Thanksgiving Weekend, Concan, Texas, 11/30/2019

After a stretch of working 10 days straight, I was overdue to do some deep decompression time, and the best way to do that is to go outdoors! This time we brought our little doggie to join us!

I chose Garner State Park here in Texas because (A): it’s only about a 1 and 1/2 hour drive from San Antonio, (B): they had available camping sites still and (C): the Fall colors are awesome to see!

I’m really glad I made a reservation online through Recreation.gov because I got to skip this line and get my permit and go straight into the park!

Our site was super peaceful and very roomy! It had a dried creek behind the site, lots of trees and shade, and a nice flat area for the tent. Also water and electric hookup, just in case.

They also have these great flaps to mark your spot as occupied instead of paper receipts.

I purposely chose this campsite online because it was close to the restrooms but the lady at the entrance said that they had just been renovated and hadn’t been inspected yet so unfortunately, they weren’t open yet. Which sucked because to go to the next nearest bathroom was kinda far.

I couldn’t wait to start a nice hike in the crisp air so we leashed the dog up and went to the center of the park where there was a general store that was one of the best loaded up ones I’ve been in. It had everything you could think of, from clothing to heaters, playing dice to utensils, even a microwave to use if you wanted to warm something up.

A bit up the road was a souvenir store, an ice cream shop, Mini golf, and a large courtyard area where in the summer they hold dancing! But no dancing here today. Just the faint sounds of “Tennessee Whiskey” being played from a radio nearby.

My teenager was hungry so we stopped at this nice food truck called Garner Grill manned by a boy no older than 12. She was the recipient of the last nachos of the afternoon since after her order, they ran out.

The first trail we did was the Blinn River Trail, 0.53 miles, that hugs the Frio River. It was kind of overgrown with branches and slightly muddy from the rain from the previous day but it was still fun. Doggie had to be carried for most of the way because it was too uneven for her.

We saw several guys kayaking and some couples wading in the water but it was too cold for that for me! The water was still nice to see, though.

After that quick hike, we crossed over to the Bridges Trail (0.65 miles) to meet the Crystal Cave Trail to go see, obviously, Crystal Cave! The paths and switchbacks were pretty steep, but my doggie did great on the leash, at some points halting and looking back at us to say, “hurry up!”

It was somewhat strenuous but the view at the top of the famous “Ol’ Baldy” was worth the hike!

By now it was around 4:30 and we had to make it to the cave and back down before dark. A quick scramble up some rocks and you’re met with this display:

About another 30 minutes walking in between trees and brush and we reached the cave. There was about 2 other families who had stopped to see it. It was cold and wet, and very slippery so I only went down the first ledge. My headlamp helped me to see some spiders and since they are definitely not my favorite things, I climbed out. I didn’t appreciate the graffiti left there also. 😦

We took the same way back instead of going down by the way of Crystal Cave Trail because I wanted to make sure of making it back to camp before dark.

Back at the tent at sunset and it was time for s’mores! They were delicious with their sticky gooey ness and a nice way to end the evening. We bundled up for the night and set a little corner of blankets for our doggie. We had her crate there also but she liked her corner better. :).

Before we went to sleep for the night, we took some time to star gaze, and saw the tons of twinkling dots illuminate the sky, even glimpsed a portion of the Milky Way, which always makes me smile.

The night was very chilly but our sleeping bags did the trick and we stayed warm. Our dog was great for keeping the suspected critters I could hear outside the tent away for the night.

In the morning after breakfast, we explored the back part of the campsite for a bit and took some fall pics:

We were pretty tired from the long day and I didn’t want to overdo it since I was doing my first ever half-marathon the next weekend (!) so we enjoyed the outside at the campsite just relaxing until it was time to drive home.

Garner is a place I’d love to visit again in the warmer weather, and maybe I’ll conquer Ol’ Baldy next time. 🙂