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
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