State of Wilderness

Category: Camping

  • McKinney Falls State Park, Last Month

    McKinney Falls State Park, Last Month

    Last month, we explored a state park we hadn’t been to yet, as part of my ambitious camping plan I planned out last fall.  The older boys opted to spend the weekend at Grandma’s house.  Somehow this was preferable to spending the weekend in close quarters with us, which might be a sign that we have…

  • Martin Creek Lake State Park

    Martin Creek Lake State Park

    A spectral light shines through the mist at the end of the road.  It’s New Year’s weekend, and the campground is practically abandoned.  Dark shutters close off the ends of screened shelters sitting quiet in the night.  One could almost imagine spooky shadows rising out of them.  The spirit of the early settlers that passed…

  • South Shore Park, Bastrop

    South Shore Park, Bastrop

    I’ve realized that I have gotten to a certain age in my life where all my idols are Master Naturalists.  This is why I felt lucky that we were in the presence of a couple of them on a nature hike last Saturday in South Shore Park.  We were actually at the park for a…

  • Buescher State Park: Patterns of Place and People

    It was the first Saturday morning of the year, and I was sitting on a small mound of dirt, just to the right of a tree root.  I was watching the water slowly lap at the edge of the lake, and contemplating what it really meant to know a place.  I wondered if the park…