Author Archives: Jill and Bud

The Empty Saddle statue that commemorates fallen calvarymen greets you when you enter Fort Clark Springs in Brackettville, Texas.

To quote their association materials, “Fort Clark Springs is a gated recreational community encompassing approximately 2700 acres of land. At least 1,600 acres will remain as club ground (Community Property of Green Area) for all members to utilize and enjoy.”

Among their amenities is the RV park. The sites are typical of a commercial RV park,

but since they offer monthly rates, some units are set up to be seasonal, at least.

Members here have all kinds of housing. There are very nice traditional homes in some areas.

In the historic area of the fort some of the old barracks are now townhomes and condos.

This has been a gated community since 1971, and some streets have single wide trailers that look like they are from that era.

They also allow permanent RV sites, and I found the variety of these fascinating. Almost all have metal structures to protect the RV. Some are fairly simple and it looks as though those people take their RV out on the road regularly.

Some are quite large. To pull the trailer out of this one you’d have to take down a panel on the front of the building.

Some have structures built inside the RV “hangar”, to give you more living space when you’re here.

Sometimes that becomes the house and the RV is gone.

Like the housing, the rest of the grounds are varied. The whole place is a bird sanctuary,

and they have beautiful axis deer, but as you can see, the yards sometimes look fairly junky,

and some of the units in the storage area…

are probably past their useful life.

Nevertheless, I have enjoyed wandering the trails with Matey. Many are old roads from when this was a military base.

First built as a fort in 1852…

it was expanded and in use until 1946. As you can see from the signage…

things aren’t very formally done, but that adds to the adventure.

From time to time you come to an oasis of live oaks.

I was a bit dismayed by this footbridge,

that had approaches to restrict golf carts and came close to keeping Matey’s stroller from passing.

All of this is here because of Las Moras Spring, which has been used by people for millennia and today feeds a swimming area.

I stopped there today on my four and a half mile walk with Matey.

Unfortunately, Las Moras Creek is sluggish, murky and weed choked.

Again, almost beautiful, but not quite.

Still, it has been a nice enough place to stay and I was able to wash and wax the camper, so although it is a mix of good and bad we are happy to be here for now.

We have an App on my iPad called OnX, that gives off road trails all across the country. We have the filter set to full width roads for the Ram. I had found a long series of roads in the area called the Texas Hill Country Tour. This morning we decided to drive a section of it. We drove 35 miles to get to the nearest section.

Just getting to the trail was pretty.

This is one of those bridges built to flood. This is on a four lane section of Texas Highway 55 we took coming home from our drive.

The first part of the trail we took was along Cedar Creek.

These were county roads, this one crossed the creek several times. Some were low water crossings, like this.

Some were on gravel causeways with culverts.

Along the creek were the hillsides carved over millennia.

The water was clear and bright blue in the sunshine.

You could see the road had been recently graded, but still there were places where it was washed out.

At the last crossing we stopped to let Matey get a drink.

The road headed uphill, following a smaller creek that was dry now.

We were in back country and my phone navigation was blank.

But I had downloaded the OnX map, so the GPS showed our little blue dot following the Texas Hill Country Tour.

Now we were coming up onto the hilltops.

This is the first of many of these gates we drove through. Two pickups had just passed through going the opposite way. They simply drove slowly into the gate and let their brush guard push the gate open. We have a brush guard, but ours has never hit anything larger than a bird and Bud didn’t want to scratch it up, so I got out and opened each gate.

They are really heavy. Two cables come from a cross beam above them. The gate is fastened around the pole and there is a lot of grease so the gate can swivel and slide on the pole.

When the gate swings left, the right cable tightens and lifts the gate up the pole. Gravity then swings it back.

When it swings to the right the left cable tightens and again the gate slides up the pole. Gravity brings it back and after a couple of swings it settles back in the middle, in the closed position. Trucks driving down the road never have to stop, their brush guards swing the gate open and after they’re through the gate settles closed behind them. The gates seem to swing quite wide, they don’t scrape along the trucks, in fact we saw two pickups go through together, only the first one pushed the gate open. Pretty ingenious.

And yes, there were cattle,

who were very nonchalant about the passing traffic.

This is a cattle loading pen. It looked quite old, but looked like it was still in use.

Besides being ingenious, folks seem to have a sense of humor. I can’t figure out what trespassers will be told once they are hog tied. Do they have a “pretty mouth” or “dirty mouth” or something else altogether?

In any case it was an interesting trip in beautiful country.

I still hadn’t hiked up Old Baldy. After lunch I asked Bud if he could drive me to the trailhead.

The park road is being worked on and to get there you have to drive this section of one lane road controlled by a traffic light. There are no pedestrians allowed along the road or the river trail below it. So I decided I would hike back out through the back country.

This is near the base of the trail to Old Baldy, and this is where we decided is wasn’t a good trail for Matey.

And it got worse.

For a long way I was scrambling up an area of scree, without knowing exactly where the trail was.

Once in a while, looking back, you could see there were signs to keep people from getting too close to the edge.

I didn’t like getting anywhere near the edge. Can you see that car parked down below? Go too far that way and you might quickly join it.

I thought about turning onto the Foshee Trail when it joined. There was a pretty good view from that junction.

But instead I kept going. At times I was using my hands, as well as my feet to climb, my climbing stick dangling from the wrist strap.

This is the view I finally saw.

The view is cut off by the edge of the cliff. I didn’t want to get too close.

I did go out far enough to get a peek downstream.

The hillside on the left foreground is where I climbed to the Picture Rock Overlook.

I carefully returned until I could cut across the hills on the Foshee Trail. Almost immediately I spotted four deer. I just managed to capture an image of one in the brush.

The Foshee Trail is listed as moderate, as opposed to challenging. It had its moments.

It also had some lovely views.

Past the old rock wall,

was some delightfully level trail.

More rough trail was rewarded with more nice views.

Then began a long trek downhill, rough, but nothing like Old Baldy. At the end of the Foshee Trail I took the short Wild Horse Creek Trail.

I came out into the Shady Meadows Camping Area, from which I could look back at the hill I’d traversed.

I walked the park roads over to the Frio Canyon Trailhead and followed that trail to a cutoff that led back to our campground. Phew!

In reviewing the hike as recorded by my Apple Watch and iPhone I found that it made a map for me, I started at the green dot and finished 4.24 miles later at the red dot. The red, yellow and green on the route match my heart rate. No green on Old Baldy. There’s a little side blip towards the end. That’s where I walked out to the river to see if Rio Frio really is cold. Didn’t seem so to me, but maybe it stays cool even in the summer.

I also found my watch keeps splits for each mile and the final fraction of a mile. I have no recorded pace for that first section, as it took me over an hour to go the first mile. That four and a quarter mile hike was by far the most difficult hike I’ve done these weeks, far more tiring than the six and a half miles Jack and I did at Pedernales Falls. Still, I’m glad I did it and quite pleased that at 76 I could.

Just 30 miles southwest of Lost Maples State Natural Area is Garner State Park. This is an old and large state park along the Rio Frio.

We’re camped out on the flats of the Frio Canyon where the newer campgrounds are. Our site has 50 amp service, though the weather has been so mild (lows near 50 and highs around 70) we’ve not had to use either both heaters or both air conditioners, so we really don’t need the 50 amp service.

On my first foray with Matey in the stroller we came across this armadillo. I aimed the stroller right towards it, so Matey could see it and got this photo. Another day we saw a Jack rabbit in the same area, but he wasn’t so obliging, so no photo. The only other wildlife I’ve seen are feral cats, and I think there are several.

There are plenty of places to take the stroller. I cut through to the loop we camped on in March of 2022 and there was no one there.

When I walked out I saw that’s because it’s not yet open this year. Altogether there are 214 campsites in this part of the park, only Rio Frio Camping Area is open, and only about 25 of the 114 sites are occupied. We’ve no one around us so far, which you know we like.

Yesterday we drove over to the old side of the park to climb Old Baldy. We immediately saw that trail was much too steep for Matey, so we came here, to Bridges Trail to hike the half mile to the Painted Rock Overlook.

Unfortunately, Matey doesn’t like walking on the loose stones, and this trail was all loose stone. Matey and Bud turned back after about a tenth of a mile on the trail.

I continued on.

I like the trail markings, yellow footprints painted on the rocks.

However, there were places where the trail was only a small level place to put your feet in the scree on the side of the steep hill. I was glad I didn’t have Matey to worry about.

You were definitely rewarded for your climb. That’s Old Baldy and the white zigzag on the right side is the trail.

I took this video of the view from the overlook.

Coming back you could see over the flats to our campground.

Yep, there it is.

There was also this rather whimsical trail mark.

Just before coming back to the truck the trail runs above the river and I got this shot.

This morning we took a short walk on an access trail to the Rio Frio.

These rocks were about 3 or 4 feet above the water, so we couldn’t test to see if the Rio Frio, Cold River, really was.

And there wasn’t a path either up or downstream so that was a short walk. Matey and I did walk back to the campsite, cutting through the closed loop, so we walked about three quarters of a mile.

I wanted a good walk, so decided to try taking the stroller on the Frio Canyon Trail. I knew it was relatively flat and used by regular bikes, so thought I’d take a chance.

We passed this river view, but I didn’t take the stroller down.

There were some rough spots, but nothing too bad.

This part of the trail went along the river for a bit.

Then it was about a half mile walk on park roads from one trailhead to the other. I had joined the trail midway at the nearest access from our campground.

At one point I think this was the entrance road, though not the oldest one. There’s an old entrance road that’s now just a trail.

Soon we were back on the trail which was very nice and smooth here.

We walked through an area that has turkeys, but saw none.

I thought this bridge was going to be rough for the stroller, but it wasn’t.

I liked where the trail went through the mesquite, oaks and juniper.

Towards the end of the loop we crossed a large flat open area. It didn’t seem long enough for a runway, but there was a windsock. It is used as a helipad. That windsock says Air Evac Lifeteam.

Although the whole trail was flat, you could always see the surrounding mountains. Matey got out and walked the last half mile of the trail. I made him ride in the stroller again when we came to the road.

That was my most ambitious stroller walk yet; 4.38 miles, three miles on the trail and the rest on park roads. Now Matey and I are relaxing in the shade by the trailer.

I wish there were more short trails that Matey could walk; the short trails all seem to be steep. Otherwise this is a very nice place, especially now when it’s mostly empty.

I was debating on whether I wanted to do a short out and back hike or a longer loop on Tuesday. Bud said I would probably have time to do the shorter hike today, as we weren’t planning to leave until noon. So I did the West Loop Trail Tuesday, which is five miles. I decided to hike it clockwise as it looked like I would encounter the more rugged terrain earlier in the hike, when I would perhaps have more energy. I was right. Within a mile I was in country like this.

I walked up a dry creek bed.

Eventually the trail left the creek and scrambled to the top of the hills.

For less than a half mile I walked across the top of the hill on a nice even track.

Then I headed down the other side.

Going down meant carefully choosing where each step would be, as it was steep and there were many loose rocks.

I was happy to get back to a creek bed,

and happier still when the trail became a relatively flat track through the trees next to the creek.

This was Mystic Canyon, and it was lovely.

When I got this far I knew the rough stuff was pretty much behind me.

Much of the trail was now an easy walk in the woods.

Soon I came to Point of Interest #5, the spring. I took a short video so you could hear “the soothing trickle of the spring” as recommended in the park trail guide.

Then the trail joined the service road,

which was at times rough for a road, but not bad for a trail.

After four miles I came back to the Pond Day Use Area (Point of Interest #4), that Bud, Matey and I had walked to the day before. I knew it was a pretty easy mile back from there.

This morning Bud, Matey and I set off on the East Trail. After about seven tenths of a mile Bud and Matey headed back, but I continued on.

I wanted to see two more of the points of interest. Point of interest #1 was Monkey Rock, aptly named.

I was walking up Sabinal River. There were some nice cliffs.

A bit past a mile and a half in was the grotto, Point of Interest #2. Water was dripping from the ceiling of this carved out bank. I didn’t take any time to explore it because I had to hurry back.

This park guy passed me on the way back. Even he had to go pretty slowly on the rough stones.

I made it back by 10:30. Point of Interest #3 was the overlook I’d hiked to on Monday, so I got to see 5 of the 6 places listed. The last one was another spring, on a side loop trail off the West Trail.

Maybe next time. But today we had to take the short, but windy drive to Garner State Park. Now I’m off to explore that.

Bud enjoyed yesterday’s walk on the Maple Trail, so I asked him if he might like to walk the mile trail to a day use pond area. He and Matey could wait there while I walked another mile and a half to an overlook. He agreed.

We started out before 9. It was less than 50 degrees, but the day was going to get hot, so we wanted to walk early.

We took the East Trail to the Ponds, along Can Creek.

There were several places where you could use stepping stones or walk in the water.

Matey chose the water route and took plenty of opportunities for drinks.

It was a nice level path and the sun on our backs felt good.

We passed a dam. Above the dam was just rubble, but the water was flowing out a pipe at the base of the dam. I don’t know if it was an old dam that had filled in or if it was built to keep the rocks and trees that washed down in floods from coming any further downstream.

Further upstream the creek was flowing nicely.

Right at a mile, as promised, we came to a large pond.

I left Bud and Matey sitting on a bench, in the shade.

I will admit, I wasn’t sure how far I would go.

The next section of trail started like this, and this wasn’t the part labeled “steep” on the map.

I was getting pretty high, but I still didn’t think I’d gotten to the steep part, so I kept going.

When I got this far, I was pretty sure this was steep. This was in front of me,

and this was behind me. It wasn’t so bad, so I kept going.

Looking back from near the top the trail just dropped from view.

At the top was a side trail for primitive camping area B. What a trek to haul your gear up here, but what a lovely, remote spot.

Now the trail was level and I made good time.

I stopped at one place where I could see the valley we’d walked up, but that wasn’t the official overlook.

After more than a half mile I came to the side trail to the overlook.

And there it was.

I took a break to have a drink and mark the moment and then headed back.

Along the way I found a spot where I could look down on the pond. Bud and Matey were down in those trees.

Going down the steep part I passed this young woman on her way up to camp at area B. After she’d passed me I thought to ask if I could take her picture and she obliged. I was impressed, although there was a time when I would camp alone.

But I was happy to come back to Bud and Matey and I was very glad that they walked the first and last mile of the hike with me.

Jack and Sharon went home and we’ve moved on. We have a nice site here at Lost Maples State Natural Area.

This is pretty much the middle of nowhere in hill country Texas. The nearest town, Leakey ( pronounced Lakey) is a half hour drive away.

It is lovely and quiet,

although the park was full Friday and Saturday nights, including this group of boys in tents that took six sites. They weren’t noisy, though, and they weren’t near us, so that was fine.

The park is along the Sabinal River, which right now is quiet, but you can see that like all the rivers in the hill country, it floods.

They build the bridges here so the flood water will just flow over them, and not wash them out. This is the park road, but you see bridges like this on secondary highways all over hill country.

It’s a bit cooler in this high valley and the live oaks are larger.

And this microclimate supports Bigtooth Maples, which 10,000 years ago, when things were cooler, grew all over the area. Now this is one of the pockets where they remain, and one of just a few places on public land.

In the fall these little leaves are brightly colored…

and the short Maple Trail is very popular.

It is still a pretty trail. Matey and I walked it yesterday and brought Bud along it today.

Bud noticed this maple that they have walled up, probably to protect it from the floods.

You return via the East Trail, which is easy walking.

It does cross the river several times, but above the confluence of Can Creek, and in this weather, you don’t need to worry about getting your feet wet.

So far I’ve just been walking Matey, sometimes in his stroller, up to the day use area, less than a mile on the park road. Then we’ve hiked the short Maple Trail. There are some nice trails I hope to do in the next two days; sure wish Jack was still with us. It’s nicer to walk with a friend.

Jack had asked me to think about a trail I might like to hike while they were at Pedernales Falls State Park with us. I had thought that one day we’d do a pretty substantial hike.

But Jack is a walker, he makes me seem like a slacker. So Tuesday afternoon, once they were set up, he suggested a quick hike.

Sharon took us out past the entrance, to the Madrone Trail and we proceeded to hike back towards camp, first on the Madrone Trail and then on the Juniper Ridge Trail.

This is rough country but the trails were not bad.

There were a couple of lookouts,

and some interesting formations.

When we were on the other side of this valley I had looked across and wondered if we would climb up here. Well we took a long loop and eventually got here, but through the junipers, so it never seemed like that long a climb.

But it was getting late, so we ended up cutting up to the park road and having Bud come and pick us up at the overlook by park headquarters.

We had walked almost six and a half miles.

This morning we decided to go down to the falls and hike back from there. Bud drove us down, Sharon came along and walked down to the overlook. Bud walked further, down the steps to the riverbed.

When you walk out on these rocks you can see where the river goes. It cuts through this channel,

continues down this chute,

and exits into the Cypress Pool.

Bud went back and Jack and I scrambled upstream…

making our way through the boulders.

This looks deceptively flat. Just beyond those rocks is a 20 foot drop off where the river has carved a channel.

Not far from here we found another set of stairs that took us right back up to the overlook where we’d started. Then we found the trail to actually start our hike back!

We went west along the river…

until we came to a large pool.

From here the trail cut up the bank…

and eventually came to a broad trail straight south along the park boundary. We then walked out a maintenance road, took a bit of a wrong turn towards the swimming access, cut through the path Matey and I have walked two mornings from the picnic area to the campground and at about 1:30 got back to camp, having walked just over four and a half miles.

We still hadn’t done the trail I had picked out, so we decided we’d have time to do it after lunch. That one started at the low water crossing of the river. Jack just walked through in his hiking boots, but I took the time to put on water shoes, which I then left on an old towel pinned down with rocks. I would put them back on when we came back across.

The reason I wanted to do this trail is because it led to overlooks that gave the best views in the park. This is the hill country overlook.

and yes, it was a nice view,

and we stopped to take it in.

Back down the trail a bit,

we came to the river view.

and we both agreed,

that made the long uphill worth it.

Back down we went, and back across the river, and back to camp, having walked another four and a half miles.

I still walked Matey his two miles, and Tuesday had already taken him another mile in the stroller before Jack and Sharon arrived. So Tuesday I walked about nine and a half miles and today almost eleven. I don’t think I could do this every day, but it sure has been fun to do some serious walking with Jack.

When Jack and Sharon got here on Tuesday they were able to get a nice site that shared a “back yard” with ours.

On Wednesday we drove the short distance to Johnson City and the National and State Parks at the Lyndon B. Johnson Ranch. Part of the State Park is the Sauer Beckmann Living History Farm.

There you can see what life was like for the German immigrants who settled this area.

There were sheep and chickens loose in the farmyard.

The farm is still run as it would have been in 1918, when the Beckmann’s bought it from the Sauer’s.

This is the kitchen in the small cabin first built by the Sauer’s.

Later they built a 2 story structure next to the cabin to accommodate their 10 kids. When the Beckmann’s bought the farm they converted the downstairs girls’ bedroom into a kitchen. Having only three kids they didn’t need all that sleeping space. Their old wood fired stove is still used every day on the farm.

Eventually they constructed a Victorian house next to the other two buildings.

Once we’d toured the farm we did a driving tour of the LBJ Ranch, this part of the property is a National Park. This is the schoolhouse that Lyndon Johnson attended as a child. His mother had taught him the alphabet and some reading as a toddler, so at her request he started school at four.

We drove through the ranch past his grandparents’ final house and a couple of guest houses. At the back of the property we stopped at the show barn. The Johnsons raised Hereford cattle, and Herefords are still raised at the ranch.

The tour then went back towards the front of the property where we passed “Air Force 1/2”. This was a small jet fitted out to bring the President from a nearby airport that could accommodate “Air Force One” to the smaller runway at the ranch.

Unfortunately the main house on the ranch, the Western White House, is being renovated and is closed for now, so this was the end of our tour. It was still interesting and informative.

By then it was mid afternoon. We had a great late lunch at a Mexican restaurant in Johnson City and later just had snacks around the campfire. Just after dark a bit of rain passed through, so our very nice day ended abruptly.

Four of the five times we’ve headed out from Hot Springs after Christmas we’ve headed southwest and one of our first stops has been in the Austin area so we can visit Jack and Sharon. Here we are, again, enjoying a meal at their house.

The first time we came through Jack suggested we camp at McKinney Falls State Park, which is located right on the southeast edge of Austin. We did and liked it. The next time Jack suggested we try Pedernales Falls State Park, but I couldn’t get reservations, so we stayed a bit further away at Blanco State Park.

Last year I tried again but the campground at Pedernales Falls was closed for upgrades, so we stayed at McKinney Falls State Park a second time.

This year I was finally able to book a site here, at Pedernales Falls State Park, and it is now my favorite campground near Jack and Sharon. I like seeing deer instead of other RV’s out my window.

There are a lot of interesting trails, some quite rugged,

and some wide and easy.

Matey and I saw a family of pigs along this trail. Sorry, no photo of them, I did not want mama pig to think we were going to interfere with her babies; we walked quickly and quietly past them.

Right now the river is broad and shallow, but this is the Texas hill country that’s prone to flash floods.

These tree roots look like they’ve held on through some fast water.

This afternoon we walked down to look at the falls. The river bed here is a huge expanse, scoured from past floods.

There are interesting rock formations and pools left behind. Can you see the tiny people down there in the rocks? When it floods this whole area runs full and fast.

This is a pool along a creek that feeds the river. It is secluded and serene, quite a contrast to the river falls.

But small path or park road, river, stream or grassy hills, there is beauty everywhere. Tomorrow Jack and Sharon are coming here to camp for the last three nights of our stay. I’m looking forward to having them guide us to see more of this grand state park.

I know Matey needs to walk in the morning and so yesterday, even though when we started out he was not enthusiastic, I took him on the 2 mile loop around the recreation area and along Lake Conroe. He did not appreciate this spectacular view,

but by the time we got near the lake he was full of pep.

I was concerned because the day before we saw the trail that cuts through the center of the loop was closed. On the map I saw creeks and bridges on both that trail and the loop and was hoping the loop trail was open.

We had to cross two downed logs, which only increased my worry, as these trails are usually cleared.

The trail was otherwise pretty nice.

I stopped to admire the morning sun on the trees and Spanish moss. Again, Matey was not impressed.

We came to the far end of the cross trail and that was also blocked, so I was encouraged, as the main loop had no barriers (except those logs).

At about a mile and a half we came to the bridges on the main loop, although a bit slanted they were sound.

I was glad we didn’t have to find a way across the little creeks off trail. Nor would I have wanted to make Matey walk the mile and a half back.

Instead we soon came to the campground loops and in just under two miles we were back. Matey hadn’t really wanted to go, but he enjoyed it and it was good for him.

In the afternoon I was just lazing in the camper. Matey got restless. I knew he couldn’t walk again, so Bud and I got the stroller out and put together and I took him for a walk down to the boat ramp and dock.

I got to see more of the area…

and the lake.

We walked the roads through both campsite loops in the bright afternoon sun. We went about two more miles. I hadn’t really wanted to go, but I enjoyed it and it was good for me.