Hueco Tanks State Park

After considerable administrative confusion we managed to get a site at the enigmatically named Hueco Tanks State Park.
We only expected to use it as a stopover between Carlsbad and Albuquerque, however as we entered the park we became ensnared in the timeless beauty that is Huego Tanks.
The S.P. is small. It is centred on an igneous intrusion/pluton, that is a huge lump of magma that rose almost to the surface, cooled and then the softer rocks were eroded away leaving it as a big lump above the surface of the desert. (a bit like Eyres Rock). One of its unique features, apart from the jumble of big rocks, with nooks and crannies and caves, is that when it does rain here (14" per year) the impervious rocks collect water in those spaces and hold it for many months. This in turn enables a wide variety of life to survive. It is like an oasis. The availability of food and water also made Hueco Tanks a magnet for people. So remains of habitation from 6000 years have been found. Part of the evidence for this is a large number of wall/cave paintings which date from 1000 years ago.
Boy did we enjoy wandering round.
Saturday the wind got up again (it is the windy month) and we had another White Out (like at Lee Oliver last Sunday).
I found a permanently dripping tap at one campsite and sat and watched as birds and a rabbit came and drank from it.
On Sunday Morning we took part in a guided tour of one part of the rock. It was fascinating to hear about all the different peoples that have inhabited the place and to see some of the rock art they left behind.

Ray Roberts Lake

Today we have moved on to our last campground for this trip. It is a State Park beside a huge reservoir – they say it is 30000 acres, which is 46 sq. miles. A large part of the 118 mile journey was spent in going round the outside of Fort Worth, which is a large conurbation. We decided to stop en route for lunch, rather than making a packed lunch and then cooking in the evening. Since we did not know the area when we thought it was about time for lunch we just pulled off into a town area and looked. We saw a sign which said Café, great, so we pulled up and went in, only to find that it was a Mexican Restaurant. What the hang, we had never eatn proper Mexican, as Sally was bothered that everything would be too spicey, also that everything seemed to have wheat or corn in it (fajita, burrito, enchilada, tortilla, etc.), however we were pleasantly surprised that we were able to find some great food there.

We arrived at Ray Roberts Lake and have a great campsite almost beside the lake and this evening we sat and watched a massive red sunset as the sun went down over the lake. It was very beautiful.

The Lost World of Dinosaur Valley

Wednesday we set out bright and early to take the road to another world. The Lost World of The Dinosaurs. Yes we were going to stay at Dinosuar Valley State Park.

We had a good journey, using mostly back roads, which though only two lane were very straight and fast. We travelled through the Hill Country to the north of Austin. Worth mentioning is that when we passed through Hamilton we passed a cemetery and Sally had to do a double take as she saw a sign over a gravestone which said ‘Billy the Kid is Buried Here’. Sure enough this is where Billy the Kid is buried, but we didn’t get a picture of it.

We arrived at Dinosaur Valley State Park and were set up by 3.00, so set out to investigate what the place was about. The Paluxy river is a small (15m across) river that flows in a deep gully through the park. Along the banks on either side a hard layer of limestone is exposed, providing a flat shelf of rock, in which we should be able to find dinosaur footprints. We climbed down into the gully and used giant stepping stones to cross the river. There we found our first footprints, we could see them in the bottom of a small pool of water, clearly an elongated foot with three toes. We moved on and there, under the lee of the wall of the gully was a large flat area of rock, covered with footprints. The three toed clawed feet were the easiest to see, but then we picked out big round impressions in the rock. As we moved round we could see other tracks, clearly there were four impressions showing that the animals had been walking. The footprints are huge and of two different dinosaurs. One is a large, plant eating monster, with feet shaped like an elephant’s feet, but larger, these are the footprints of a sauropod, most likely the Paluxysaurus Jonesi.

The other footprints are of a 3 toed carnivore. We could see it was a carnivore as each toe ended in a huge curved claw, leaving marks in the rock 4 inches long. The footprint impressions were made some 110 million years ago, when what is now hard limestone was a hard, shelly clay, a bit like playdo. Most likely it formed the bottom of a shallow lake or estuary as once the mud had been stepped in it was never disturbed again, but covered over by more layers of shells and mud. Over millions of years the lime/clay became hard, but the layers above stayed soft and shaley. When the river eroded down to the soft shale it was easily washed away, leaving the hard limestone exposed, complete with its fabulous footprints.

Finding these dinosaur footprints was amazing. It was something I read about as a child. The whole afternoon had a air of Jurassic Park about it. To be actually treading here dinosaurs walked was very exciting. To be doing it in this beautiful river setting made it even more of an adventure.

McKinney Falls State Park

We have set ourselves up in McKinney Falls State Park, we have had a quick look at Austin, which is less than 10 miles away and also had a wander round the park. It is a very plwasant park, there is lots of space betrween sites. the hard standing is now quite old and often uneven. No Foraging for wood is allowed and the logs are very expensive: $1.00 PER LOG!!!

Leaving Louisiana

Tuesday

In leaving Sam Houston Jones State Park we were leaving Louisiana and the Cajun culture we had come to see this trip. In some ways I felt that I had not seen enough, yet we knew that we had had enough of Louisiana, not that there were any bad experiences, quite the reverse, just that we knew it was time to move on.

We rose early today and were on the road by 10.10. One of the things I have noticed with Sally that I think may be the result of her diet is that she is waking much earlier and has been alert much earlier in the morning, which has been great. We bumped along the rough Louisiana Interstate 10 and crossed the Sabine River to land in Texas. The first thing I noticed is that the roads are much smoother.

We were planning to stop at Galveston State Park, now Galveston is a town built on an island, well really a 20 mile long sand spit which has been cut off from the land. We found it difficult to understand the scale of the waterway it is built on. It is at the mouth of what is called the Bay area, this bay is about 15 miles wide. The Intracoastal Waterway is the strip of water between the sand islands and the mainland. This waterway is up to 10 miles wide and stretches for many tens of miles along the southern coast of Texas. It is part of the offshore sand strip which is a couple of hundred miles long and goes from Louisiana to Mexico.

This was a long trip for us – 180 miles – and we were both weary and stiff by the time we arrived in Galveston, only to find that the State Park was 9 miles the other side of it. Still it is a beautiful park, if you like sand dunes and wetlands. We had the choice of a site right by the sea shore, but out of site because of a fence/hedge, or a waterside site on the edge of the Intracoastal Waterway, so we chose the waterside site. We have a great view right across the waterway. Out of the trailer window we can watch pelicans dive bombing the fish, Macawber like herons, waiting for something to turn up, large Red Tailed Hawks soaring across the wetland, an Osprey perched on a stake sticking out of the water and Killdeer skittering round the wet sand/pools. I have been keeping a good lookout for dolphin, but have not any confirmed sitings. But it is very relaxing just sitting watching.

As we were leaving Sam Houston Jones S.P. we met a couple of Canadians, who were also on their way to Galveston, so we endeavoured to meet up when we arrived. I had to go back to the Rangers office this morning and ran into them. They have moved onto the Intracoastal campsite and invited us to eat with them, we have just come back from a lovely time spent with them.