Part 4 Vacation 2021 Highlights - Cedar Hill State Park

For our third and final week of vacation we drove almost all the way home and camped at nearby Cedar Hill State Park. We've camped there several times but always find fun things to do and see.  

We were in loop H in site 127. It is a lake view site with full hookups. We were delighted to find the site across from us had a trail down to the water and a beach we could launch the canoe from. Better still the site was empty and a neighboring camper said that the site is no longer used so we had access the whole time. 

Being close to home we were able to have friends come and visit Sunday afternoon. They brought their kids and the dad and John and the kids canoed and played while the mom and I visited in the RV. Later I joined them while the mom took a nap. 

Another highlight was hiking on Tuesday. It was a cloudy day and being Fall there were not many flowers but there were still interesting things to see.

 

There were lots of fungi. As you can tell by the next several photos, I really like fungi.

And still more fungi!

This photo didn't turn out as clear as I wanted. But it looks pretty anyway--sort of impressionistic.

I don't know what, if anything, was living in this tree but I thought the shape of the bark was interesting. (it's not a fungi as far as I can tell)

We also went shopping and voted (another advantage of being near home) and got a few things from home and called my brother for his birthday. 

John suggested we go home a few days early because the weather was expected to turn off rainy and cold for the rest of the week. He said since we couldn't go canoeing or hiking anymore, we might as well finish our vacation at home--sort of a mini "stay-cation." 

But after thinking about it I said "no". If we stayed, we really would still be on vacation. The cold weather just meant I could stay inside and rest and read without guilt. (Isn't that what vacations are for?) But if we left early, I thought, our cozy cocoon would be broken up and we would be thrown into the hyperdrive of unpacking and getting settled again. Resting and reading would be out the window, at least for a few days, but by then our vacation would be over.

So, we stayed and it was cozy and fun. Friday, our last day was sunny and starting to warm up a little. It was a lovely day to break up camp and head for home.

Vacation 2021 Highlights Part 3 - Possum Kingdom State Park

Possum Kingdom State Park (PKSP) was the third Texas state park of our 2021 vacation. We arrived on Monday afternoon of our second week and camped in our motorhome until Saturday. 

Possum Kingdom Lake covers more than 18,000 acres. The chamber of commerce calls it "The Great Lake of Texas." My research shows it is only the eighth largest lake in Texas. But it is impressively large and beautiful and has probably the bluest and cleanest water of any lake I've seen in Texas. My water sandals got cleaner rather than dirtier when I stepped into the water when we went canoeing. 

The state park is only a small wedge of PK Lake's very long and convoluted 310 mile shoreline. It only has a few trails, but there was what looked like a well developed network of trails across the lake that we hoped to explore. They were an hour away by car however, so we hoped we could get across to them in our canoe since we thought that would be more direct. Looking at the map now I suspect it would not have been as easy as we thought. But as it happened we didn't get a chance to try it after all.

The green area is the state park. The large triangular peninsula across the lake to the east is where we wanted to go to get to the other trails.

Tuesday morning we went canoeing but it was much too windy to go across the lake. We could only go a little ways along the shore and into a nearby inlet. 

Going with the wind was not as rough.

Into the inlet. It was a little more sheltered from the wind here.

We hoped the wind would die down the next day so we could try again. But the next day it was even stronger--too strong to canoe at all. I stayed indoors until evening when it diminished a little so I went for a walk and took this video:

When it was still windy on Thursday (laundry day) we made plans to drive to the other trail system the next day.

We packed a lunch and set out Friday morning to explore the "Possum Kingdom Lake Hike and Bike Trail System" about an hour's drive from the state park. 

The yellow lines show the trails and the green patches camping and other amenities. (The gray section is a Boy Scout/YMCA camp and is off limit to the public.)

 

We hiked to Limestone Lookout. That's number 8 on the map above. 

The view was partly obscured by trees but we found ways to get around that. I stood back a ways further up the slope and also climbed further out beyond the bench. And I think John stood on the bench though I don't have any photos of that so maybe it's just my imagination.

View partly obscured by trees but still pretty.

Limestone cliffs.

John in front of the bench.

Standing back up the slope to get a better shot of the lake and cliffs.

It only looks like I was walking on the bench!

Close up of limestone cliffs.

I was needing to limit my hiking time because of sores on the backs of my heels. So after we enjoyed the view from Limestone Lookout we went back to our car. Then we drove to North D&D (see map above). We were interested in it as a possible campsite for another trip. Its a good location for easy access to the hiking trails and the lake. We also wanted to see if its RV sites would be in better condition than the ones where we were at the state park. The pavement of the site we were in was badly broken up and it was five degrees off level (we ended up with three of our tires off the ground.) Most of the other sites at the state park looked about the same. So if and when we go back to PK Lake we would like to stay elsewhere. So we wanted to see what North D&D had to offer.

I hung out at the North D&D area for a while while John did some more hiking. 

North D&D is a beautiful location. There are no hook ups but that might not be a problem for a few days if the weather is not too hot. I don't recall how level the sites were. But there was a lot of big trees and green grass. Also great views of the lake. And lots of wildlife. Though they tended to disappear quickly when people show up. When we first arrived the Canada geese and deer seemed to be everywhere. But by the time we parked they had disappeared. I didn't see them again until I had been there about an hour and I was driving away to  pick up John. 

It was still quite windy as you can see by the choppy water.

Picnic area by lake

The view from my car. I found myself fantasizing about living in one of those houses. But then again, I wouldn't like being stared at by tourists.

Saw these Canada geese as I was driving away to pick up John.

The deer didn't seem afraid of my car-- maybe because they new I was leaving.

We stopped for an early dinner at nearby Bonitaville Restaurant. I was hungry already and it was the only restaurant between there and the state park which was still an hour away. I got grilled shrimp with rice pilaf and green beans. John being a true blue Aussie got fish and chips. (I would have done if they had been gluten free!) It was all delicious and we had a nice view of the lake while we ate. 

Hopefully next week I'll post about the final leg of our 2021 vacation.