Snowbirding Magnus Style, Day 2

Wednesday, Nov 5

Ed asks me which way to go, and when I tell him, he doesn’t do it. And then argues that I don’t know what I’m talking about. Frustrating.

In summary about Lake Possum Kingdom: this is a nice little park on a nice little lake but it has no birds, there are houses all around the other side so therefore no view, and no wildlife except three deer, a possum and a lot of Canada Geese.  Very boring and I see no reason to come back.

I’m still not sure why I routed us so far off the route to get there. But now I know--been there, done that, and don’t have to do it again.

The day’s drive was taking us to Lake Colorado City State Park. It’s not a great place and we’ve been there several times already, but it was conveniently placed halfway between stops.  So, we’re going back.

We spent much of the drive monitoring our elevation with the new device: 

From trip notes:

And we are there. And it’s hot. 90 degrees in a completely clear sky.

There was very little shade from the mesquite trees and prickly pear, so I chose to stay inside for an hour or so until the sun started to slide down the sky. Our campsite was an excellent one, site 53, although one on the west side of the loop might be better for afternoons. Just next to our site there was a cut-through dirt road over to the non-electric sites. They’re close to the lake but still not lake view—you an only see the lake from the road in a vehicle. The lake is down in a deep valley.

 

I remembered from the previous visit that there was a nice trail all alongside the lake. Pretty rugged, too. So I was thinking about taking it again. When Molly and I took a short “arrival” walk in the sun, we went to the trailhead at the north end, near a boat ramp (dry, mostly) and a day use area. But I remembered that you could cut across country from the electric-only campsites to get to the trail, so that may be what we do. Either that or walk to the south end, get on and circle back the way we just went.

There were no birds when we arrived although I did hear some little chirpy birds in the trees and saw one golden-fronted woodpecker.  You’d think the place would be just swarming with horny toads and roadrunners, but no.  Or at least, none that I’ve seen. There used to be ground squirrels here but I don’t see any right now. There are several filled-in holes near our campsite, but I’d not expect the squirrels to have gone underground so soon.

Maybe we’ll see some later.

 

LATER  Never did. I saw a roadrunner and a few rabbits and…that’s about it. And a curve-billed thrasher, a mockingbird, and some finches (I think.) Pretty dull.

Molly and I ended up taking the trail at about 4:30 when the sun went down enough for the walk to be bearable. And soon it became enjoyable. I didn’t manage to make it all the way up to the start of the trail because there were some campers up around there, right about where I thought it might start.

The lake seen from the trail, 

And even if they weren’t at the start of the trail, we would have had to walk right by them to get to it, so I chose to bushwhack across behind one of the nearer campsites. It was a little scary at first, but soon we found the trail. We kept losing it again during the walk, but only a little bit—it’s pretty well marked and also pretty well used—even when I wasn’t sure of the way to go, all I had to do was consult the the shoe prints on the ground. Showed us the way.

It took about 45 minutes total, from our campsite up the road, across the bush, down the trail to the day use area, and then back up the road to our camp. Pretty close to my target afternoon walk for Molly. It was only after we’d gotten back that I remembered my plan to jog that day. Oh, well.