Lake Amistad: April 30-May 2

I love to go camping.

Unfortunately, we are not able to go very often due to the combination of living in Texas and being in school. Camping in the summer in Texas is not pleasant. It's hard for us to find time any other time of the year because of school. In May we found some time. Russ had just finished school, and I was on my study break before finals so we packed up and left Thursday morning and headed out to Lake Amistad.

Lake Amistad is right next to Del Rio which is a town right on the border of Mexico and Texas. It took us about three hours to get there. (Side note: This was right around the same time that the Swine Flu was really freaking people out. At one point we stopped in Walmart at around noon hoping to get hand sanitizer. After searching all over, we couldn't find a single bottle. The cashier pointed to an empty little blue swimming pool and said that that morning it had been over flowing with bottles of hand sanitizer.) As we drove in, we stopped at the visitors center to get information on activities and a map of the park since we basically headed out without any set plans besides play at the lake by day and sleeping in our tent under the stars at night. On the way to our camp site we stopped at this old retired couples house where they ran a small kayak rental. They were super nice and let us rent a two person kayak for two days for the price of one. This worked out awesome since kayaking ended up being our main activity. All Kayaking pictures are not the best quality because we just used a little waterproof disposable camera instead of risking our nice camera.









Our campsite was pretty secluded. The reservoir was really high and so the water came right up to our campground. This created a kind of "marsh" where the water had flooded the trees and brush. Our Thursday evening activity was kayaking through this area. We saw all kinds of wildlife up close and personal such as turtles and bright colored birds. This one small bird had a really loud call that caught our attention. We watched it as it circled about 50 feet above the water and then all of a sudden dove down and caught little fish. Kayaking through the "marsh" was also an adventure as we tried not to get stuck on trees hanging out just below the surface of the water (kinda spooky to look down at those) or stuck inside trees with huge needle like thorns. A two person kayak just doesn't have the maneuvering capabilities of a single person kayak.



Another thing we really liked about our campsite was that we had an armadillo neighbor who kept visiting. It came to say "hi" in the middle of the day a couple times, and we're pretty sure it's what was creeping around our tent at night. It ate the huge red killer sized ants that also shared out campsite.

While planning our trip, we were worried about it being too hot to sleep at night. For those of you not in Texas, this might sound crazy since this was the end of April/ beginning of May. It is a sad fact that Texas is HOT. Once the sun went down, however, it cooled right off. And with the tent cover removed, there was a nice breeze and a spectacular view of the night sky to fall asleep to. You definitely cannot find a bright starry view like that anywhere near San Antonio.


Friday, after a breakfast of bacon and eggs cooked by camp chef Russell, we headed off to explore. Before the sun was able to burn off the cloud cover, we went hiking at nearby Seminole Canyon State Park & Historic Site. This park was pretty neat. It is pretty much a dry river canyon with huge cave openings in the cliffs at the bends of the canyon where the water had washed out the limestone. The ancient Texas Indians used these caves as dwelling places, protecting them from the severe elements of the dessert in which they lived. They left behind lots and lots of cave paintings, or pictographs. The guided hike took us down into this scenic canyon and the guide also tried to explain a few of the pictures. Pretty much everything he said seemed like a huge guess from somebody a little more educated. How does one really know that the humanoid figure with an elk head holding a staff with a big orb on top know that this depicts the tribe shaman transformed into an animal on a vision quests that began after passing through the portal on the top of his staff? Load of rubbish or fact? There really is no real way of knowing since we don't have many clues into their culture left behind. However, it was still very interesting to guess how they were able to paint so high up and also to see remnants of life left behind such as blackened spots on the cave ceiling from fires and smoothed boulders from skinning animals. Our guide also made us experts on the poisonous and edible plants in the dessert as well as handy things to do with a piece of cactus like making a purse or a water canteen or sewing needles. I can't remember if these millipedes were edible or not, but there were HUNDREDS of them all around and everywhere you looked.








After our hike, we headed up to where the Pecos river meets the Rio Grande to do some Kayaking. The rivers runs between limestone cliffs which were really neat. We came here on the recommendation of park rangers and the Kayak rental place. It did not disappoint. Our self guided tour down the Pecos and onto the Rio Grande was amazing.


















Our destination was another cave dwelling with Indian pictographs which could only be reached by boat. We were the only ones out on the water. Lake Amistad is really a reservoir of the dammed up Rio Grande. The area we kayaked on was more north and so it was not like the open lake. It was still pretty wide and deep though.












It was so peaceful to be out there alone on the beautiful water surrounded by amazing cliffs. I was also able to make my first trip to Mexico by Kayak. The border between Texas and Mexico is designated by the Rio Grande. Once we got onto the Rio Grande, we found a spot that was not completely enclosed by cliffs so I could climb out and stand on Mexico. I felt so sneaky, especially because we had to pass through border control stops a couple times as we drove around the area.
(I was 20 weeks pregnant at this point and my swimming suit was rather tight and uncomfortable the whole time.)









On our way back to the dock, we found this little inlet and break in the cliffs. Being the adventurers that we are, we paddles up it. It was a perfect swimming spot! We were able to pull the kayak up on the rocks and get out and swim in this beautiful secluded area. Russ had fun jumping off the rocks into the water.



Here is the beautiful sunset from the last night of our trip.












And here is a picture of me breaking camp. I think I'm rolling up sleeping bags.








These are two of my favorite things we pass while driving there and back. The red barn thingy is just that, a barn. But this is no ordinary barn. This is the Beverage Barn. There was at least one of these in every little town we passed through. Pretty much, at least from what we could tell, it is a barn you drive through for drinks. The inside walls are lined with vending machines and refrigerators. I wish we had stopped. This second picture is just a sign we found amusing. It says "Prison Area: Do not pick up hitchhikers".
















Needless to say we had a fantastic weekend.