Lake Corpus Christi State Park, 11/22 - 11/24/21

 79. Scampsite #5.  Lake Corpus Christi is a lovely, large park.  There are about 3 miles of hiking trails which are lovely and flat.  The bird blind is AMAZING - it's actually a huge area, with a blind and about a dozen different feeders hanging around.  The fishing pier is the nicest one we've seen in a state park - it's long, wide, well-made, and well-lit at night.  The wildlife here wasn't as challenging as at Choke Canyon; we did see one of the resident bobcats - it ran across the road in front of our truck!  We had a skunk investigate the far edges of our Scampsite (bedtime for us!), and there was a small herd of deer that visited every day.  There is a firewood vending machine, which is really nice for those of us who don't tend to carry cash.  Boating and fishing are definitely a big draw here, but there is plenty of other stuff to do too, including the old CCC building.   

Scampsite #5.

The CCC-built refectory.

The bird blind area.

The fishing pier at sunset.

The fishing pier at night.

Lake Corpus Christi has A LOT to do, but is also relatively close to Corpus Christi, which has lots more to do.  Sadly the old courthouse in Corpus Christi is falling into disrepair and last we heard there aren't plans to restore it.  

Choke Canyon State Park, 11/21 - 11/22/21

 78. Scampsite #137, a few days away before the Family Madness of Thanksgiving!  :). 

This was a much-needed break away from our daily lives and the stress of the school year so far.  Choke Canyon is a small, remote park.  If you don't boat or fish, there's not a lot to do - hiking trails are short, and there's a nice bird blind.  Wildlife was interesting: within minutes of our arrival to our site, a flock of wild turkeys showed up and walked past, followed by a small herd of deer, then a few javelinas.   We learned that javelinas WILL chase you if your dog is acting aggressive and threatening towards them; fortunately our dog and the javelinas did not actually meet up close.  The javelinas were very vocal most of the night; I recommend closing windows at night.  

Scampsite 137, the lake in the background.

Javelina in the foreground, turkeys in the background at the edge of the bush line.  

The lovely bird blind. 

Choke Canyon isn't near anyplace big or entertaining, so definitely plan to stay at the park and entertain yourself there.   

Lake Somerville State Park, Birch Creek Unit, 12/30/20 - 1/2/21

 77. Scampsite number 69, we needed to get out of town and fall in love with our Scamp again.  

We began with trepidation - we knew there was a big storm system bearing down on Somerville and the Hill Country, but we went anyways, hoping the weather people would be wrong.  We were able to set up camp while it was still dry and walk along the lakeshore (and have to bushwhack to find the trail again, much to Jen's consternation) but it begain drizzling Wednesday evening.  

Thursday, the four of us (Jen and Jeremy rented a trailer and had a site as well), walked around the trails nearest to our campsites and then the J's decided to return to their trailer.  We kept walking (with the dogs too of course).  We ended up walking almost as far as one can go from our campsite, to the Cedar Elm Day Use area, at which point we turned around.  The rain started in earnest shortly after we turned around and we discovered which parts of our clothing layers were not, in fact, waterproof.  The trails became small creeks and there was no higher ground to walk on, so we sloshed as quickly as we could.  All four of us were partially (me) to totally soaked (Aaron, the dogs) by the time we got back to our trailer.  It continued raining through the night; our attempt at a campfire was foiled (just like the rest of 2020), but New Year's Eve Game Night with the J's was fun - we played several rounds of Monopoly Deal and all of the black cards in Cards Against Humanity in our trailer.  Somehow we stayed up until midnight, rung in the New Year, and crashed. 

Friday, the J's left, the rain stopped and we hiked the trails near Flag Lake in the afternoon.  Saw lots of birds and vow to return with Sherry in the spring for the spring migration.  

Saturday we loaded up and drove through the Group Trailer Area - it turned out there was a Fiberglass RV rally (a couple of the men had approached our trailer on Thursday and invited us to join them) - mostly Casitas, but there was one 19' Scamp similar to ours, an Escape and a Bigfoot.  The folks were real nice and we are interested in joining them in the future.  

We hiked a couple more short trails Saturday morning and hit the road.  

Scampsite 69.

The storm front as we drove in.

Pano of Lake Somerville, before the storms.

The last PATHETIC fire of 2020.

Sunrise, 1/1/21.

Yegua Creek, near Newman Bottom Primitive Sites. 

Also in the area: Well, we didn't explore much this time, due to the weather and the pandemic.  It's just not as easy and safe to go visiting small towns and wandering shops. Plus it was New Year's, so not much would have been open anyway.  But, this park is near Bryan, College Station, Brenham, and Caldwell.  So if one needed to get out to a town, there are lots of options within 30 miles.  

However, there are SO many hiking / equestrian trails that one could stay very busy and see lots of beauty without leaving the park property.  Not to mention fishing, boating and all the usual water fun.  

All in all, we love this park and are looking forward to returning to bird more trails without the dogs (day trips) and possibly backpack / bikepack some of the more remote trails.