Adventurenet.net

Off to Copper Breaks state park to go on a planned nature tour and to set up camp for the night.

As you may recall the night before on Friday night when I was looking into reservations there were plenty of open spaces, but the only camp sites that I could reserve in advance were a bit of a hike off of the main area, so I chose to risk it for a walk up camp site as there were almost no reservations signed up for.

It was an interesting drive into the area. The dirt suddenly turned red, I learned later that this is due to the iron content in the dirt. There are also green stones in the area from the copper content. It often felt like being on a Mars movie set.

I rushed to get here as my time at the quilt store in Cisco ran long and I needed to speed a bit to get here in time.

I ran into the check-in area and I learned that there were not camp sites available for the evening, but the ranger was kind enough to call ahead to the ranger interpreter who was leading the nature hike to wait for me.

I shared with him the “hellos” from the rangers from the Brownwood Lake park which he was delighted to hear.

Despite the lack of camp site, I had a delightful visit and was able to see this very old wave formation frozen in time that we were advised not to step on.

Directly after these instructions children stepped right on them to the horror of their parents.

The children were promptly removed from this standing spot.

We made it to the top and I began to make friends with some of the other folks on the tour as well as the other two rangers that were along for the hike.

On our way back down one of the rangers offered to take a picture for me which was super awkward, but I didn’t want to say “No.” so here is that awkward picture.

I shared an ice pack with another park visitor who was in a bit of pain and spoke with the rangers about my predicament to request any advise they may have.

(Here’s some of that green rock)

Lake Arrowhead might have a place to set up a tent still.

One of the folks on the trip told me it was not a good park, but what I needed from the park was a place to set up camp, not a lovely view and so I went for it hoping that I would be able to figure out the after hours check in system.

The goal being to set up the tent before it became dark.

I made it.

There was a camp site left which I immediately ran to and set up my tent at to stake my claim.

After the tent was erected (and completed just before the sun fully set) I drove back to the entrance to pay the $12 fee.

I filled out the form, deposited my cash and stuffed the whole thing into the deposit box.

I even took an extra form and used it to note that I had taken the final site so that if another person came along looking for a place they would not waste their time driving in to discover it had already been taken.

It turns out that I did this wrong.

I didn’t remove the white section of the ticket as I figured I didn’t need a receipt. I knew that I had paid.

It turns out this receipt was meant for my car window to prove that I had filled out my form and paid.

A ranger gave me an extra form and we filled it out again so that I could have a proper window tag and took this opportunity to ask if there were any events happening at the park the next day to which I found out there was one happening now.

An entomologist was at the park and some lights and a sheet had been set up to attract bugs with the goal being to update a nature tracking app iNaturalist.

A black light pointed at a white sheet both attracts bugs and also makes them easy to spot.

Did you know that scorpions light up under a black light?

Attracting bugs also attracts bug eating lizards.

I learned a lot about bugs and I also shared the image of the bug that I had taken early in the day.

It was a good way to end the day.

Back at my tent I had my own bug guest.

But it was time to sleep.

And of course I woke up at 3 am because I needed to use the restroom.

This was about a two block walk from where I was sleeping.

But we did it.

Other than this mandatory wake up call, it was a good night.

The wild hog noises did make me a bit nervous, though.

Next morning it was time to pack up and figure out the plans for the day.

Bug friend is easier to see in the daylight.

Tent packed up.

Left the camping location cleaner than I found it.

Then back to the bathroom for a quick face wash.

And a sandwich.

Oops. Got a little bit stuck in my beard.

After a check-in at the front office to make sure that my payment was correct and that all was well, I was delighted to find that this park has a trackable keychain pendant thing.

I forget what they’re called. They’re a bit like travel bugs if you’re familiar with them.

On the reverse side is a website and a unique code where you can mark that you were in possession.

Now that all was well with my overnight stay the question was whether to stay or to find the next place to visit.

I was worried that the previous weekend I had gone too fast and missed out on what the parks had to offer by trying to squeeze in so many at once and so I chose to stay a bit longer and look around.

This park had two hiking trails, one that went through a tube under the road and another that was near what I think was a horse stable.

Here is the tube.

I ended up going to the horse stable area to start the other hike, though.

There was an abandoned flag pole.

Dragonfly Trail

And a cricket.

I brought the slingshot with me.

I shot at a few dead trees and my aim was better than I was expected, but this was not as much fun as I thought it would be.

I’m glad that I gave this a test pull before heading out, though. This is a cheaply made slingshot and the plastic handhold was not fully tightened down which made it bow when pulling back the rubber band.

Tightening this down cured the problem and it seems to be reliable enough, though I do worry the cheap plastic will break.

Also, the way to put the rubber tubing onto the metal was interesting. I had to look this up. You dip the end of the tubing into alcohol then slide it on which worked like a charm.

Fascinating device and I’m disappointed that I didn’t find it to be more fun. Perhaps if I had a couple of soda cans to knock down and a friend to shoot at them with this would have been more enjoyable.

There were some gnarly spiders on this walk.

It was a nice visit, but it was time to leave.

During the previous day’s nature hike the ranger had mentioned that water levels were at a record low and I recalled hearing about a nearby town that was under water, but could be seen when the water level was low. I had spoken with the ranger during my check out about this and I do not believe we were talking about the same place, but what the heck. An underwater town is an underwater town and so I drove to where I thought she said the town would be.

I did not find it, but I did find some abandoned areas that were interesting to explore.

After driving over that hike tube.

It was a good start to the day even though I accidentally left the park and the area without a next stop planned.

Oops.

See you on the next post.

Geddy says “Hi.”