I asked Ella if she wanted to go camping at the beach, in a forest, or in the mountains. She replied after some thought, "We've already been to the beach. I want to go to the mountains to see if I like them."
Fast forward a few weeks to a nice October Friday morning.
The day starts with the final car packing and night nurse leaving for the day. With everything ready we throw a few more drinks in the cooler for the road and head out. The first stop was seeing Calvin's ENT doctor for a routine visit. The morning's good news was hearing Calvin does not need his tracheostomy tube much longer. We will have to wait out the winter to avoid sickness risks and then it should come out. Second stop on the way out of town is breakfast and now we're rolling.
We got out of Dallas/Fort Worth around 9am via Denton. Heading north to end up following the Red River west to the panhandle plains. Five hours of highway from home we find prairies dropping into artistic canyons. The same erosion that left Palo Duro Canyon made its way towards the current Gulf of Mexico a great many years ago and valleys were carved in the process.
Pit stops to buy groceries, grab Sonic Drive In lunch, and fuel kept us going. Camping cooler pro tip: Sonic sells bags of ice which pack really well into coolers.
Depending on your perspective there is either not much or quite a bit way out here in this area of Texas. This large Texas State Park was completely booked for the weekend. We reserved a primitive tent camping spot in the park and were assigned the below pictured area upon arrival. Primitive means there is no water or electricity. There was a his and hers outhouse not too far away. There is a remote shower and bathroom building you can drive to.
Site 56 in the Little Red Tent campground.
We dumped our stuff and poked around the spot to settle in. The tent sites are a pleasant distance from any parking without being inconvenient. Fortune came in our arriving before most others and getting the end site of the horseshoe with only one neighbor. We did have to disappoint one squatter who tried to unpack before stopping at the offices and reserving his campground site. I wasn't gonna drive ten minutes back to the rangers to get another site. This is a grand state park and you have to drive more than five minutes just to get to running water and a good distance to the entrance.
Once I was comfortable with the tent location, and it was standing we did some more wandering down to the creek bed behind the site. Below is pictured from a small peak above our tent.
The only notable injury sustained on the trip was Ella diving out of the portable crib and hitting the dirt face first while we were setting up the tent. We setup the little guy in the crib so we could mill around and the girls wanted in on the action. Ella scraped up her face and wore red marks all weekend after.
Camp was in comfortable shape and transitioned nicely into time to prepare dinner. We enjoyed some pork chops before sunset. Evening in the canyon brought out some excellent stargazing and an orchestra of wildlife noise. A decent sized pack of coyotes or wolves could be heard periodically howling. The weather perfected the trip with highs in the low 70s and lows in the 50s at night. We all slept well under layers of blankets and sleeping bags. Ava always the last to leave the party curiously poked around the tent a while and restlessly laid down with us until late.
It was night and then it was day again. A crisp morning in the valley.
The Big Hike
The girls ate bacon as fast as I could make it. We had a good breakfast and then packed up for a day on the vast trails offered in the park. Caprock Canyons State Park offers over 15,000 acres to explore and is the third-largest Texas state park.
We set out from the parking lot trailhead with Calvin strapped to Cassi's back and me lugging the backpack of water bottles, snacks, and emergency gear. The way we defined emergency gear in this way greatly undervalues the term. It was a heavy pack. The girls started admirably wanting to walk "the whole way" and took turns carrying some small binoculars.
We set into a decent pace around 1-2 mph. Ella was ever vigilant in warning the group of encroaching cactus and piles of horse droppings. The first couple hours were rolling canyons paths weaves through the landscape.
You never know what is around the bend or over the next hill. Ella came right up under a horse in the below pass as she crested the hill. She was in wonder watching a couple giants clip past.
We stopped for our first break on a picturesque mesa next to the trail.
Starting on trail D we headed north and then turned west on trail C. We came up on six people riding horses at the intersection of CDE. One gentlemen informed us all the trail was beautiful and they only saw one mountain lion. I reassured him I had brought my pocket knife and we had a laugh. The girls didn't hear the conversation as they were enamoured with the cowboys and cowgirls. We would later complete the loop through the 'extremely steep & rugged' sections and return to the lot via trail B.
This map leads you to believe some things about the size of the park which are far from good scale. The easiest oversight is not factoring in vertical distances. The park ranges in elevation by around 1000 feet and these trails cover that up and down many times over. Trails D and C were mostly rolling through valleys until the peaks in the top left corner of the map. In that back corner you scale the canyon arriving on top of the 'caprock'. Trail B followed the ridge top back before dropping you back in the canyon. That is what we did. We considered turning back along trail C, but there was no way we were going to miss out on hitting the summit.
The latter part of trail C dropped us into a dry creek bed snaking up the valley. Once you get right up under one of the highest elevation peaks the path leads straight up the side of the canyon and around a peak. Before you know it you are on top of everything. Here are some shots from the bottom up.
We neglected to snap some of the views from the ridge line as we trekked back towards the trailhead. By this time we were taking turns carrying all the kids. I carried one and sometimes two kiddos along nearly the entire ridge line distance and down to nearly the parking lot. Carrying two kids is not too bad a thing by itself. Carrying two kids unwilling to walk with a heavy pack on your back on an extremely steep and rugged trail over miles at a time is pushing reason. Ava around the time we hit the highest elevation was on my shoulders and took a nap on my head while moving. There was no doubt we were successfully wearing everyone out.
The day's hike is horizontally calculated around nearly seven miles. All five of the crew came through safely and in good health. We had one scare on the descent while Cassi had Ava strapped to her back and Calvin in her arms. She slipped and her forearm holding Calvin caught the fall into a boulder along the trail. No harm done other than bruising. She got to carry less for a bit after that. Cassi impressed me with her determination and stamina all day. We were on the trail from late morning until around 6pm.
Returning to camp we all collapsed at the picnic table and immediately went to work on dinner. Steaks were the menu highlight for the day and even though we had good snacks all day we had no trouble with appetite. Settling into bed for the night was a simple affair for once. Around 5am I woke to the distant sound of scattered thunder. I laid awake listening to a rain storm roll in. The wildlife around us was stirring and seeking shelter. Nature has a way of preparing for or generally not caring about weather coming. A steady rainfall stayed until we left the park Sunday morning. I had to poorly pack the tent up into one of our big plastic bins until it could be aired out at home.
The only downside to the trip was not spotting a single bison in the park. Caprock is home to the Texas state bison herd which explains the oversized cattle fence pictured below. They have a viewing area we passed through and didn't see a thing.
We seem to have found a winning getaway strategy for this family. We both agreed it was the best camping trip we've had so far. The hike, perfect weather, and girls sad to go home all added up to a very satisfying weekend. This is not the sort of thing I'd recommend to lots of folks. I also don't think many people I know would enjoy some of the strains. It was worth it. Never let somebody tell you a 'stay-cation' can be as good. We spent $18 to get a campsite on top of our State Park pass for the two nights. A little extra gas money and some cheap groceries make for an unforgettable family milestone.
