Taking a Break at Copper Breaks

Composed. I'm not often desperate for a break from work and life, but occasionally I find myself wishing I could escape for a while to recharge. I needed to do just that at the beginning of April, and had even made reservations at a state park in northwestern Texas to help me get away. Unfortunatley my weekend get-away was delayed by half a day, and I didn't head west until morning had passed. Starting a journey in the middle of the day is highly unusual for me, as I either start before dawn or after work in the evening, and as a result I reached Copper Breaks State Park in the early evening hours of a Saturday. I had intended to hike the majority of the day, then head to my backcountry site, but my late arrival forced me to go straight to camp and set up before the sun set and night descended. 

My late start meant I arrived at camp after only a short hike, so I wasn't nearly as hungry or dirty as I usually am after a day of hiking. Instead of cleaning up and eating I had plenty of time to sit and watch the land grow golden in the evening light, then soften to deep greys as dusk fell. Coyotes started up as the sun dipped under the horizon, while Callie and I heard turkeys squabbling in the bushes below our camp. And the rabbits! Dozens of rabbits crawled out of their daytime hiding places and moved all around us on their way to their evening feasts. As we sat and watched night close in around us I couldn't help but take a deep breath and feel all of my stress melt away with the light. 

While there was still light in the western sky Callie and I retired to the tent. I had left the fly off, knowing it there wasn't a chance of rain that night, so we could see the stars. I journaled while the sky deepened from velvet blue to black, and bright pinpricks sprang up in a spray above our heads. On the eastern horizon the moon rose above the plains of northwestern Texas and lit everything with its pale light. The rest of our night was filled with cool night breezes, an almost-full moon, and the echos of coyotes off of the little canyon walls all around us.

I slept deeper than I had in several weeks, and was still up before the sun. Callie was snuggled in the depths of the sleeping bag when I got up, but I was in no particular rush to start our day so I let her be. I crawled out of the tent and stretched, then pulled my sleeping pad out and settled in to a bit of sunrise yoga on the little platuea above the wash we had camped near, so I could see the sunrise. Long stretches and deep breaths, I all but melted into the ground. There was no wind, and the trees stood quitely nearby as the sky lightened and the clouds were shot through with pink and gold. 

The sun had been up for quite a while before Callie and I finally got back on the trail. We first headed to the park headquarters to check in, then drove around the park for a bit to see what was there. Copper Breaks is a small, sparingly developed park located in the rolling plains of Texas near the Oklahoma border, and it wasn't busy. Definitely my kind of park. I chose a three mile long trail called Rocky Ledges to stretch our legs on before heading home, and Callie was just as excited as I was to get on a good dirt path. The trail wound around several small hills and gullies, taking us along an elevation about halfway between the bottom of the canyons and the top of the hills. At the point farthest from the parking lot the trail overlooked the Pease River and the swath of oak trees that line it. From there the trail descended steeply, but mellowed out as we approached our car. It was a nice little hike, and I can see myself going back for the solitude, if nothing else. I could use another night under the stars. 

What I'm listening to: Flies and Spiders by Howard Shore

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Purple Ditches

Spring in Texas is beautiful (and early compared to Nebraska!) but specifically Spring in the Hill Country of central Texas blows me away. On my recent adventure in the hills my drive was lined with purple and red for hours. Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrushes filled the ditches and lined every road, making the predominate color along the road purple. It was awesome! I stopped my car on the shoulder near a particularly thick patch of wildflowers and hopped out to take some pictures. I love Spring!

Leave me a comment below and tell me if you've ever seen the bluebonnet bloom in person?

What Do I Do When I Backpack?

Thoughtful. A lot of people I talk to about my travels all seem to have the same impression of my backpacking trips: I hike and hike and hike for miles until the sun sets and I pitch my tent where I stand. Fortunately for me, it's not quite like that. There has only been one overnight where we hiked until the sun went down and set up in the dark (sorry, Torrey!) and that was only because we had to wait for thunderstorms to clear off before we set out, and it was close to sunset when we started anyway.

The reality is, I've usually got a lot of down-time. On my backpacking adventure at South Llano River State Park, for example, yes Callie and I hiked for a few hours before heading to our campsite, but we still had several hours before sunset once we got there. What to do with that time? I always bring something to read, no matter where I go. It could be a magazine, or a novel, or a guide book, or maybe even a publication about the particular park I happen to be at. It could be anything.

I also always bring something to write in. I journal about all of my travels, so my journal is always in a pocket of my pack. I also tend to write my blog posts while on a trip, so I bring a notebook and at least two pens as well. This post is being hand written while sitting at a backcountry site in Copper Breaks State Park, and when I  go home I'll type it out (obviously) and post later. I used to write a lot of fiction as well, but I've focused more on my journaling lately. Occasionally I'll write a few lines of a story or poetry, but that doesn't happen often.

Of course, there's the simple fact that I'm out in nature and love photography, so I always take a ton of pictures. I'll come back from a weekend trip with a couple hundred photos to sort through. If Callie went with me, the majority of the pictures feature her. If not, you'll probably see mostly landscape vistas with a few selections of the local wildlife thrown in. If I have a human companion, they feature heavily in pictures too!

With the risk of sounding like a hipster hippy I have to admit that I really like just watching and listening to what is going on around me. Even while writing I catch myself looking up at a rustle of grass or the sway of a branch and just get lost in what my senses are telling me. I especially love the noises right as the sun dies, when the coyotes start to yip and howl and the night birds wake up to sing their songs. Crickets lull me to sleep, as does the breeze whispering through the trees. If I'm on the beach, I match my breathing to the rhythmic beat of the waves. The further removed from other people, the deeper I am in the backcountry, the louder the noises of nature become and the more I hear them.

I love watching the little birds flit between brances as they twitter away at each other. Following the squirrels as they bounce among the trees is a favorite pasttime. Tracking movements in the grasses as something scurries around always intrigues me, though I know if I were to get close enough to investigate, whatever was rustling around would be long gone. I got lucky at South Llano River State Park and observed an armadillo rooting around in the vegetation not far beyond my campsite, as I sat there watching the world go by, and a little hummingbird hovered in front of me, checking to see if I was a tasty treat before moving on.

Unless I stay up to see the stars, I go to bed with the sun and sleep soundly through the night. Night noises don't bother me, and I only sleep fitfully if there's a chance of rain and my fly is off. I wake up as the sky begins to brighten, enjoying the stillness that comes with dawn. Really though, dawn is still. Not quite silent, night birds are bedding down and day birds are waking up, but things just seem more muted at dawn. Even the sea breeze slows, though never goes away.

So what do I do when I backpack? I read, I write. I'll talk to my companion if I have one of course, but the people I travel with inherently know we're out there to enjoy just being present. Photography is a must, and so is watching the world around us. Taking it all in and just being there is what it's all about.

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Bird Blinds

South Llano River State Park, deep in the heart of Texas Hill Country, is well known for its bird populations. Many birds, including the endangered Golden-Cheeked Warbler, call the hills and canyons near the river home, and the park does an excellent job keeping the birds in the spotlight. Numbered bird-watching blinds dot every trail, even way back out in the less-used parts of the park, and its up to luck and time of day to decide what birds you might see if you sit still and quiet enough. I was with Callie on my visit, and it was too much much to expect her to sit still long enough to possibly see rare and elusive birds; sure, she'd sit still while she cooled down, but once she recovered she would want to hit the trail again! Maybe next time I'll go back without her and see whatever I can see.

Leave me a comment below and tell me, are you a birder? Do you like birdwatching?

In Celebration of National Parks: National Parks Week 2017

Happy National Parks Week! This week, every year, we celebrate the 417 National Park Units across the nation and take a moment to acknowledge the landscapes, history, knowledge that these parks house and protect are what makes the United States amazing. I have been fortunate enough to visit twenty-three of these units, scattered across the states, within the past three years, some of them more than a few times. The weekends bracketing National Park Week (April 15-23) are fee-free weekends, so if you are able to get out and enjoy your parks now would be an awesome time to do so! I haven't been able to get to a park unit yet this year, but starting next month I have plans in place to travel to several over the summer months. Scroll on below for a gallery of every National Park Unit I've been to in the past three years and find some inspiration to visit one or two yourself!

Arches National Park, UT

Big Thicket National Preserve, TX

Brown's Canyon National Monument, CO

Bryce Canyon National Park, UT

Canyonlands National Park, UT

Capitol Reef National Park, UT

Capulin Volcano National Monument, NM

Carlsbad Caverns National Park, NM

Chimney Rock National Monument, CO

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, CO

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, CO

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Guadalupe Mountains National Park, TX

Homestead National Monument, NE

Hot Springs National Park, AR

Hovenweep National Monument, UT

Mesa Verde National Park, CO

Petrified Forest National Park, AZ

Rocky Mountain National Park, CO

Sunset Crater National Monument, AZ

White Sands National Monument, NM

Wupatki National Monument, AZ

Zion National Park, UT

A Snapshot and The Scoop: The Overlook

Callie and I stood at the edge of the bluff, the South Llano River valley spread out below our feet. Thee hike here was short but incredibly steep, though there were plenty of shady spots to stop and catch our breath. Of course, knowing me, something had to go wrong on the shortest hike of the trip, and about halfway there I felt the telltale signs of an impending bloody nose. I stopped, dropped my pack, and blindly groped for my pack of tissues while keeping a hand to the bridge of my nose. I plopped down on the trail to wait it out, internally grateful no one was there to see it.

Leave me a comment below and tell me about the worst thing that's happened to you on a super-short trail. Help me feel a little less alone here!

A Peek into Planning: What Does It Take To Adventure?

Musing. I've been sitting down to plan quite a few adventures lately, and it got me thinking: I don't think I've ever described my planning process. What it takes to get from an adventure idea to an adventure in reality. I don't just wake up one day and decide to go hike a mountain, though occasionally I do wake up and decide to go for a drive. No, my travels take planning, at least a little bit, and I've found that the more detailed the plan is the happier I am. I guess you could call me Type A, huh?

The first thing that has to happen to make an adventure a reality is figuring out how much time I have. Do I have 36 hours, or do I have nine days? That question is dependent on my own time-off allowance at work, my companion's availability (if any), and forethought into other travels during the year. This year, for example, I will be going on four long trips (already planning ahead!!) so any other traveling I plan will have to be kept short. In past years I've broken trips up a little more, but that's how it worked out for what I want to do this year. Which leads me to my next point...

While deciding how much time I have, I have to figure out where I want to go. I generally reference my own personal limit: if it's a day trip, no more than four hours drive time one-way. If it's a two day trip, no more than eight hours one-way. Three days is twelve hours one-way, and anything more than twelve hours away I'd like a full week, or it's just not worth it. I have lists, Pintrest boards, emails, and magazines full of places I want to visit, so it's really a matter of time and what I'm feeling. Mountains, ocean, swamp, and hills are all within 4-6 hours depending on the direction I point my nose, so it really is just a question of "what do I feel like today?" Once I decide on a place I rarely change my mind, even in the event of inclement weather. I just pack appropriately. Also, I route plan different ways to get there, including fastest and most scenic. Again, it depends on what I'm feeling, but I've regretted taking the scenic way home only once, and that was because I didn't feel good.

Once I figure out when and where, the fun begins! I sit down and scour the park's (or city/town/whatever) website for things to do, usually with an emphasis on hiking, backpacking, and/or animals. I'm currently writing this while sitting in a backcountry campsite in South Llano River State Park, and the main reason I chose to come here is because it just became an International Dark Sky Park. It's also famous for its abundance of birds, and if I was more of a birder I would have known that, but I really just wanted to sleep under the stars. When researching the park/place it's a good idea to check into reservations. Incidentally, this is something I'm really bad at. I hardly ever reserve a campsite, adopting a "go and hope" philosophy, but I know I need to get better, especially when it comes to scoring sites in popular places. I only just managed to secure permits to backpack at the Grand Canyon in May, which is really lucky. Permits and established sites at the most popular parks are notoriously hard to get.

I typically plan a few of my longer hikes in advance, so I can leave an itinerary with Jared and my parents. I leave openings for anything that might catch my attention, like a little nature trail, scenic drive, or whatever, but generally know what trail I'll be on at any given time. This is where I take my companion's experience and ability in to account. If it's Callie, I know she can handle anything I ask her to; she's shown me that time and time again. The only question for her is whether or not she's allowed. For my human companions, I go to them for guidance. Only you know what you can handle, what your limits are, and what will happen if you surpass those limits. My goal is for everyone to enjoy themselves, not push anybody on a forced march.

I also plan out how much food I'll need, and try really, really hard to not bring a cooler. There's nothing worse than having to stop for ice all the time when you're excited to go somewhere! I'm a grazer, so I pretty much eat throughout the day instead of at set meal times, but I do make a point to get in a good dinner, a hot one if I can manage it. I love the dehydrated backpacking meals. So simple, quick, and suprisingly delicious!

At this point in my planning process I know when and where I'm going, what I'm doing, where I'll be sleeping, and what I'll be eating (kinda). It's time to actually pack! I have a comprehensive list of all items to pack, ranging from my tent to makeup. This, of course, is the most variable part of my travels. Am I going somewhere where I need to look decent, or am I roughing it in the middle of nowhere? It completely depends. I have a core set of items I take with me when I stay in civilization, and a core set of items I take with me when I hike and camp. It's actually remarkable how the only thing that really goes on both types of trips is my toothbrush. Well, there are a few other items, but you get my point. Packing varies, and I'd be lying if I didn't admit I enjoy packing for camping more, though packing in general means I'll be on the road again soon!

There really isn't much more to it. I plan things out to the best of my ability, and expect to change those plans once I'm actually at the destination because shit happens. When things work out the way I plan, though, it gives me little pops of pride in my chest. Another successful adventure!

What I'm listening to: Kowalski Rag by James Newton Howard