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Chuychanga

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thrillhammer

thrillhammer 683

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18 hours ago, Sidney Sherman said:

Going to Caprock and Palo Duro this summer. Hoping to find some good places to hike and hammock camp.

Any good vacation ideas while we are out that way? Haven't really explored the panhandle, looking forward to it.

I dont recall there being decent hiking at either park.  have you looked at the hiking maps on the tpwd website?

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Biff Tannen
Biff Tannen

First day was fucking rough. Had an anxiety attack and almost had heat exhaustion. BUT, today was fucking fantastic. I’m camping on a ridge with cell signal and got to bathe under a waterfall before d

Biff Tannen
Biff Tannen

A few more  

Biff Tannen
Biff Tannen

So I'm a month out from the PCT.  I put in my two weeks at work.  This is fucking happening.  I'm kinda freaking out.  Kinda loving it.  I don't quite know how to react.  Posting on this degenerate we

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davidg

davidg 4032

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10 minutes ago, thrillhammer said:

I dont recall there being decent hiking at either park.  have you looked at the hiking maps on the tpwd website?

You will want to get a real early start hiking in PD during the summer.  We did the Rock Garden trail on our way to Philmont in late July 2015.  Several kids and an adult were in the first stages of heat exhaustion when we go back to the vehicles.  It started off cool in the morning  but was blazing by the time we reached the rim. 

The lighthouse trail is another popular one.

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Biff Tannen

Biff Tannen 45512

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32 minutes ago, thrillhammer said:

pedernales falls is the second closest state park, and it happens to be a great one.  colorado bend is excellent also.

Yeah, but they book out months in advance.  I suppose I could roll up and see if they had any cancellations.  Was considering Colorado Bend anyway for day hiking to hit up the one trail I haven't done out there.  Love that place.

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Biff Tannen

Biff Tannen 45512

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On 5/14/2018 at 7:01 PM, UnivTex34 said:

Picked up the Delorme this afternoon at Cabelas. Cool little device.

Not sure how much you paid, or which exact model you ended up with, but the Garmin (Delorme) InReach Explorer Plus is about to be $75 off at REI for Memorial Weekend sale.

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UnivTex34

UnivTex34 1763

Posted
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13 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

Not sure how much you paid, or which exact model you ended up with, but the Garmin (Delorme) InReach Explorer Plus is about to be $75 off at REI for Memorial Weekend sale.

Yeah, I saw that. The original Delorme model, which has the same internals is $200 at Cabelas right now, so about $175 cheaper.

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utee94

utee94 15746

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On 5/14/2018 at 9:30 PM, RCRanger03 said:

Taking the wife, 3 and 1 year old girls, and my pops for a weekend in Lost Maples... No idea how this is going to go, but I need camping back in my life. Went from a monthly backpacker to basically nothing in 3 years (except by myself when the missus takes the gremlins back to WV for a few weeks)

LM is my favorite Texas park, and the primitive sites in the valley are an easy mile hike in from the parking lot.

Any advice on making this a non miserable experience for all involved?

Skip the primitive area and take a massive 5th wheel RV with a separate wing for your wife and kids?

And look at you folks with all your fancy gadgets.  All I take for my solo trips is a compass, and a sextant.

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Ebeye

Ebeye 116

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I finally made it back out on the trail this weekend.  I camped out at the Lake of the Clouds (actually three small lakes) near Westcliffe, CO.  The lakes were at 11,500ft.  The hike up wasn't too bad, about 2,500ft of elevation gain over 4.5 miles.  I had to contend with some snow when I finally go to the lakes, so I had to get my tent setup quickly.  Thankfully, the snow blew over in an hour and didn't stick.  My evening ended up being quite relaxing as I was the only person camping there.  Unfortunately, there is currently a fireban in place, so no campfire, but I had some scotch to warm me up.  

 

Initial trail about 15 minutes from the trailhead

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Just after the first stream crossing

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Weather looked like it wanted to roll in all day

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Lake 1 and where I camped

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Just a little bit of snow

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Lake 2

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Lake 3

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Lake of the Clouds lived up to the name!

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The Royal We

The Royal We 3066

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I took my boys to Colorado Bend last month for some car/tent camping, but we stayed at the Sulfur Springs camp that is just up the road from the park.  We took a canoe and planned on floating down from Sulfur Springs camp past Gorman Falls and pulling out at the park, but there wasn't enough water to get all the way down there.  We paddled down to a nice shallow ledge before the falls and had a picnic lunch on the rocks before paddling back upstream to our camp.

The Sulfur Springs camp is a little on the seedy side and has an eclectic group of people camping out there, but they have a huge slice of land along the river and there is a good beachy spot where we pitched our tent so the kids could play around in the water and fish the whole time.  We had a blast.

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utee94

utee94 15746

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Going back down to Padre Island National Seashore in June, when the kids are done with school.  We'll be boondocking on the beach maybe 3 miles down.  As always, depends on the sand conditions for driving whilst towing the travel trailer.  

 

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T-shirt Sip

T-shirt Sip 2097

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6 hours ago, The Royal We said:

I took my boys to Colorado Bend last month for some car/tent camping, but we stayed at the Sulfur Springs camp that is just up the road from the park.  We took a canoe and planned on floating down from Sulfur Springs camp past Gorman Falls and pulling out at the park, but there wasn't enough water to get all the way down there.  We paddled down to a nice shallow ledge before the falls and had a picnic lunch on the rocks before paddling back upstream to our camp.

The Sulfur Springs camp is a little on the seedy side and has an eclectic group of people camping out there, but they have a huge slice of land along the river and there is a good beachy spot where we pitched our tent so the kids could play around in the water and fish the whole time.  We had a blast.

Sulfur Springs is our go-to during the spring and fall. We go all the way back to the last spot on the primitive path. It's usually just a bunch of fishing, napping and drinking. You do need a 4x4 vehicle to get back there though. I miss it already and it's only been about a month since I've been out there. 

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utee94

utee94 15746

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30 minutes ago, drifter379 said:

How do you handle fresh water for the camper? I get the appeal of camping on the beach but what do you do when the tank runs out?

The freshwater tank is 30 gallons.  We don't use it for drinking or cooking, that's just for toilet/sinks.  That would last a week if we needed it to. We bring another 15 gallons or so of drinking/cooking water.  The gray tank holds 30 gallons too, so it's 1:1 for freshwater and not really a limiting factor.  The real challenge is that on my ancient, vintage camper, the black tank is only 13 gallons.  When boondocking as we do on the beach, it's strictly for #2.

We can go a full 4 days without needing to renew freshwater or dump black or gray.  Out at PINS, there's a dump station and fully modern campsite (with hot water showers!)  at the last stop before the primitive beach camping, so if we're out there longer than 4 days it's not terribly difficult to break camp, hook up the trailer, dump, and return.

If I had a modern black tank with 25 or 30 gallon capacity, we could go a full week.

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The Royal We

The Royal We 3066

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T-shirt - I've eye balled that spot when floating down a number of times, but it doesn't look there are any flat spots to pitch a tent - not true?  I've camped there 3 times now but have never made it all the way to the end of the trail.  4x4 is handy down on that huge beach as well.  My buddy had a 2x4 F150 and got hung up trying to get out of the beach and onto the road, it was a breeze in my Yukon though. 

The white bass were going bonkers and blowing up the top all day and night when we were there but we couldn't catch anything.  Tried all different kinds of flies/soft plastics, but I think you had to have some live bait.

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AnonymousInternetPoster

AnonymousInternetPoster 163

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1 hour ago, The Royal We said:

T-shirt - I've eye balled that spot when floating down a number of times, but it doesn't look there are any flat spots to pitch a tent - not true?  I've camped there 3 times now but have never made it all the way to the end of the trail.  4x4 is handy down on that huge beach as well.  My buddy had a 2x4 F150 and got hung up trying to get out of the beach and onto the road, it was a breeze in my Yukon though. 

The white bass were going bonkers and blowing up the top all day and night when we were there but we couldn't catch anything.  Tried all different kinds of flies/soft plastics, but I think you had to have some live bait.

Try a Mepp's Rooster Tail.  I've slayed them on these lures multiple times over the years.

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AnonymousInternetPoster

AnonymousInternetPoster 163

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13 hours ago, HookEm said:

Backpacking in the Pecos Wilderness this weekend. Heading up to Trampas Lakes. Anybody ever been?

I've hiked to several of these:

https://www.alltrails.com/parks/us/new-mexico/santa-fe-national-forest/lake

We have friends with a cabin in the Santa Fe National Forest.  It's a 100 year lease from the National Forest Service (or some such).  Great fishing, deer everywhere and you can harvest wild raspberries/blueberries.

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T-shirt Sip

T-shirt Sip 2097

Posted
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2 hours ago, The Royal We said:

T-shirt - I've eye balled that spot when floating down a number of times, but it doesn't look there are any flat spots to pitch a tent - not true?  I've camped there 3 times now but have never made it all the way to the end of the trail.  4x4 is handy down on that huge beach as well.  My buddy had a 2x4 F150 and got hung up trying to get out of the beach and onto the road, it was a breeze in my Yukon though. 

The white bass were going bonkers and blowing up the top all day and night when we were there but we couldn't catch anything.  Tried all different kinds of flies/soft plastics, but I think you had to have some live bait.

We've had up to (3) 4-6 man tents up top. They are all under the big tree so no need for an EZ Up.  There is also room for a table, camping kitchen and a tiny grill. There is also a nice fire pit right in the middle. I'll try to dig up some pics when I get home tonight. My friends all have lifted Chevy trucks and they get scratched all over. My little 4Runner is perfect for that trail. 

We always have luck fishing with both live bait and lures. We use a cast net to catch bait fish or bring in some worms. I like using lures and have had succes with rooster tails as mentioned above, crankbait and spinner bait. We have caught perch, whites, large & small mouth bass, carp, bluegill and a bunch of cats. Biggest were probably a couple of 12-13lb shovel heads. 

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Biff Tannen

Biff Tannen 45512

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4 minutes ago, Judge Roybeanbag said:

Hey Biff - didn't see it mentioned before but if you don't mind primitive camping, Hill Country State Natural Area out near Bandera is pretty cool.

https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/hill-country

 

 

Yeah, I've had that on the list, but the idea of first-come, first-serve sites freaks me the fuck out.  Incidentally, I'm driving up to the Buffalo National River tonight/tomorrow in hopes of getting a first-come, first-serve spot.  I am by nature extremely detailed and plan everything way in advance, so this is way out of my comfort zone, but I'm trying to be open.  PCT is on tap for 2020 so I have to learn to roll with the punches better.

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Anton Chigurh

Anton Chigurh 3319

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Yeah, I've had that on the list, but the idea of first-come, first-serve sites freaks me the fuck out.  Incidentally, I'm driving up to the Buffalo National River tonight/tomorrow in hopes of getting a first-come, first-serve spot.  I am by nature extremely detailed and plan everything way in advance, so this is way out of my comfort zone, but I'm trying to be open.  PCT is on tap for 2020 so I have to learn to roll with the punches better.


I am the same way, in Texas. In Utah/Colorado/New Mexico/Arizona, it ain’t really a worry.
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Biff Tannen

Biff Tannen 45512

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4 minutes ago, NotActuallyALonghorn said:

Yeah, there are few enough good places to camp in Texas that it makes sense to be lear ut of first come first served sites. Not as much of a problem elsewhere, especially when you can always just boondock it on national forest or BLM land.

Are National Forests just kind of a free for all?

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Anton Chigurh

Anton Chigurh 3319

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Sometimes it’s even less than that. In Carson NF near Taos Ski Valley when I was there, basically most of the area just off of the road to the valley you can camp on. There are 3 established areas, but we found an area between the established campgrounds that was better than anything else out there and we used that. It had a primitive road down to it and everything. There were other camps set up I other areas as well.

The freedom you get on some public lands is pretty sweet, and not something we get to experience much in Texas.

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Judge Roybeanbag

Judge Roybeanbag 11810

Posted
Posted (edited)

I’ve mentioned it before but I’ve got a place out off fitzhugh that is relatively equidistant between Pedernales Falls, Hamilton Pool and Reimers Ranch Park (about 15 or 20 minutes to each) that any of you guys are welcome to stay.  3 bedroom 2 bath, full kitchen, and a/c.  Easy to make day trips from there and have a nice place to chill at night. 

Edited by Judge Roybeanbag
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BillyBadAss

BillyBadAss 189

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PSA - and SIAP - The REI annual sale is going on right now. They have the REI Flash 65 pack at 50% off - basically $100. 

It seems to get pretty good reviews as a budget-minded pack at $200 - so at $100 seems to be a pretty good deal. 

Lots of other stuff on sale too of course, but this one caught my eye.. 

https://www.rei.com/product/893906/rei-co-op-flash-65-pack

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davidg

davidg 4032

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12 hours ago, BillyBadAss said:

PSA - and SIAP - The REI annual sale is going on right now. They have the REI Flash 65 pack at 50% off - basically $100. 

It seems to get pretty good reviews as a budget-minded pack at $200 - so at $100 seems to be a pretty good deal. 

Lots of other stuff on sale too of course, but this one caught my eye.. 

https://www.rei.com/product/893906/rei-co-op-flash-65-pack

I've done two Philmont treks and a bunch of other weekend hikes with a 2012 version of the Flash 65.  Bought it on clearance like what is going on now.  Decent pack for 35# and $100.

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Bone3421

Bone3421 716

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Posted (edited)

Got my new pack loaded up after a quick rei run...doing a little warm up walking my 3 mile course i run...ran yesterday and played golf today in hot sun and so far about half way done and pack feels good...dont have my food or water though so that will be extra pounds but did load up pack with more clothes than i will take

Edited by Bone3421
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Ebeye

Ebeye 116

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Posted
9 hours ago, Bone3421 said:

Got my new pack loaded up after a quick rei run...doing a little warm up walking my 3 mile course i run...ran yesterday and played golf today in hot sun and so far about half way done and pack feels good...dont have my food or water though so that will be extra pounds but did load up pack with more clothes than i will take

Which pack did you end up going with?

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Biff Tannen

Biff Tannen 45512

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So the Buffalo National River trip did not go as planned.  Apparently the "1pm check in" time for first come, first serve sites is not at all enforced so every single site on the whole got damn river was taken.  Ended up day hiking out of Fayetteville, which actually wasn't that bad.  Got to do a couple of miles on the Ozark Highlands Trail too.  Dogs got full of ticks though.  Spent two days cleaning them off them.

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