After our shaky start, the motor home ran well on our 218-mile trip to our first destination of 2022. That is an unusually long drive for us, as it took close to four hours. We much prefer drives of half that length. But there isn't a lot to see in west Texas, and we had never stayed at Copper Breaks State Park before. Because we got a late start, the sun was already low in the sky by the time we got situated into our first camping spot of the year. Like most Texas state parks, our site was long and level and had plenty space between us and our neighbors.
Copper Breaks gets its name from the streaks of copper found in these rust-color canyons and hills. At the museum inside the visitor center we learned that they have tried to mine the copper here. But there isn't enough water to wash it from the clay, and smelting only bakes the clay around it. They know that because both methods have been tried here. So the copper still remains in Copper Breaks.
We were blessed with really nice weather for northern Texas in January. So we took the top-reviewed trail in the park the next morning. This is one of the views from the Rocky Ledges Trail. You can see Mark on one of the ledges, on the right hand side of the picture below. On the left we could see the Pease River zig-zagging through the valley.
As we looked toward the river, we saw some tiny dots that were moving close to the water. Were there other hikers out this morning?
No, it is a sounder! (New word of the day: "sounder" is the word for a group of wild hogs). The long line of hogs included more than a dozen babies toward the back of the line. They are obviously reproducing and thriving here at Copper Breaks.
The cactus are also plentiful on these Texas plains. We were surprised at the bright purple color of the cactus pads, contrasted against the rust-colored soil where they grow.
No photo-shop was needed to make this usually-green succulent look purple. We learned that a prickly cactus turns purple when it is too dry and too cold. Considering that we are having night-time temperatures in the 20s and they have had no rain for months, they are experiencing both of these bad conditions. These plants are obviously under a lot of stress this January.
We hiked a 5-mile loop today. That's not bad for a "first-after-Covid" hike. We took it slow, and the elevation gain was minimal. This loop brought us to view points above the lake here in the state park. With the drought conditions, the water levels are way down this year.
At one time this entire area was under water. The Permian Sea once covered all of Copper Breaks. When we hiked the Juniper Ridge Nature Trail, we found fossilized sandstone that has frozen the tide ripples from under the Permian Sea long ago.
We hiked or drove to all the crannies of the park. We thought that "The Big Pond," with its tall red cliffs, was actually prettier than the lake.
At the park museum we learned that this land was once covered by bison, hunted by the Comanche Indians that roamed this area. When settlers began building homes, the Indians often raided their farms and took hostages. One hostage was nine-year-old Cynthia Ann Parker, who lived with the Comanche tribe until she was rescued at the age of 24. Her son was the famous Comanche leader, Quanah Parker, who was an honorary guest at President Theodore Roosevelt's inauguration in 1905. We are only 15 miles from the town of Quanah, Texas, named after this well-respected Comanche leader. Now we know that his mother had a harrowing childhood on the plains of Texas near here.
Now instead of bison, we only see hogs and deer in this state park. We are lucky to get to stay at Cedar Breaks, as they will be closed this weekend for hunting. We find that often when making reservations at Texas state parks. The other animals we had hoped to see were the Texas longhorn herd that lives close to the visitor center. Even though we drove by several times, we never spotted a single longhorn.
Cedar Break's other claim to fame is that it is recognized as an "international dark sky park." People come here to get some of the clearest views of the stars and planets because there is little light pollution at this remote location on the Texas plains. During our visit, however, the sky was anything but dark. We were here for the first full moon of the year--also called "The Wolf Moon." That name was started because it is more common to hear the wolves howl at the moon this time of year. As that perfectly round orb rose through the branches of the mesquite, we could hear the very close howling of the coyotes. So this is our best picture of "The Coyote Moon" here at Copper Breaks.
We got a picture of that full moon just balanced on the big rear view mirror of our motor home this evening. It makes us smile to be back on the road again. We're learning things about purple cactus, sounders of hogs, ripple fossils from the Permian Sea, Indian hostages, the wolf moon, and failed attempts to mine copper. But mostly we're smiling because we're on the road again--wandering God's wonders for a couple days in Copper Breaks State Park.
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