Davis Mountains Interlude

Upon leaving Big Bend National Park on the morning of March 3rd, my “plan” was to go north to the Guadalupe Mountains National Park, which is in northwest Texas and bordering New Mexico. One of the other campers suggested that I stop at Davis Mountains State Park, which was on the way to Guadalupe.

The 100+ mile drive from Big Bend was uneventful. Which is good. The largest town along the way was Alpine. They had a McDonalds and it had Wifi, which is also good. I stopped for lunch, stayed two hours and was able to check email as well as get several posts uploaded and scheduled. The next town down the road was Fort Davis.

A few miles north of Fort Davis is Davis Mountains State Park. The campground is nestled inside a canyon. The sites are quite nice with lots of trees providing shade, which in the summer would be a blessing. The weather was beautiful during the day with temperatures in the 60s, mostly blue skies and sunshine. After the sun went down, the chill set in and the temperature dropped into the low 30s. Quite similar to the weather at Big Bend, but at least it didn't snow!

A section of the trail leading to the top of the “hill” on the north side of the campground.

Looking to the north across the Davis Mountains.

Looking to the west, from the top of the hill. I don't know the significance of the pile of rocks, if any, but found it amusing that it mimicked the peak in the background.

Looking south. A section of the campground is tucked away beneath the row of trees in the center.

The trail follows the top to the west end then takes you down into the canyon where the Lodge is located. This is the view looking east from about half way down. The row of trees in the center is where the campground is located. You can see a portion of the “Skyline Drive” built by the CCC. As well as providing some magnificent views there are also several more trails up on top of that peak.

My stop in the Davis Mountains was a very pleasant interlude that lasted six days! The fact that the town of Fort Davis was ten minutes away and the Jeff Davis County Library had an excellent, secure, wifi connection, made it even more pleasant. Sometimes you've gotta have some downtime! I was able to get caught up with email, wrote and scheduled blog posts for nearly a week, even read some blogs, and checked in on Facebook! Oh, and I got my taxes filed too.

To top it off, the library staff was very helpful and courteous. The building wasn't much to look at. And the old wooden floors kinda creaked. But there was a steady flow of people in and out and when school let out for the day it was abuzz with kids. I can only wish for more libraries like this one. The only “downside” was that the library was closed on Saturday and Sunday. But that's okay. I'm just glad it was there!

Spry Canyon Trip --Zion's

For those of you who have never repelled a canyon in Zion's you need to know there is more effort than just showing up and going where you want when you want. The park is very particular how many individuals are allowed to do a canyon each day. For Spry the offer 10 permits per day. There are two locations you can go to get permits. At Zion's main lodge on the south west enterance and in Cedar City. This is no simple go and get what you want. It requires you to stand in line and hope all the people that decided to get up earlier than you aren't wanting permits for the same canyon. The main office opens at 8am. I decided to leave my Kanab at 3am which would cause me to arrive at 4 in Zion's to sit and wait. my intention was to get permits for Pine Creek, a canyon I had done twice. My friend Evan had only been down one canyon and that was key hole a few weeks prior with me. Shanna and Danny this would be their first time. Pine Creek was a good starter and I knew the canyon therefore I could pay more attention to them than where I was going and each repel. Unfortunately there was a gal who showed up at midnight to be in line to acquire all 12 permits for that canyon. i didn't want Evan to have to do the same canyon again so i decided to go for Spry. I was freaked out! 1- I didn't know the approach. 2- never been down the canyon so didn't know what to expect. 3- I was taking beginners...what I quickly learned in canyoneering terms are called 'Newbs'- short of new-bees. after purchasing the permits I was given a canyoneering book from the ranger to study the approach and rout. a guy who was behind me in line...we had been talking throughout the morning...asked what I got. I told him Spry. Luke gave me a website to look up when i got home that he thought would be of great help. http://www.bluugnome.com I looked it up and quickly recognized the name and face of the webmaster for the website. Luke. it was amazing!!!! there were GPS coordinates and pictures for the entire approach, each repel and written explanations also. I was no longer nervous; in fact I felt very prepared after studying everything he offered about the canyon. Then the adventure began!





This is a map of the entire canyon

Time Required - 5 to 7 hours

Distance - 2.9 miles Total, 1.3 miles Technical

Rappels - 11 Rappels, Longest Rappel 190 feet.

Evan, Danny and Shanna standing at the mouth of Spry Canyon after the steep 1.5 mile assent.September 26,

Evan being bold...first person down the 1st Repel (190 ft.)

Shanna going second. You can see the spec of Evanbelow. Shanna decided to go right ending up pengeleming back across...she was thankful for the helmet!



2nd Repel (40 ft.)









-No pics of 3rd Repel





4th Repel (50 ft.)



free hanging















5th Repel (90 ft.)




















Video of my repel

-no pics of 6th Repel (100 ft.)





7th Repel (20 ft.)



Shanna really really wanted to be the first one down this repel...for good reasons it was the last time she was allowed to do so!



Evan showing off is Muscles





and his self cut fro-hawk










Video of Evans repel





8th Repel (50ft)















9th & 10th Repel (over 350 ft had to tie 2 ropes together to do both)





Looking up at the beginning of the 9th repel from the

second platform you repel from the 10th.



Evan



Shanna



Danny





The night ended with one more repel 200 ft. The a huge boulder field to be conquered in the dark! when it was all said and done we had started at 9 and finished at nine; a 12 hour ordeal! five hours longer than expected...but I did have three 'newbs'. The trip was awesome! I would do it again with these three. I was grateful to the Lord we made it through the canyon with no injuries.

Thanks a million to Luke @ for making my canyoneering trip safe, comfortable and a success!

Response email from Luke:

Hey there Erin:

Thank you. That gives me a warm fuzzy feeling. :) When I hear that

someone gets use out of what I am doing it just plain feels good and keeps

me motivated.



Glad your trip went well. Sounds like you had a blast after you got going!

Also that was pretty cool of you to wait for the guys behind you to see if

they were ok.



Thank you again for taking the time to write. It really does make me feel

maintaining the website is a worthwhile endeavor. :)

Luke

Lyddington - Seaton - Bisbrooke - Uppnham - Lyddington

With Harry and Jenny. Beautiful weather, very hot, good underfoot. Pretty fast pace, considering. Including looking round Uppingham - 8.7 miles.

It's a delight to show our countryside to someone who hasn't seen it before!

sculpture inspired by the fishponds

Lyddington church from the ancient fishponds

The first part of the path is clearly marked as the Rutland Round. We walk across the Green, past the sculpture, through a gate and with the hedge on our left walk through the fields with the traces of the old fishponds. At the end of this field we turn left, skirting a wood, before turning right and heading along a path uphill. This was shaded and cool before we cam out into the fields. We head north east for a little while, then do a dog-leg. This is all clear on the ground with waymarker posts. The path gradually turns further east, alongside a sloping ploughed field.






We come out into Grange Lane, which leads uphill into Seaton.

A solitary wood pigeon

swallows are gathering

We walk through Seaton and take a look at the viaduct from the Glaston Harringworth cross roads, before going back to our path.

Seaton church

The path is not far from Moles Lane, and up a short set of steps. It heads north, and climbs gently before descending more steeply to the dismantled railway. Here it turns north west, and crosses a large field with a stream - again the waymarkers are clear. The path now runs beside trees and is enclosed on each side - it climbs almost unnoticeably into Bisbrooke, emerging behind the church.






We follow the road to the cross roads, meeting the odd chicken, and helping ourselves to some windfalls, offered free outside one of the houses.






At the crossroads we go straight ahead then turn left and right at the corner - the road becomes a track and then a path, and finally we arrive at the Uppingham School playing field and cricket pavilion. Into the town for coffee and lunch at Don Paddys, before looking round the town, and the Goldmark Gallery - there's an exhibition of George Grosz's work, and lots of other interesting items.






We leave Uppingham by taking the path through the church porch and churchyard, then at the road we turn left then right and head south and downhill. There are some juicy blackberries on the way, so we pick them - making use of empty water bottles. Tonight we shall feast.




The path is clear, leading us to the playing field behind Uppingham College. We lose the track briefly, but find it again and it leads south east across a road, and over farmland towards Lyddington.

That's what I call a path "made good"

A short diversion as we feed an apple to a horse, we reach the road into Lyddington and decide to walk through the village back to the car.

This bird is going nowhere!