For the first leg of our trip, we headed to Caprock Canyons State Park. Getting there was an adventure as severe storms blew up on our route. We sheltered in a couple of different car wash bays and kept making our way west between the cells. When we finally arrived, the weather had cleared, and we took an evening walk, and watched the prairie dogs. After sunset, we enjoyed the star filled sky with a clear view of the Milky Way disc.
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West Texas Car Wash Storm Shelter
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Prairie Dogs at Sunset
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The stars at night, shine big and bright, . . .
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The next morning, we hiked
three different trails, totaling about 10
miles and 700 feet of elevation gain. We did the Eagle Point trail
first. There were many fresh bison footprints and droppings, but no
bison. The park is home to a herd of about 150 bison. On the good side, we saw no other people the entire 5 miles. We
headed to the North Prong trail. As we were returning toward the parking
area, a huge male bison stepped out of the brush and crossed just in
front of us. As we pulled out of the parking area, a mom and youngster stopped for a drink of water and crossed. Bebop chased numerous lizards.
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On the trails at Caprock Canyons State Park
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More Caprock Canyon Trails
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| Bison |
We rolled out mid-afternoon and drove to a boondocking site at Bosque Redondo Park south of Fort Sumner. This
was the view out of the van door this morning. The beautiful view is in
contrast to the terrible history of this area. This was where the
Navajo (Dine') were marched to when the US forced them from their
homeland starting in 1864. Since you might not find this information in
our increasingly whitewashed history books, here's the story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Walk_of_the_Navajo
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From our boondock site at Bosque Redondo Park
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- Paul
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