Take a Hike! And a Swim...

Today, we decided to do something different. We grabbed our hiking shoes and our swim suits and headed out. Our destination today was one of Texas's state parks - Inks Lake State Park off of Texas 29, west of Burnet. Check it out at http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/inks/

The weather was beautiful! Laura Skirde, the meterologist on KXAN television in Austin, predicted great Texas hiking weather - mid 90's with clear skys and a 40% chance of "pop up" thunder storms. A quick look out of the door this morning indicated she nailed the forecast!

The first stop was Subway to pick up some sandwiches for lunch. Then, we headed to the park. Next stop was the fee at the entrance gate - ouch! The State Leislature raised the price! It used to be a flat fee for a car load. Now, they want $5.00 per PEROSON. We took the cheap route... The "Ledge" did not raise the price for a state park permit: it is still $60.00 and good in all state parks. With the new prices, however, the permit pays for itself after three visits - it used to take seven or eight visits.

After buying our permit and checking in, we headed down to a "day use" area for lunch. After lunch, we headed up to the trail head and hiked out along the green trail. We used this to link to the yellow trail, then the red trail to the blue trail loop. When the blue trail reached the road, we crossed the road and picked up the green trail and hiked back to the trailhead and our drink supply. Along the way, we passed the site where this photograph was taken by Earl Nottingham (© 2006).

After a few minutes rest and a long drink, we headed for the swim beach. I wish I could have said "a long, cold drink", but I cannot - all our ice melted. We had it stored in an small cooler, but the head in the cab of our truck melted the ice any way.

We swam until about 18:00. When we tried to get out of the water, we realized how really tired we were! Because of all the rain earlier this year, we have not had the chance to get out on the trail until today. It seams like we are a little out of shape! We had a good time, however, and it was good to get off of the ranch for a while.