Field Trip - Inks Lake State Park

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 texas never ceases to amaze us. 

with the water levels of our normal haunts forever dwindling we set out in search of something new.

driving through the winding roads of the texas hill country we came to a vista and before us lay inks lake, one of the bigger bodies of water we've seen in the past few years. surprisingly this lake is almost untouched by the multiple year drought that we are currently in the midst of. 

boats, canoes and kayaks making their way through the middle of the lake, swimmers lining the shores, and tree covered peaks in the distance. it was actually a scene quite reminiscent of lake winnipesaukee in new hampshire where we both grew up. 

we made our way to devil's waterhole where we spent the afternoon jumping off the surrounding cliffs and basking in the big texas sun. 

 inks lake is only an hour outside of town and yet this was our first time there, it is truly inspiring and surprising that texas has so much to offer. even after two years full of exploration there is still so much of this big state that we have yet to discover and experience.

Amistad National Recreation Area

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this past weekend i celebrated my twenty sixth birthday with an overnight kayaking trip to the amistad national recreation area. 

 it has been exactly one year since the start of this little project we decided to call america y'all, and it's been a whirlwind thus far. what came about as just a way for us to document our lives and travels for ourselves has grown into more than we could have imagined.

the past twelve months flew by like the miles on our odometer and i don't think i would have changed a thing. weekend after weekend our trips never got old, we were constantly learning and growing as a couple and as individuals. even if it was a visit to a place we had been before we found a new way to explore and enjoy it.   

new friends, amazing trips and exciting opportunities have all come to fruition just through us doing what we enjoy. everything in the past year has happened organically, nothing forced, just what we've been doing all along; except now we bring a camera and a pen along with us on our travels.

"this had been a full, rich year. i have left no strange or delightful thing undone i wanted to do." everett ruess; 1934.

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Field Trip - Swimming Holes

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although most of texas has been in a severe drought for the past few years there are still plenty of places to stay cool. we had some friends from philadelphia in town for the fourth of july and took full advantage of the beautiful weather by hitting all the swimming holes in the austin area. below are some photos from jacobs well in wimberley, pedernales falls state park and lake travis.

 

National Park Road Trip - Day Nine

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day nine; guadalupe mountains national park. final stop.

after our time at carlsbad caverns we had two options, head home or check out the guadalupe mountains national park right over the border in texas. although we had read up a bit on this national park before it was not something we had planned on seeing during this trip, but with the day still young we decided to head back to the lone star state. the park is home to guadalupe peak, the highest point in texas. although there are a multitude of hikes throughout the mountains we knew that if we were going to do any of them it was going to be that one. 

we head into the ranger station to inquire about hiking the peak and doing some backcountry camping near the summit. the young ranger enthusiastically gave us all the details about the hike, took down our info and issued us our backcountry permits. staying in line with the rest of his chipper attitude he also informed us that there was a chance of severe thunderstorms that night. he brought up the radar on his computer and showed us the ominous looking mass coming in from the west, and ended the conversation with a dead serious, "we've had surveyors up there in some severe storms and they lived!"

exhausted from the hours and hours of driving, lack of caloric intake and nauseous from the extreme heat we left the station feeling torn, heed the weather warning and head home or take our chances and end this trip on top of texas. we drove around in the sweltering mid-day sun constantly checking the radar for any change in the weather, trying to figure out what to do. it would be a shame to end the trip feeling defeated, but we figured we weren't really prepared to deal with the wild weather that we could encounter at 8749 feet. 

while resting in the shade of an old tree on the side of the road we received a very inspirational email from our pal mike portugal. his words lifted us and gave us the energy and motivation our tired minds and bodies needed. we loaded up our packs and hit the trail.

starting on a trail filled with yucca, tumbleweeds and cacti we climbed towards the peak in the last remaining light of the day and found a place to set up our tent among the pines. 

we awoke early the morning among the clouds, packed up and hit the trail to finish the last mile to the peak. by the time we reached the summit the clouds were below us, almost completely blocking the view of the surrounding mountains below.

standing on the top of the world in the cold morning air, we finished this wild trip on a literal and figurative high note.

nine days, thirty five hundred miles, fourteen national parks and monuments. 

National Park Road Trip - Day Eight

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day eight; carlsbad caverns national park.

we spent nine hours driving straight from the northern edge of new mexico all the way to the southern. at two a.m. we found ourselves in a wal-mart parking lot, which would serve as a place to wash up and rest our heads for the night. we wake up the next morning, give our eyes enough time to adjust to the sunlight, and we are off. 

we make it to carlsbad caverns national park bright and early. after speaking with a park ranger, we were under the impression that the hour and a half hike he informed us about was just to get to the cavern itself. as we set off for our trek, we soon realized that length of the hike he described was just that of walking through the cavern. 

the cavern trail descends about seven hundred and fifty feet under the earths surface. as you descend into the massive cavern a wall of damp cool air hits you, with the average temperature in the cave being sixty eight degrees and the humidity level staying close to one hundred percent year round. after a round of switchbacks you are dumped into the opening of the cave, we were in awe of what lay before us. 

stalactites above and stalagmites below all lit in a way that allowed you to see how impressive these formations really are. we are surrounded by massive columns rising fifty feet from the cave floor to the ceiling and limestone walls so fluid and smooth it looks as though they could be running water.

we spent more than two and a half hours slowly walking through the eerily silent and enormous cavern before heading back to the desert above. back in the dry, cactus laden landscape of new mexico it's hard to believe that something so other-worldly lay right below the surface.

 

National Park Road Trip - Day Seven

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 day seven; black canyon of the gunnison and mesa verde national parks.

we arrived in colorado right after sun down the night before and would already be in new mexico before sunset of day seven. spending less than twenty four hours in such a beautiful state almost seems criminal, but so it goes. the day started in the misty morning dew as we packed up the tent we had hastily set up a mere eight hours ago in the woods of the black canyon of the gunnison national park. 

we spent the morning hiking the rim trails of the canyon, an endless sea of green in front of us as far as the eye could see. a sight that reminded us of our childhood in the woods and mountains of new hampshire. and something that we haven't seen in two years as we've been fully immersed in exploring the dry and arid landscape of texas and the southwest.

driving out of the park was like entering a postcard. surrounded by rolling hills lush with pine trees, snow capped peaks can be seen in the distance and running parallel with our path is a roaring river fueled by the spring sun hitting those peaks that we are headed towards. 

we drive up and down through the hills, the uncompahgre national forest on our right and the san juan national forest on our left. the hours fly by as we take turns behind the wheel so we both get a chance to get lost in the allure of the mountains

before we know it we are already pulling into mesa verde national park. after a brief chat with a ranger we decide which tour we are going to take and make our way over to the ancient cliff dwellings.

by four o'clock we are already back on the road. with the car pointed south we head towards new mexico.