Palo day 2

It started raining this morning and hasn't stopped. The soil in the canyon is not sandy, it's just dirt. The trails are now just mud. The park trails have all been closed due to that sad fact. No significant, or for that matter, insignificant outside activity occurred today. I will give you some Palo Duro Canyon info: "Palo Duro" is Spanish for "hard wood" in reference to the Rocky Mountain Juniper tree that is common in the Canyon. The "Red River War's" final battle was fought here in 1874. That was the end of the Southern Plains Indian rebellion and opened up the area for settlement. Of course it was previously settled by the Indians but that's another story. Charles Goodnight moved in and started raising Longhorns. His ranch reached its peak in 1885 at 1,325,000 acres and 100,000 head of cattle. The canyon is 120 miles long and 700 feet deep. It's the 2nd largest canyon in the country. One of the branches of the Red River  started carving it right after Trump was born. Maybe before that, it's hard to tell. Hopefully things will dry up soon and we'll be able to get out. More tomorrow. PS-the burger was pretty good.

Palo Duro Canyon SP

This is the second time we have visited this Park. I think we are here for 3 days. I'll have to check. The campgrounds are in the bottom of canyon with no cell service and no wifi. The world could end and we wouldn't know it. I guess we'd find out eventually. We will be hiking and I will be biking starting tomorrow. I will keep you informed as best as I can.

Big Spring Texas

There is, what used to be, a big spring here. The natural spring dried up in the 1920s. The city of Big Spring has replaced the original natural spring with a reasonable facsimile and built a park around it. There were numerous informative plaques to read covering the history of the spring near the viewing platform. At least 12,000 years of historical evidence has been discovered. The Spaniards first noted it's existence in the early 1500s. It was being used forever and then we showed up. Are we good or what? There was a disc golf course in the park and I couldn't resist playing a few holes. This is a one night stand. We are in Palo Duro SP tomorrow.

More Cattle Rustling

We spent some time this morning trying to check on (find) some cows scattered across a couple of hundred acres of thick central Texas woodlands. We had only limited success. John and I spent the afternoon bobbin, which in local parlance is floating on something in the lake and drinking beer. This is explained as "we be bobbin!" Our stay here is almost over. We head north tomorrow. It has been a great get together with good friends and exceptional hosts.

Pushing Doggies

We had to rustle some Angus Bulls today and transport them to San Saba for an upcoming cattle auction. John is estimating $2700 per cow. I have decided the profession of cowboy might not be as exciting and exotic as depicted on TV. Trust me on this. Those signs were posted on the walls of the intake shack. We are eating and drinking to much. We might recover over time.

Kingsland Texas

Just a quick post. It's getting late and I am barely conscious. Six of us have assembled at John and Jeanne' river house. This is lake LBJ not Buchanan like I thought. The group includes, us, John and Jeanne, Bill Carroll and Diane Maxwell. We have been served a great meal, cheap Bourbon and enlightened conversation. Today is Monday, we continue our journey on Thursday.

The Falls day 4

Today was hiking. If you were an animal hiker you probably couldn't hike all of the trails in 10 days. This is a place that really requires several backpacking trips. Obviously, not going to happen. There is a pretty good chunk of the park that is on the other side of the river. There are no bridges but there is one low water crossing. I would not consider the water level to be low. A visit to that side of the park will have to wait for another trip. The wet spring here has really brought out the wild flowers. Hence the pictures. It's now becoming late afternoon and we are about to head into Johnson City just to say we have been there. I think we will definitely try to camp here again. Tomorrow we are at John and Jeanne Begnauds house on lake Buchanan with a few of the Aggie Group for a couple of days.