Friday Tikka and I walked through Daingerfield State Park in East Texas, a place my family frequently went camping in my my youth. It was kind of a spur-of-the moment decision, although I have thought of stopping by before.
It was cool, perhaps even chill, in the upper 40s, cloudy and dark. I had just been driving through a couple of hours of rain, but although dark and dreary, it was not raining in East Texas although there was evidence that rain has been ample of late with signs of flooding in many places. In fact the contrast of wet and burnt were unsettling on my walk, spongy earth and areas of charred burnt forest and stumps amidst the lush new growth, reminded me that Texas is coming off a drought of many years duration.
Still, it was a lovely day for a walk. There is a trail around the small lake, a trail of about 2 1/2 miles duration which I would have liked to take but I was worried about it being too far for Tikka. I needn't have worried and I am sure there is a lesson in that. Tikka hasn't been walking as much lately, and she does have some degenerative issues in her spine, but she was happy to wander off, blazing a trail. Perhaps, now that the weather is cooler, we need to explore more. Perhaps she is simply bored with the apartment complex, I know I am as a walking trail, at any rate.
We didn't take the lake trail, but instead wandered partly around the lake, then took the Mountain trail, and a subsidiary offshoot, I think officially named something else on the maps, but the signs simply said Mountain trail. My thoughts were that these trails were shorter, and they were, .66 mile, and .5 mile each, but I had to get to them, having parked along the lake trail, not near to the mountain trails. In the end we walked 2 miles, and it was a harder walk than had we simply taken the loop around the lake, but I think it worked well for us.
At one point the subsidiary trail went steeply uphill, not quite vertically, but close. Tikka scampered up boulders and tree roots like a mountain goat, looking curiously at me I picked my way more slowly, looking for steady footholds, and often handholds as well, in the mud and wet leaves, and over the rocks. Still it was a good walk, and we had both recovered enough energy to sprint across the lawn back to our car at the end of the trail. Tikka of course then got to take a nap while I drove the last 2 hours or so to my mother's house in Garland.
I'm expecting a quiet week. Blogging will probably be irregular.
