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| Hiking | 8.60 Miles |
500 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.60 Miles | 5 Hrs 24 Mns | | 1.74 mph |
| 500 ft AEG | 27 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | On day two of our panhandle trip Ginny and I headed down to Caprock Canyon State Park. We have done most of the trails in this park before including the one we planned to do today up Holmes Canyon. The first attempt of hiking this Canyon we were escorted out by the park service because the park was closed for deer hunting. The next time I came here I hiked all the way up Holmes canyon but I did this solo, this time Ginny and I will try it.
This time of year Holmes Canyon was a bit drier than in spring and the brush was much thicker. The deer and buffalo use this occasionally so there were some game trails to follow most of the way. Having the trails made it a bit easier to navigate upstream as the brush was 6 to 8 feet tall in many places. We made it up stream about 1 mile from Lake Theo where we took a break and then returned the way we came.
On our return trip Ginny ran into a very large diamondback rattle snake. I wasn’t expecting to see any snakes on this hike because of the cool weather but it was warm in the sun so I guess I’m not surprised. This snake didn’t move or rattle but it was also right smack in the middle of the trail with heavy brush on one side and the creek drop off on the other so it had to be convinced to move. Ginny handed me a two foot stick and as the snake and I were pondering what I was going to do with a two foot stick she said here is a longer one and gave me a 4 foot stick, That’s more like it. I was able to flick the snake off the trail a bit and now it was mad and got in a striking pose and then came toward me (This snake had Cajones) I was able to flick it one more time into the ditch alongside the trail and we were able to continue on our way and we could hear the snake in the creek cussing us out as we left. Can’t blame it, it was warming itself in the sun when we disturbed it. This is actually the first rattle snake I have seen in Texas in the wild. I usually have Ginny in the lead while hiking so she can set the pace but the downside is she is the one that runs rattlesnake interference. This has happened in Arizona and now in Texas, she does pretty well.
Great hike good weather and excellent company (except for the snake). |
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Holmes Creek |
Dry |
Dry |
| | | Upper reaches had a light flow from a spring | | _____________________
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