Hiking the Trails of Palo DuroApr 26, 2012
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Up on Red Star Ridge
Hoodoo
Looking for the Geocache
We got up at sunrise and enjoyed a cool morning. I waited for more light and drank a cup of coffee. As I was looking out the window, I saw a dark shape slowly walk through an empty campsite across the way. My first thought was wild pig…no those are in Florida. Black panther? Bear? I sent Tommy and Bob over to check it out. I stayed inside the motorhome to comfort the cat. We never did figure out what it was. In my mind it was four legged and about the size of Tommy. I guess it could have been a coyote or bobcat. I got my camera ready in the event my dark shadowed monster returned. I was ready when we were stampeded by a herd of wild Turkeys.  We decided to hike the nearby “Givens, Spicer & Lowry Trail.” The temperature was a nice 70 degrees and we were ready with water and GPS. It was listed as moderately difficult with steep climbs and a total round trip distance of 11 miles. Not me…we hiked out to the Red Star Ridge (about a mile) and a very interesting hoodoo. This canyon is known for its hoodoos. Before I start singing…”Who do you think you’re fooling?” I will tell you about hoodoos. Hoodoos are rock formations sometimes called chimneys, which all the soil and rock has eroded away. What you are left with is columnar formation that may have a huge slab of rock balanced on top. Sometimes they look like people standing there. In fact, one of the Native American groups thought that hoodoos were spirits of men who ran away when the great flood came. They left behind the women and children to drown. God turned these shameful men into hoodoos. I took a load of pictures during our hike.    Since I had my GPS and the coordinates to a geocache, we took a slight detour to find, “Tupper-where?” Our GPS had us climbing up and Bob decided that I should stay down on the trail with Tommy. He climbed around for almost 40 minutes searching for the prize. I kept thinking he would be right down and there would be silence…I called, “Are you still with us?” “Yeah, I’ll be right down.” That man became part Billy-goat looking for the little plastic box filled with toys and a logbook. No luck! I had to log this one in as a “Did not Find.” As we were heading back, we saw numerous small wildflowers, lizards, a box turtle and…a rattlesnake! Tommy had already passed by the snake stretched across the trail.  I noted it and Bob lobbed a rock at it. Nothing moved. Thinking it might be dead (even though we had not seen it on the way up) we walked on by. I decided this would be a good picture. Once the camera clicked, it turned its head and looked at me. I quickly departed and left him to whatever he was doing.Bob ran out of beer, so we decided to take a drive into town. As we passed the group pavilion, 20 guys on bicycles passed us by. I didn’t recognize the President, but everyone said he was riding with the group. It is a 100K ride and a three day event. This is the second time that President George W. Bush has sponsored this ride. I think it was conducted somewhere else last year. Because we had reservations back in January, they honored our request. There are probably only half a dozen campers in the whole park. We have it to ourselves. I always assumed that Canyon was very small with only a corner gas station. (That is because “Fuzzy Butts” is a gas station we passed on the way to the park). It isn’t so small. West Texas A & M University is there. We went into town to find a grocery store. Had lunch at Feldman’s Wrong Way Dinner, it is the home of the best chicken fried steak in Texas. They have a 24 ounce Chicken Fried Steak Dinner, mashed potatoes, green beans and gravy. If you eat the whole thing it is free. I saw 2 pictures of successful patrons and the wall of shame for the 83 others who attempted. What’s with Texas and the giant food contests??? Amarillo boasts the free 72 ounce Steak dinner, if you eat it within an hour. The record listed on one of the billboards was 8 minutes and 42 seconds. Does one have to keep that amount of food down to qualify? Anyway…We found out that Bob can’t have any beer. Canyon, Texas is a dry town. Oh well, I like iced tea in this weather. While we were topside, I upload a few pictures from yesterday and made a trip report. I don’t know when I will get this one out. A black truck keep driving around the campground…I wonder if it’s the President? |
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