Copper Breaks and Caprock

These are two beautiful little parks in the panhandle of Texas. We did some serious hiking and Bill hit the mountain bike trails and learned the hard way about flat tires from cactus thorns. After using up all of his spare tire patches and his spare inner tube, he gave up until we can find a bike shop and by some thorn proof liners. He did manage to ride almost all of the trails in both parks.
We hiked on a trail in Caprock to a natural bridge. You can see the one picture of Bill standing in front of the tunnel through carved solid rock by water. We did not go into the tunnel because of the abundance of rattlesnakes in the area.

Into Texas!

We continued westward and landed in the LBJ National Grasslands, somewhere northwest of Dallas. It cost $ 2.00 per night to camp on this beautiful wilderness lake - once again, we were the only ones there. This turned out to also be a "lovers lane" for turkey buzzards...

Mississippi

We landed in Roosevelt State Park and enjoyed the cypress swamp and near empty campground.

Underground in the Deep South

We continued to Rickwood Caverns State Park in Alabama and toured the caves.

2009's Adventure Begins!

We are off again to the West! We left Raleigh and went all the way to Murphy in extreme western North Carolina. We then dipped down into Georgia where we stayed at Cloud Canyon State Park and toured the Chicamauga battlefield. It was almost like being in the west, on a smaller scale. There was a small canyon with some spectacular water falls. This is the only place east of the Mississippi that I have ever heard called a canyon!

The long ferry ride home

In order to continue further south from Ocracoke it is necessary to take a long ferry boat ride across the Pamlico Sound to Cedar Island where one may rejoin the mainland highway system. The ride was very pleasant. Also on board the boat was a group of older motorcycle riders from Georgia out on a grand excursion.

On to Cape Hatteras and Ocracoke

From Oregon Inlet we stopped at Cape Hatteras and saw the famous lighthouse and then took the 45 minute "free" ferry boat to Ocracoke Island. The National Seashore campground was also mostly empty. The beach and weather were great, but we were besieged with the the most aggressive mosquitoes whenever the wind would die down. Later we found out that we had contracted the bites of dozens of sand fleas as well. You always want an offshore breeze on the Outer Banks.

Oregon Inlet North Carolina

From Merchant's Millpond, we made a stop at the Great Dismal Swamp State Park, where Bill rode some of the mountain bike trails in the park. We then headed out to Nags Head and down Bodie Island to the Nation Seashore campground at Oregon Inlet. The campground was scheduled to close for the season the next weekend. We were surprised to see so few campers since this is the prime season for fishing along the outer banks. The weather and the beach were beautiful and the food was not bad either.

Fall on the Outer Banks of North Carolina

We decided to escape for a week to eastern North Carolina. The first night was spent at Merchant's Millpond State Park. This is a beautiful cyprus swamp with a small campground. The Park rents canoes or you can bring your own. There are also remote campsites accessible either by canoe or backpacking. The most notable trail is the Lassiter Trail. This is an easy seven mile hike on a good trail through hardwoods with some views of the cyprus swamp. Your will see a lot of deer here. This park is best from October to May since it is completely infested with ticks and other crawlies in the warm seasons.

Back Home Again In Carolina

We made it back. Here's a map of our whole trip.