Not so Dog Friendly

The way we handle hiking in National Parks that don’t  allow dogs on the trails:  We take turns hiking. One of us stays at a trailhead, with the dog, and then we switch up at the next trailhead. We have loved that our campsite is situated between Big Bend and Big Bend Ranch State Park because the state park has two really cool trails that are dog friendly; the HooDoo Trail and the Closed Canyon Trail. Starbaby loves the views!

We also discovered an epic mountain bike trail system in the state park that was as much fun as any trail we’ve ridden in our travels. It was technical and rewarded you with amazing vistas.

Markie waiting his turn to hike

Biking with Horses 

Big Bend National Park

Santa Elena Canyon 

We got an early start and completed the last leg to Big Bend National Park. We are staying in the town of Terlingua in our second private park. I was a bit worried, when we drove up, because the park (Big Bend Resort & Adventures RV Park) is kind  of like a gravel pit with hook-ups, but the views are wonderful, and Big Bend is so large, we will be gone most days exploring and hiking in the area anyway. Our first day, we got up early and had the Santa Elena Canyon all to ourselves for a beautiful sunrise over the Rio Grande and the coolest hike up the canyon. What a great start to our week in this beautiful park.

View from the gravel pit

The Caverns of Sonora

We got an early start, on our trek to Big Bend, but had decided to stop halfway, for a couple nights, at a private park (our first) connected to the Caverns of Sonora. The Caverns are a National Natural Landmark and we loved this unique and beautiful cave! The founder of the National Speleological Society said of the cave after his first visit, “This is the most indescribably beautiful cave in the world. It’s beauty cannot be exaggerated, not even by a Texan.”

Texas Hill Country

We loved our stay in the Texas hill country. McKinney Falls State Park was full of surprises. The entrance is just a few miles from downtown Austin, yet we felt like we were out in the wilderness. The other interesting thing we discovered was a favorite show of ours, called The Leftovers, shot some scenes for the series, at the Upper Falls, in the park.

We couldn’t explore the city as much as we wanted because we didn’t realize SXSW was starting the week we were there. We did have delicious Texas brisket and BBQ at Salt Licks BBQ, in Driftwood, and made a day trip to Perdenales Falls State Park to do some hiking and experience more of the hill country. It’s a really cool park, too, about 40 miles west of Austin.

Salt Licks BBQ

Cooling off at Perdenales Falls

Loving Texas

There are so many things we are enjoying about Texas. For one thing, many of the state park hiking trails are multi purpose so we have loved hiking and biking without leaving the park. We also continue to have great timing with the weather with temps in the 70’s and low humidity so our clothes line dries all our gear in less than an hour. (I don’t believe our towels ever got completely dry in Louisiana). I’ve also loved the stereotypical “Texas” things that are all new to me. The beautiful giant live oak trees, cacti and blue bonnets and my first armadillo!

The Lone Star State

We crossed into Texas and stopped for lunch at the I 10 welcome center. I am excited about exploring a small sliver of this huge state. First stop: Martin Dies, Jr State Park. State Parks in Texas allow you to make reservations but you pick out your campsite once you arrive. We got an amazing spot right on the river (308). Another cool thing we discovered about Texas parks; you can fish for free if you cast from the shore. Mark got a fishing pole, when we bought our camper, but hadn’t used it till now. He was so excited to catch his first fish of retirement. As a footnote: while fishing one day, a baby alligator swam right up to Mark’s bobber. Supposedly, they scare the fish away, but we were excited to see the little guy.

Not everything in Texas is bigger!

Back to Louisiana

So far, our timing has been perfect on this trip. We arrived back in Louisiana, for a short stay at Tickfaw State Park, and our reserved campsite was one of the few unflooded ones. It was also very secluded, so after a very social two weeks, in FL, we enjoyed the solitude. The river continued to rise, the four days we were there, and as we packed to leave, our fire pit disappeared under the water.

The moon was so bright, on our last night, we were able to load our bikes up with out using a flashlight.