The Pedernales River

The weather had a nip in the air as we finally had our first taste of cooler temperatures. I wanted to go for a walk and thought that if I wore a heavy shirt, I would be OK as long as I kept moving. So, I loaded up the car and set out for Reimers Ranch. This is not one of my most favorite places to walk mainly because it has a lot of open trails with not too much shade cover. I thought that it would work out just fine as today, I wanted to be out in the sun as much as possible just to keep warm.

Reimers Ranch is about 30 minutes from my house so it didn’t take very long to get there. Being a County Park, old codgers like myself get in for free not that I have to pay very much at any of the Parks that I visit. Age does have it’s advantages in some things. The same female Park Ranger greeted me as I pulled up and we chatted for a bit before I drove on to the first parking lot. It was pretty full with cars as people were making the most of the wonderful weather.

My plan was to hike the main Multi Use trail that encircles the entire park mostly because it is easy walking. I started off going North on the Multi Use trail following  it all the way to Turkey Roost trail. I was hoping that maybe I would get a visual and some pictures of any stray turkeys that might be around but no such luck. I probably need to find a quiet place and sit still for a while and hope that the turkeys would walk into view. Actually, I never got to see anything alive other than a few birds and of course people and their dogs.

I made it all the way to the furthermost point of the trail where there are two creeks that flow into the Pedernales River. Before I got that far, I had to stop and take off the heavy shirt as I had worked up enough body heat without it. The river was flowing serenely along and was pretty dirty, reflections of the recent rains that we had. This end of the Park is very pretty as it has many trees. I took several pictures and then thought about where I wanted to go next. My original plan had been to hike the entire trail that encircles the Park but as I was not tied to any particular plan I decided that I would take the lower primitive trail that would take me back to the North Shore Climbing Area. I have walked this trail before and it gets a bit difficult in a few places. From my previous hike, I knew that after about 400 yards of actual trail, I would be making my own trail through an area that although marked, had not been cleared. I managed to get a bit scratched up as I pushed through the undergrowth, climbing over fallen trees and walking through long grass. I passed a couple of caves that invited me to explore but decided against it as you never know what of natures creations may have already claimed it as home for the winter.

The flowers are just about finished for the year and I only came across these two.

I could hear the Rock Climbers  as I walked along and knew that I would come on to a better marked and more trodden trail pretty soon and sure enough, I was on the trail that leads the climbers to their beloved rock formations. I followed this to where I had a choice of climbing up and out onto the upper paved trails or to continue on the lower primitive trail. I chose the latter as I continued on my way. As we neared the swimming area of the Park, the trail broadened out to where a truck could drive along it. I had the opportunity in a couple of places of taking the trails upwards to the Upper Trail but chose to ignore those “easy” trails in favor of the primitive trail I was on. The trails followed the river with some wonderful views of the expensive looking houses on the opposite side of the river. Must be a great place to live way up on top of the bluffs and well out of any flood zone.

I came to another choice either up or continue and I chose the latter on a trail called the Upper River Trail. I had walked this one before and knew that it would bring me to the South Rock Climbing Area and a way back to the top of the gorge. This part of the trail entails a lot of scrambling over rocks of different sizes some of which are huge. I came face to face with a younger couple carrying fishing poles and we passed comments as they answered my questions of what they had caught. I found a park bench in the shade and stopped for a while to consume half of the walnut and raisin bread roll I had brought with me and just sit and enjoy the solitude. When I started out again,  I met a group of 6 adults and 2  dogs as I stood to one side to let them through. All of these people were going in the opposite direction to me. Further along, I came across a family whose white long haired dog had gotten into the river and had gone swimming and was a total brown color all over and matted with burrs. I heard them say they would comb it out when they got home and I remarked, “Good luck with that” as I passed for the dog was truly a mess. Not sure where the dog was going to sit on the way home in the car?

I finally made it to the South Climbing Area where several people were just finishing up their climbing and putting their gear away. I asked them the way out as the trail appeared to have died under the rocks and they pointed to a huge rock and said, “Up and over that”. Nothing for it but to scramble up and over this huge rock and I could see the worried looks on the faces of these young men and women as I tackled this task. I made it up without any accidents and continued along the trail leading to the parking lot. The last 100 yards of this trail was one big rock climbing scramble which didn’t get any easier. What I did not notice was that a couple of the younger male climbers were trailing very close behind me in case I should slip. One of them advised me to “take this trail” pointing to a different rock face which had a small stream running down it. “That one is not safe with wet boots”. I did as he suggested and the last step up was a vertical step of about 3 feet. Another of the young climbers was standing and waiting on the top and offered me his hand and pulled me up for which I was very grateful. Who said the young don’t care anymore. I could not have asked for more consideration than I got today. Thank you climbers.

I made my way back to the car and changed out of my tee shirt and boots. I no longer have to do a complete change as the weather is cool enough not to totally soak me with sweat like a month or so ago. If  I didn’t wear a backpack, I would probably get away with not having to change at all. I sat there for a while and finished off the bread roll along with an apple before starting the car to make my way home.

Altogether, I covered 6.9 miles and was very happy that I had gotten to take yet another walk. The drive home was uneventful except for a couple of deer that dashed across the road in front of me. As is usually the case, they were long gone before I could get the camera up. I made up for that disappointment by stopping at Starbucks which just happened to be on my way home. When I got there, I scrambled into the hot tub and pretty soon, the aches and pains of walking at a very old age, were pretty much all gone.

I did not take very many pictures as apart from the scenery, there was not too much else worth taking pictures of.

Reimers Ranch 11-20-2016 from Francis Allcorn on Vimeo.