Wednesday 1-5 Hiking & Dinosaur Valley State Park

Camping at Dinosaur Valley State Park

We woke up to a cool morning of 38 degrees with a little breeze. By the end of the day it got to 54 degrees. 

We had mini waffles for breakfast, it's easy to do because we have a mini waffle iron. The iron is small so it's easy to store in an RV. I put it back in its box. It doesn't weigh anything. It takes between 2 to 3 minutes to heat up. It only makes one waffle at a time but it only takes 2 minutes. There is a light made in the iron so when it goes off the waffle is finished. I usually cook them 3 minutes because Larry likes his waffles a little crispier. 

  

Mini Waffle Maker

We're going to move on today. Before we left Meridian State Park we went on a 5 mile hike. We hiked the same trails as yesterday but decided to do them the opposite directions. We hiked the Bosque Trail to the Little Forest Junior Trail. After hiking Little Forest Junior we were back on the Bosque. When we got to the tent campground we rested for a few minutes. Then we took the road to Shinnery Ridge Nature Trailhead. We hiked this trail the opposite direction. Then we hiked back to the tent campground where we picked up Bosque. As we were hiking the opposite point of the lake from the dam we met a couple of ladies and said hi. Then a little farther down the trail we met another lady, she was camped at the tent Campground. She asked about the difficulty of Bosque Trail. Larry told her it wasn't that hard. He told her there were a couple of areas that were more challenging and pointed them out. He told her one area had a cable that would help her up a steep hill. She thanked us and we continued our hike. We got back to the Minnie at lunchtime.

Yesterday when we were hiking Larry found a hair tie and I found a rubber cap for a hiking pole. Today Larry found a Dallas Cowboy's Hat. Over the years we have found knifes, screws, washers and other items. 

Hair tie and rubber cap

Dallas Cowboy's hat

Yesterday, while Larry was outside reading he noticed the neighbor was working on his 5th Wheel. He went over talked to him. He told him when he was pulling in he didn't see a tree branch and it scraped the edge of his rubber roof from the slide to the back of the rig, about 20 feet, the wood under it was now exposed. If you own an RV the odds are good that at some point you will drag a tree limb across it, hopefully you simply brush by it without damage but many times especially with rubber roofs damage will occur.. Larry asked if he had heard about Eterna Bond tape. He had not so Larry told him about it and showed him a roll we carry along with the instructions on how to apply it. He offered to let him use our roll but the gentleman took the information and ordered some in a color to more closely match his roof, it is suppose to arrive today so he was cutting away some of the old material and prepping the surface. Before we left Larry wished the guy luck, he knows how bad he feels about damaging his RV, he also knows applying the Eterna Bond is a pain but it will fix his problem and hopefully he can avoid having to replace the entire roof. 

After lunch we put things away or down so they won't fall. We were on the road around noon. Our destination was Dinosaur Valley State Park, which was about 30 miles away.

We arrived at Dinosaur Valley about 1:00 and rested about an hour. Then we walked around for an hour to check out the trailheads. We hadn't been here since December of 2007. We remembered most of the hiking was on the other side of the river and it was difficult to cross without getting your feet wet. Today we found there was noway to access the trailhead nearest the campground without walking in the river. We walked to the day area where the dinosaur sites are. We walked along the trail by the Plauxy River. In the river there are dinosaur tracks. We stopped at the Blue Hole, where people come and swim. Another stop was the Ballroom Site. The final stop was the Main Track. While walking the trail there were signs that gave information about the tracks and the dinosaurs that made them. We saw two different dinosaurs tracks, the Sauroposeldon and Acrocanthosaurus. The Sauroposeldon walked on all four feet and the back feet had claws and the fronts were pads. The Acrocanthosaurus walks on the back two feet, their track has three toes. We also found a place to cross the river via large stones, it is a bit over a half mile from the campground and will add some distance to our hikes but at least we won't have to walk in the river. 

 

Blue Hole from trail

 

Ballroom Track

Group Pavilion 

 

Acrocanthosaurus Track

When we got back I played my Solitaire and Mahjong Daily Challenges and Event: Hard Road Mini of 5 games. It took me 33 minutes and 44 seconds, which put me in 10th place in my group.

While I played games Larry read. 

After playing games I walked around the campground for a half hour. When I got back I barbecued burgers for dinner. After dinner I did a lap around the campground to finish up doing my steps, which was 27,000 steps. This put me in 3rd place in my group.

I spent the rest of the evening play Sudoku games and Larry read.