Day 112 – Wednesday, October 16, 2013

We spent the day camped at the City of Rocks State Park. It is a very unique place in the middle of the desert prairie surrounded by distant mountain ranges. After breakfast and some blogging we packed a lunch (this time) and headed out for a hike. The first stop was the visitors centre to get a trail map. We chose a trail that looped around the park. It was about 3.5 miles with very little elevation change and well maintained. It was a much easier hike than the Dog Canyon hike a few days ago. Julie notes “Three smart things in a row. Lunch, directions and easy route. Is it possible we are getting smarter?”

We enjoyed our picnic lunch of chicken salad sandwiches, cheese, and pickles overlooking the City of Rocks. The temperature was about 21C with a light wind and clear blue skies. Perfect day for a nice hike.

I grilled up a marinated pork loin roast on the BBQ for supper. We had a fresh salad and leftover pasta to go with it along with a glass of wine. Oh yeah, and a few cold Texas Lone Stars while I was BBQ’ing.

Below is a selection of shots we took as we hiked the City of Rocks State Park loop.

Julie’s windmill shot. Julie notes “Hard not to love them right?”

The Aermotor from Chicago still pumping water. Julie notes “Classic.”

The sissy’s in the electrified part of the State Park on the east side. We are camped in a non-serviced site on the west side. Julie notes “Much nicer where we are camped and they know it too. And I have Brad to run the hamster wheel when I need to power up my hair straightener, waffle iron, margarita mixer, sewing machine, etc. Actually one couple we met, who have a smaller sized Citation camper than ours, actually were running a sewing machine off the solar panel. We tried to keep the shocked WTF (Why The Fabric) looks off of our faces. But Brad is sure glad my Mom hadn’t heard about that or he would’ve had to get her machine wired up on sun juice, so she could be sewing as we drove down the highways.”

Aunt Doreen, avert your eyes but this is nature. These crazy, very large grasshoppers are everywhere. I now understand why. Julie notes “Yes there were many of these ‘couples’ on our hike and nothing short of stepping on them was distracting them from the task at hand or whatever body parts they are using. However the place was just a hoppin’ with other kinds of grasshoppers as well. I didn’t know there so many kinds, different sizes and bright colours. Along with an assortment or butterflies with every step we would send flying an array of tiny lime green hoppers with yellow or white wings, bigger bright orange or bright red winged ones and even larger pretty turquoise winged hoppers. Very entertaining especially when one tries to fly right between my hat and my ear. Pretty noisy between my jumping surprise and the grasshopper’s complaints. I just hope I didn’t hop on any of the giant mating couples as I was a little distracted and so are they.”

Rockin’ it old school. Julie notes “We are actually lost and are trying to signal for help. Where oh where is that big pile of rocks where we parked our camper? Can anyone spot it?”

Our site on the west side of the park. Julie notes “Oh there it is but we can’t get there from here. Had a little bit of map confusion and thought we had missed our turn. But all’s well that ends well.”

Sandals with socks? I guess Karen P. was right after all? It is 17C with a wind and we are cold. What will we do when we get home? Julie notes “He added a toque to this ensemble and eventually so did the thermometer man. But I did not see the thermometer man wearing socks and sandals at any time.”

…over and out, the muleskinner and his sidekick