Pedernales 01/18/20

Blanco State Park, Blanco, Texas

Better a poor man whose walk is blameless than a fool whose lips are perverse.  ~ Proverbs 19:1

It was a lovely, God-kissed day today!  Although it began a little cool, we were comfortable in shorts, boots and long sleeves.  And we were looking forward to entering Pedernales State Park (hope the hunters are gone now!), after being turned away the other day.

We’ve noticed quite a few roads around here have these water level markers. And there’s always a warning sign that the road floods, too.
Hey! They’re open!
It’s a pretty long drive to the hiking part of the park.
Another unusual caution sign.

We had this notion that since they were closed for four days, and today was Friday, they’d be really busy, but they weren’t.  Oh there were a few people there in one of the most delightful areas, but overall there weren’t many, and we spent the better part of six hours in the Park.

And so, we set out for Pedernales Falls. 

More warnings . . . .
Still warning us . . . .

It was a great place to explore and crawl around on the rocks!  But there were pictures of what it can become during flash floods.  Scary!  And we saw evidence of that flooding.  I tried to find out how often it floods, but all I could find were isolated incidents – the most recent major one being in May, 2019.

Wow! Can you believe it?!?!?
And we’re off! But at the first sign of rain, we’re gettin’ outta here!
Pretty cedar trees!
Our first glimpse of the water fall area.
So beautiful!
There’s a lot of gravely sand along the shore.
The beginnings of a cave!
I was nervous when it was my turn. Trust the shoes, and Blaine’s hand. : )
What’s in here?
Reminded us of the empty tomb.

We hiked a bit more, until lunchtime.

Moving on . . .
Duck!
This is Twin Falls? Sure doesn’t look like the sign . . .
I just wanted to remember how beautiful the water was here! Even though we could barely see it.

Lunch found us river-side, and a gorgeous area that they advertise as being the swimming hole.  What we saw didn’t entice us to swim, because it was only a few inches deep and full of rocks, but maybe that’s more than enough for those who live here – especially in the heat of the summer.

You have to walk quite a ways to find the river where we were hoping to find a place to sit and eat lunch.
Is this a great spot, or what?!?

Reluctantly, we left to hit the trails again.  We carried our walking sticks with us, but we didn’t really need them.  Turned out, their idea of “challenging” didn’t mesh with ours.  😊

Lunch break is over. : (
Time to do some more hiking!
Wonder why the inside of the branches are white? All the cut branches were like this.
We’re guessing artifacts people have discovered here?
Look at the shape of this mountain! That’s why they named it “Wolf Mountain”!
Erosion I just liked the look of it. Kinda like a mushroom. : )
And now you know a bit more about those Live Oak Trees we keep taking pictures of. : )

So as we were walking along today, I suddenly, for some unexplained reason remembered an old Girl Scout song (or at least we sang it in Girl Scouts).  And of course, it remained stuck in my head for a very long time, playing over and over and over again, in time with my footfalls.

I love to go a-wandering

Along the mountain track

And as I go, I love to sing

My knapsack on my back

Valderi

Valdera

Valderi

Valdera-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha

Valderi

Valdera

My knapsack on my back

If you happen to know this song, I know you’re having evil thoughts towards me right now. 😊

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