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Monday, April 9, 2018

Not thrilled with South Llano River State Park

First thing in the morning, we drove over to the library in Junction, Texas to use their free unsecured wifi internet. I checked Verizon's coverage map... for some odd reason there is simply a huge gap in this area. Very strange.

But, at least we know it's not our device that's the problem.

Then, we did the short drive over to South Llano River State Park.

This state park is very popular with birders. Apparently there have been over 260 bird species documented in this park. We went there to do some hiking, but we brought along the binoculars in case we saw something interesting.

 Oh! There's a bird right there!

Why did the chicken cross the road?

We used our Texas State Parks Annual Pass to get entrance to the park for day use. We got a trail map and found somewhere to park. For a Sunday, there weren't too many people on the trails, but there did seem to be a lot of campers. There are only 58 campsites though, so it's not a huge campground.

We were a little disappointed to find out that their "trails" are actually roadways. The "trail" leading up to the overlook was actually a paved road that has now been closed off to cars. And the "trails" in the rest of the park are all old farm roads because the property used to be a working ranch.

Ruth, at the overlook.

We walked back down and went to one of the bird blinds. Because the park is so popular with birders, they have four bird blinds set up where you can hide behind glass in a little shelter and they feed the birds on the other side.

A pine siskin, and a house finch.

Cardinal.

We sat and watched the birds for a while, and then continued on our morning walk.

The other side of the park boundary was private property and they had some donkeys and goats in the field. These two came over to say hello! 

A walk by the South Llano River.

Black crested titmouse.  

Some kind of snapping turtle?

Ruth and the South Llano River.

More turtles of a different type.

Scenery along the way.

At the second bird blind.

This one was sleeping. He didn't move the whole time we were there.

We ended up doing 3.0 miles (5.1 kms) on our morning walk, then came back for lunch and a nap. Afterwards, we set out on another hike. There are lots of trails, but again, they are just old farm roads and the scenery isn't fantastic. On the afternoon hike, we did 5.3 miles (8.5 kms) and only took one picture!

Ruth, on the trail. Not very scenic.

So we ended up hiking 8.3 miles (13.6 kms) yesterday, so at least we got some exercise. We were going to stay for another day, but we're not enthusiastic about the hiking here so we will carry on today. If you're an avid birder, I'm sure you'll love it. But as hikers, we were not thrilled.

We drove back to Schreiner Park in Junction for another night of free camping by the river. Went for a walk around the park at dusk.


Sherman, parked for the night at Schreiner Park.

Headed north again today, not sure where we will stop.

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15 comments:

  1. This would be a nice camping ground and hiking for those physically challenged. I see few wheel chair accessible trails but this one appears to have lots of trails. Nice to see that.

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    1. Yes, it probably would be at least on some of the trails.

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  2. Fantastic work. I am enjoying your travels. You are very talented as a photographer and writer. Thank you

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    1. Thank you! We are glad that you are enjoying our travels as well as our blog. :-)

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  3. Read the Schreiner sign - in 1908 because of flooding, people were moved back and forth over the river via an AERIAL TRAM - way back then - interesting!!!

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    1. When I read that I wondered how basic the aerial tram was because we have seen some very basic ones on hiking trails. I can't imagine that it was anything too elaborate, still that must have been quite the flood back then.

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  4. You should be happy with the trails at Palo Duro. We didn't do much hiking when we were there because the trails were muddy. In fact, part of the campground was closed because a flood covered the access road with 4 feet of mud.

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    1. Caprock Canyons is another really good park for hiking. Sometimes you have to detour around the buffalo herd, though...or wait in your RV until they decide to go somewhere else. (Ask me how I know.)

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    2. Yes, it looks like we should enjoy the hiking there more. The trails shouldn't be muddy for us.

      Caprock Canyons also looks like a great park, I hope we have the time to fit it into our route. We will see how things go as we get nearer to that area.

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  5. Excellent write up on Wikipedia about the man. Very interesting history.

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  6. Thanks for the pics and the usual informative narratives. Safe travels.

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  7. We've found some Verizon dead spots in unusual places in the US as well. We expect iffy coverage in super rural areas, but not in cities. When we stayed for several days in Hermann, MO, there was a T-Mobile tower nearby but zip Verizon, and we were staying right in the city campground! A bit frustrating, to say the least. The farther west you go in the US, the more spotty the Verizon coverage.

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    Replies
    1. That one particular area of Texas had very poor coverage for Verizon, seems a bit weird because normally their coverage is very good over the majority of the US. Oh, well sometimes it is nice not to have the internet at your fingertips, sometimes! ;-)

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