Mammoth Takes to the Bats

Camping trip to Carlsbad
Tue 11 July 2023

Day One's drive was a short jaunt over to Copper Breaks State Park. I'd been wanting to go there, mainly because it is an "International Dark Sky Park".  Ranked by nighttime absence of ambient light, this one places in the 2nd tier of darkest Texas state parks. Only one park places in the 1st tier--Big Bend Ranch.

Notes from the time:
So later, much later, I'll go out and look at the stars. I didn't bring the star book, but I know that Mars is hanging out in the Western sky where Venus will be setting. Star Date magazine says to look for it to the upper right of Venus, in the constellation Regulus. The trees are short and scrubby here, so I'll try.

We arrived before two o'clock. Maybe July wasn't the best month to take this trip, but it was the best month we had available. And I figured, better July than August. It was 97 degrees when we arrived and is supposed to get to 107 today. Hah! But if I waited until fall to take the trip, the bats would be gone. And if I waited until spring, who knows if there would be any bats left? White nose syndrome may have gotten them all.

Ed won't want to come here again. He's annoyed because the dump station is so close to the road that he thinks he'll have to block to road while dumping.  My take on the matter is, yes, that may be true (it wasn't), but even so, how does that make us any different from anybody else? If we have to block the road while dumping, so does everyone.  Besides, there were only three other campers in the whole 25-site loop. Plus the road is two-way and clearly has room for two vehicles to pass at the same time.

 

For our evening walk, Molly and I set out at a time that I hoped was about an hour before sunset. We walked down the hill to the day-use and tent camping area, then went on to the swimming area. Which was very, very dry. In fact, you couldn't even see the lake from there.

But I'd gotten a glimpse of the lake from the motorhome coming in, so I knew it was down there somewhere. We went on, growing hotter and more uncomfortable by the minute. But in that minute--or five of them--we saw a turnoff and, finally, the lake. 

Molly got a little bit of a swim--there were absolutely no people around, anywhere. I'm not even sure I saw a car driving by during our walk. It is always so amazing to me that you can step away from the established areas where people congregate and see....

Nobody. Nothing--which was a shame, I'd hoped for a deer at the least--and nobody. On the walk back we bypassed the turnoff to the campground and went on up the hill toward the "scenic view". In a place so flat, I doubted there was much of a scenic view, but I could hope. Finally, the sun went down far enough that it wasn't glaring in my eyes, but as we went on I finally heard some people up ahead making a good bit of racket. Probably at the parking for the scenic view; I turned back--where there are noisy people in the back-country there are often dogs, too, and those dogs are often not leashed. And with the sun going down, I'd accomplished my goal of an hour long walk.

I saw cardinals, Lark Sparrows and Painted Buntings in Abundance. A pair of Huge White-Winged Doves. A hawk patrolling, probably a Mississippi Kite but I don't know if they come so far west...