Colorado Bend Overnight 12/17/24-12/18/24

Tuesday-Wednesday, December 17-18, 2024

Ian Solo

Partly cloudy, highs in the 70s, lows in the 50s, great hiking weather

13.5 miles total

I used the rest of my vacation days at work to end the year early and decided to take advantage of the warm start to December to get in an overnight out at Colorado Bend State Park, one of my favorite places in central Texas.

Courtney was still working this week, so this would be a solo jaunt. The pups stayed to keep her company too.

I made the drive out around 11:30am and arrived a couple of hours later to get my permit for my favorite campsite, the River Backpack Area Site 3. This is the only site that has direct river access and a private beach. This will come into play later.

The temperatures were in the 70s and lows only forecast for the 50s. The night after I left, a cold front would come through and drop into the 30s, so my timing was perfect.

I hiked from Gorman Falls along the Colorado River through the area I call Amadillo Alley and saw plenty of those as the sun went down and I got to my campsite.

The guilty party would show up a bit after dark (three young guys on their first backpacking trip), but were very apologetic and tore down their tent and moved it up the trail to their correct spot. I got in my tent and was asleep just after hiker midnight around 9pm, despite a curious armadillo that was very interested in my spot and almost stuck his nose under my vestibule at one point. Such funny animals.

The hike out was very pretty with the sun coming up and I saw plenty of wildlife. A baby rat snake that I helped off the trail:

And a new one for me: a wild boar. Not sure why this video recorded sideways, but I’m including it anyway.

I hiked up Spicewood Canyon, which had some pretty views out over the Colorado River and its tributaries, and then back to the car.

On the way home, I stopped at Storm’s Hamburgers in Lampasas, which is a legendary burger joint. The burger was just ok, but the fries were great. I don’t often eat fast food, but after a long hike, there’s something about it that just hits the spot!

We have a big trip coming up to New Zealand in a few weeks that I will blog in February. This was rescheduled from last year and we are very excited!