Well, I'm back and it was quite an adventure. I left Houston around 9am Monday morning and had lunch with a friend I've not seen in over a year in
Boerne. The drive from Boerne to Banderas was beautiful and fun... hilly, twisty road. Just past Banderas was my first stop - Hill Country State Natural Area. I got there around 3pm and lucked upon the ranger as I was filling out the paperwork. I never saw the office open.
He told me I had about a 2.5 mile hike in to Wilderness camping area. Based on the sign-in sheet, I discovered I was alone in the park. That remained true until the morning I left when a couple arrived just as I was leaving.
The site I'd picked was beautiful and the hike was fairly easy. I set up
camp under a big tree and called it a day. As I was dozing off, I heard
coyotes in the distance, birds and frogs calling all over and more fireflies
than I knew existed... the woods were lit up with them. I was awakened
about 2am by the sound of something walking in the leaves behind my tent.
Whatever it was walked right up to the tent. I heard it inhale a couple of
times inches from my head - probably trying to figure out what I was and/or
if there was anything interresting inside. After maybe 30 very tense
seconds, it wandered off. I still have NO idea what it was. I looked for tracks in the dirt near the tent the next morning but I'm no expert tracker so I couldn't tell what was old and what was new. I'd guess raccoon or coyote.
Tuesday I set out just after dawn. It was overcast and kinda drizzly. The
park is nice but VERY basic - the trails are scantily marked and the map has a few errors but I brought a compass and figured out where the map was messed up. In a bizarre kinda way, being a little lost and turned around made it kinda fun.
In particluar, I noticed Trail 4a shows a dead end at the scenic overlook. This is not so. In fact, it continues and joins with Trail 4 just north of the floor of Cougar Canyon. As I was approaching from this area, I turned on to 4a at the new intersection. It was clearly marked. What confused me was when it didn't stop and joined up with another trail. It took a bit of wandering to figure out exactly where I was. But, I'm getting ahead of myself chronologically.
Around mid-day, I was hiking down into Cougar Canyon when I slipped and my ankle went one way, my knee the other, my body yet another. In essence, my leg tried to make a letter "Z". I felt a sharp pain in both my knee and ankle. The ankle pain went away in just a second or two but the
knee pain only eased back slightly. I got up, hobbled to a boulder that was
about tush-high and sat down for a bit to see what my knee wanted to do and to look at my map. At that point, a lot went through my head - "I'm alone, just me and the ranger in 3000+ acres. I'm miles of rough hills from my car. I'm not sure if I can walk. Ummmmmm, maybe this whole solo hiking thing wasn't such a good idea."
The pain slowly went away in my knee as I sat there. I stood up, tested the
knee, twisted it, steped up and down from a few big rocks, everything felt
okay. I took it as a lesson learned, to look closer at where I'm putting my
feet. I continued on my planned path, but kept in mind the quickest way
back to either the car or the camp (whichever was closest). I checked out Hermit's Shack and found it to be interresting looking but not near, IMHO, as pretty as Wilderness. I aslo encountered more skeeters there than anywhere else in the park. I was completely unable to find Butterfly Springs for some reason.
As the afternoon wore on, my knee started bothering me again... nothing sudden, just a slow build of pain. I didn't think much of it but came close to
calling it a day just to be safe. I walked back to the car which was parked at Trailhead Equestrian and drove it to Bar-O to hit trail 8, planning on it
being the last of my day. I should have listened to my instincts. About
1/3 of the way into the trail (just after the steep part marked on the map, in the utility easement), my knee suddenly got a LOT worse. I realized that the path was longer ahead but looked easier than the path I'd just covered. I was fortunate that I brought some Vicodin with me in my first aid kit (left over from oral surgery about a year ago) and 1/2 tab of that that got me back to the car. By this point, the pain was under control (thanks to the meds) but I was slowed - maybe 20% of my usual pace. I took the chance and drove back to the Equesterian Camp, which was the parking area nearest my camp, and went back to the tent, figuring on wrapping my knee and leaving in the morning, hoping that the knee wouldn't get worse overnight. I knew there was a slight chance the knee would stiffen overnight and leave me stuck - kinda figured another Vicodin or two would get me out if that was the case but was still kinda unnerving to think about.
By morning it was better but not 100%. It only being Weds morning, I really
didn't want to go home but knew a hard hike was out. I'd seen enough of
Hill Country SNA, and was not all THAT impressed - lack of wildlife aside
from insects, swarms of mosqitoes that laugh at DEET, dreary weather. In
fact, I only saw 4 non-human mammals the enire day and a half I was there -
2 cows that seem to wander around the place, an armadillo and a squirrel. I
hike mostly for the wildlife so I was thinking of moving on even before I
hurt my knee. I do understand that perhaps it was the weather that kept
them hiding.
Back at the car, I started looking for somehere I could go where I could see
something interresting but with minimal hiking. I saw a place called "Fort
McKavett State Historic Site" and remembered it being on my "maybe" list of
stuff to see in the area. I figured it'd be a good test of my knee.
I was there in about 2 hours after having drive the COOLEST stretch of road
in the whole state. Hwy 16 from Bandera to Kerrville is the only road I've
ever been on in which I thought the speed limit was insane. The limit is 70
on this road and, even in my little sports car, I almost never broke 60.
The road is the most twisty, hilly road I've ever heard of. The one who
planned it must have previously designed rollercoasters for a living! That
or the person is completely and utterly insane. (Side note here - I'd
actually been on that road once before back in '93 or so when some friends and I got lost on our way thru San Antonio on our way to San Diego (that transition where I-10 & Hwy 90 meet is tricky if you aren't being careful!) We drove it in a driving thunderstorm, at night, listening to Anne Rice's "Ramses the Dammed" book-on-tape no less! But as we were lost at the time, we had no idea where that road had been but it was the most memorable part of that trip - was wild to discover it again.)
I stopped in Kerrville for a knee brace and some tylenol, both of which
seemed to help.
The Fort was really neat - the remains of an army fort occupied from the
1850's to the 1880's. Some of the buildings were left as is - in ruins.
Others were rebuilt using the original plans so we can see how it would have
looked. It was pretty and the weather cooperated - partly sunny, 80's,
windy. I took about a 1/2 mile round-trip hike to the spring and lime kiln
the soldiers used and kinda tested out the knee. It seemed okay - hurt a
bit but not enough to run me home. I figured if I went to my next stop -
Lost Maples State Natural Area - and took it easy the rest of the day, I'd
be okay to hike the 10-12 miles of trails there the next day (Thurs).
Lost Maples is one of the nicests state facilities I've ever seen. Someone on this site called it a "jewel" and I whole-heartedly agree. I should have gone straight there instead of Hill Country SNA but, eh, hindsight is 20/20. This place is only about 30 miles from Hill Country SNA but its like comparing a roadside motel with the Ritz-Carlton. I saw more animals in the first 10 minutes there than I did the entire time at Hill Country (unless one counts flying, blood-sucking insects). I had a deer cross not 10' in front of my car (thankfully I was driving slow), had a squirrel try to raid my dinner (as I was eating it!).
This time, I camped at one of the regular sites with water and electricity - mostly to save myself the hike in to the primitive area. I did as I had planned - I spent the afternoon & evening reading my book at the campsite, although I was really restless to get out on the trails. The camping area is in a box canyon and is just FILLED with wildlife. It kills me my camera has no real zoom else I would have had twice as many photos. As it is, I got almost no wildlife photos as all.
By morning, my knee was about the same as it had been at the Fort, maybe a
bit better, so I braved the trails around 8am. I decided to hit East Trail (and Maple Trail as well - did both small stretches) then follow West Trail around - figured the only part I'd miss was the stretch of East Trail betwen the northern half of West Trail and the southern half.
By 10am, I knew I was done and needed to come home. The first couple of miles were so-so on the knee but then I hit the steep stretch just past Camping Area A. That was the steepest climb I'd had all trip. By the time I got to the top, I was done for the day. My right knee (the one I'd injured) was screaming and my left knee had started hurting in the same place, but not near as bad - comparable to the way the right had felt the previous day. I hiked across the plateau I'd climbed and back down the other side to the car. It was killing me to have to leave - that place was absolutely Eden! I definately plan to go back as soon as I can.
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