Garner State Park

Saturday, February 14, 2015 – Uvalde, TX

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

When we got up this morning the sun was shining, so we decided it would be a good day to go up to Garner State Park.  This park is supposed to be the most visited state park in Texas.  We packed the cooler and grabbed some food for a picnic lunch.  Then we stopped by HEB, which is the local grocery store, and picked up some lunch meat.  And off we headed for the park.

After paying our entrance fee we stopped by the visitor center to find out which trails would give us the best opportunities for sightseeing.  Of course the best trails were all marked as challenging.  :)  So we headed for the parking area near the pavilion and started out on trail 3, Crystal Cave Trail.

The trail was very rugged, but there were some beautiful view of the park below us.

We finally made it up to Crystal Cave.  It only goes back about 30 feet, but it was neat to explore.  Gracie and I went down first and Mike wanted to take a picture of me at the bottom of the entrance.  The first picture a little boy photo boomed the picture, then the next picture a guy came up and join me in the picture.  :)

Once at the bottom I took a picture of Mike at the back of the cave.

Then we took a picture of the entrance of the cave from inside of the cave.

On the way back down the hill we took the Painted Rock trail.  The rock was actually painted by the different football teams that used to come out here to practice many years ago.  The next couple of pictures are the view from the top of the rock.

Then we walked down below the rock and took a picture of the painted rock.  It is very hard to tell it is painted now, but you can somewhat see the blue paint.

This is just a picture of the trail head sign.

While standing at the trail head we heard a park ranger telling a group of people that below us was a retaining wall and tunnel below the road that was built by CCC back when the park was being built, so Mike and I decided to climb down there and check it out.  :)  We even walked through the tunnel.  Yes I walked through the tunnel.

Before heading back to the Suburban we took Gracie down to the river, so she could get a drink.  Of course she just had to go swimming.

At one point I was holding the leash and standing on a rock at the edge of the water when Gracie hit the end of the leash.  She ended up pulling me into the water.  My shoes and pants were wet up to my knees.  I was just glad I did not fall in any further since I had the camera in my back pocket.  I am also glad it was a beautiful day!

Once back at the Suburban we drove over to the picnic area and had ourselves a nice picnic lunch down by the river.  It was very pleasant and relaxing.

After lunch we decided to hike Old Baldy Trail.

It was a little over .5 miles up to the top.  It was a very steep climb, but the view was worth the effort. :)

On the way back down we took part of the Forsee Trail and the White Rock Cave Trail.  We did not stop and look in the White Rock Cave.  There were a lot of people there.  The downhill trail was just about as bad as the uphill.  Also you will notice in the picture the yellow footprints.  The trails here are marked very well, you won’t get lost.

We finally made it back down to the campground area and I just had to take a picture of the signs.

The next picture show is a picture of Old Baldy from the valley.  The trail takes you to the top of it.

Mike really wanted to go on the Old Entrance Trail, so when we got back to the Suburban we drove to the trailhead for the Old Entrance Trail.  This trail is actually the old entrance the CCC built.  The next picture is just the view from the parking area, then a picture of the trailhead sign.  :)

The road for the old entrance was .82 miles, and then Mike took a picture of me at the old entrance.

By the time we got back to the Suburban it was getting late, but we wanted to get Gracie a drink, so we drove down by the river just one more time an let her play in the water for a little bit.  We finally left the park, but before heading home we stopped by the gas station to get some ice cream.  :)

After dinner we took a bottle of wine down to Thomas and Patricia’s place and had a nice evening just talking and watching videos of their RC plane flights.

It was another wonderful day!