This past weekend was the first time I visited a state park here in Texas. I did attend CALUE’s spring break trip to the Grand Canyon last year, but it still wasn’t in my own backyard. Because of that, I was excited to see what my home state had to offer.
Unlike past CALUE trips that lasted for a week, this specific trip was just for three days. On Friday, we got ourselves settled in Turkey, which is the hometown of our very own Jacy Proctor. It was great to see how similar her experience was compared to my very own, back in my hometown, Amherst. We got the chance to eat dinner and listen to live music at the infamous Hotel Turkey. It was a great way to end our first night of the trip.
That early Saturday morning we were up and ready to head out in the harsh, cold wind. Due to the weather, we decided to go on a tour of Caprock Canyons for a while. My favorite part of the tour was the Trailway. It had great, incredible views and we even came across a small head of cattle. One stop on the trailway was Clarity Tunnel, the summer home of Mexican free-tailed bats.
By the time we were done with our tour, the winds had calmed down a bit to the point where we wouldn’t freeze entirely. After lunch, our group headed to Eagle Point Trail to perform maintenance. It wasn’t too difficult and as a bonus, we got to hike through the canyon for the day.
On our last day, we spent providing service throughout the park. The first task was more trail maintenance for the Canyon Rim Trail. We had such a gorgeous view of the canyon, on that specific trail. Afterwards, we trimmed up the Honey Flat Camping Area. It was great to see how people utilize these camping grounds and enjoying a great day out. Our last service task for the trip was to pull weeds around the Visitor Center.
The trip was great overall. I am glad to have the chance to step out of Lubbock and focus on something other than work and school. Another plus is I got to see another beautiful side of Texas which motivates me to go out more to other state (and national) parks.
-Cynthia