational mechanisms (my guess).<\/p>\n

we plopped down on the south side of the cave, brewed up some craptastic coffee singles (i burned my ankle with the boiling water and SG spilled her coffee on the first “pot”) and waited. at about 7:50 pm, the bats started streaming out of the cave. i took pictures, but they didn’t really come out. there were thousands of them. i got out my mini-disc recorder (slow learner) and tried to get the sound of their wings as they flew by. i was less successful there, but the ever observant stacey noted that it was like i had a forcefield around me. the bats would fly straight at me and then veer around. that was when the recorder went away for good. i was only going to upset them in their home once. accidents are less than optimal, but to do it again would be cruel.<\/p>\n

after an hour or so of watching, we figured they were all out and about and it was time to head back through the tunnel to camp. we suited up and started back into the tunnel. i looked up briefly and the sky was black…and moving. they were still streaming out by the hundreds. we braved it anyway and were met at the north end by bats streaming back in to fly through the tunnel. it was amazing and was absolutely worth the boring hike to the cave.<\/p>\n

on friday, we hiked the 5 miles back to the car in just over an hour (made GREAT time) and SG went to hit the composting toilet before we would make our way back to the canyon. from the car i heard a scream of “SNAKE!!!” and i meandered over to take a look.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

yup. it was a snake alright. and another in the bathroom. nope. i wasn’t gonna move ’em. yup. she’d have to hold it or hit the cacti. sorry hon, the snake was in there first.<\/p>\n

we had an enormous breakfast at the caprock cafe and went back to the canyon where we decided we wouldn’t be doing any more hiking for the day. after a 2 hour nap in the hot sun, it dawned on us that we might as well head home. after a week, a shower sounded like a good idea. so we headed for home.\n<\/p>\n

\nthe trip was amazing and we’ll definitely be going back. i’ll put all 200-and-some pictures up in the gallery when i get a chance.<\/p>\n

j.c.w.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

the past week has been spent in caprock canyons state park in quitaque (kitty-kway), tx. we started to plan the trip long before we were married and decided that since it followed so quickly on the heels of our wedding, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,3,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventure","category-critters","category-jcw-sgm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/othertime.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/othertime.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/othertime.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/othertime.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/othertime.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/othertime.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/othertime.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/othertime.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/othertime.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}