We often drive through San Antonio on our way to the southern tip of Texas. But this year we are driving the highways west of that metro area. We are on highway 83, heading straight south. That allowed us a stop at one of Texas's most popular parks--Garner State Park.
This state park has 500 sites to rent. That includes tent sites, RV sites, cabins, and screened rooms. Even with that many sites, it's no secret that it is very difficult to secure a reservation here in the middle of the summer. In the middle of the winter, however, it is quite easy to make a reservation, and we almost felt like we had this big state park to ourselves.
The Frio River runs through the park, and tubing and kayaking this three-mile section would be great fun in the heat of the summer. But this winter, the water is too low and too cold for our kayak. So we'll just admire it's clear mint-green color, and the way the trees on the banks are reflected in the calm water.
Beside the Frio River, a collection of CCC-built structures have been around since the 1930's. The CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) was a depression-era program that provided jobs for unemployed young men. It also taught them skills like carpentry and masonry. While they were building this large plaza, they recognized that it would make a great dance floor. They began inviting the locals to come to dances, and it is reported that some of those young men met their future wives at those first dances. Over eighty years later, the summer dances still continue with couples crowding this historic plaza every summer evening.
Denisa was certainly sad to find out there were no dances in the winter. But that didn't keep her off the dance floor. We managed to get a two-stepping picture even if we just had to hum the music ourselves. At least we didn't have to worry about bumping into all those other dancers on the floor.
Instead of lamenting the fact that we couldn't play in the water, and we didn't get to dance, perhaps we should focus on the positives for visiting Garner State Park in the winter. We had nice cool temperatures, which is important if you plan to make the hike to the highest point in the park--Mount Baldy. That's the peak behind Mark as we started the hike with our jackets and gloves on this day.
Hikers would sure be sweating in the summer heat going up this steep climb, so we are glad to be here in the winter!
Going up those steep slopes gave us some good views of the river valley in Garner State Park. You might also notice that the climb has warmed us up. We don't need those jackets and gloves any more--even in the dead of winter.
This trail lead us right along the mountain face, with great views. Here it is important to keep your eyes on the trail to avoid a nasty spill over the edge.
We missed a turn, and made this .5-mile hike to the summit into a .75-mile hike. But we have pictorial proof that we eventually both made it to the Old Baldy Summit. Old Baldy tops out at less than 2,000 feet, and we're more used to summits that are 5-6 times this elevation.
But we'll still relish this winter mountain climb and its patriotic summit.
From the summit, hikers can join a web of other trails that go up and down the slopes of Texas's hill country. We headed up the Foshee Trail, where Denisa added a few more stones to the rock cairns at this smaller summit.
Then we looped up to the Bridges Trail, where we got a distant view of Old Baldy. The flat face of this mountain reminds us of a smaller version of Half Dome Mountain in Yosemite National Park.
We had a bit of shade from the scrubby evergreen trees along the trail. But we recognize that this trail is much more fun to hike on this 60-degree winter day, rather than with highs around 100 degrees in the summer!
Our next turn on the mountain took us down the Crystal Cave trail, and then to the opening of the cave.
It's a thirty-foot rock scramble down into Crystal Cave. Once inside the dark cave, we could see that the rocks do have a sparkling crystal glow when they are lit by a flashlight.
It's a bit cooler at the bottom of the cave, but we're glad that we don't need a break from the heat on this winter day.
By the time we finished our loops and made it back down to the parking lot, we had traversed 4.2 miles with a 892 foot elevation gain. That's a respectable hike here in the Texas Hill Country. After a lunch break, we're ready for some bike riding.
We circled the relatively flat Frio Canyon Trail, for another 4.8 miles of exercise. Denisa is glad to report there was almost no elevation gain on this bike ride.
That was much better than the bicycle trails we tried on another day in the park. Denisa would not recommend the steep paved Old Entrance Road Trail that goes straight up. Equally, she would not recommend the steep rocky Wild Horse Creek Trail that goes straight down.
It was a series of uneven rock stairs and slippery rock hills to slide down while holding onto a bike. Denisa didn't actually ride on her bike any of this trail--not exactly our smartest idea. We were sweating by the end of these trails, even with today's cool temperature.
We are glad that we have finally gotten to camp at this very popular Texas state park. We never plan to be this far south in the summer, so there's a good chance we'll never experience Garner State Park when it's hot. Even though we missed out on the summer river and dancing fun, we think we prefer the quiet, less-crowded, cooler hiking and biking available in the winter. Either season, it's a nice place to wander through more of God's wonders.
No comments:
Post a Comment