Caprock Canyon and Trailways

Back to civilization and its ho hum landscape (at least compared to Caprock Canyons) If this weren't where my kids, my job and the 10 for 10 diet dr pepper sales were, I am not sure I would have come back. Well, I also like easy access roads that actually get someplace in less than 3 hours... someplace includes arenas that hose more than Friday Night Lights and the local American Idol contestant's consolation show.

OH! AND TREES big enough to hand a hammock on...

Anyway, Thursday found Katrina and I hiking to and through Clarity Tunnel.

You get a wierd sense of accomplishment carrying everything you need for a camp in one pack. Of course while the road looks like it goes on forever, we really only hiked about 5 miles in and 5 miles out.

Finding a relatively flat camping spot that was not either on the trail or suspiciously full of cow pie was a bit hard. But the scenery was georgeous.

Of course I'm told that the section of the trail we hiked is kinda bland compared to what is farther west and in the Canyons State Park Itself.

The next day we hiked out, had onion rings and root beer at the local diner and toured the old stone jail (can't pass up a hysterical marker)...

THEN we went to the Caprock State Park:
Red Rock and Spanish Skirts and Gypsum and mini-Grand Canyons everywhere!

I really must come back with the kids. Maybe Lainey will put up with a tent if she gets the chance to see bats and stars.

Plus, where else can you staddle the width of the Red River?

The Mummy Sleeps Soundly (NOT)

I finally used the last of a Bass Pro Shops gift card I received as a thank-you for working until 5AM one "night." I proudly selected a SlumberJack 30o Mummy bag. It was shiny and light and packed down incredibly small in the included compression pack.

MAN! Was I ready to go hiking.

I forgot it had been a long time since I had slept in a mummy bag. AND that was in a nice comfy 1950s era down-filled army garage sale special... ON A COT.

I wanted to toss and turn, but I could not. I was in a mummy bag. I wanted to sit up and stretch, but I could not. I was in a hiking tent that is the very same basic dimensions and shape as a mummy bag. I wanted to lay down flat, but I could not. I did not see the root ball to that grass clump when I pitched the tent. My bad.

Modern camping technology did not play nicely with me on this trip. Last week I made an impulse buy and pimped-my-maglite for about $5.99 with a push button on-off switch and a LED conversion. BUT... when I tested the batteries at the trailhead, I somehow managed to twist the new LED bulb leads and short the whole thing out. So when we got to Clarity Tunnel, I had a very warm, very dark mini-maglite. Of course, Clarity Tunnel is just over 500 feet long and runs roughly East-West. As long as the sun is up, it is probably never too dark to walk through Clarity.

Now the little Korean-war era camp pot I borrowed from Katrina... that worked great. It packed up nicely, sliding over the bottom of my wal-mart clearance army-style canteen. I probably have one or two of those stashed somewhere in Minden. Before my next hiking trip, I am going to need to visit either Dad's shed or an Army/Navy store.