Camp fires, wood smoke, and burning leaves.

 When I was a kid, everyone burned leaves in the fall. I always enjoyed it so much.  It was a happy time. Man, that smell was amazing and you couldn’t go anywhere without smelling it. Of course now I know that it is a major source of air pollution and those of us that live inside the city limits are restricted from doing it. I don’t think I would burn them anyway, choosing to compost instead.

The whole family would engage in raking the yard and the reward was burning the leaves. The thick gray smoke would pour out like liquid clouds and we would run through it. Afterward, we smelled like smoke, but we didn’t care. I would wager that most people under the age of 30 have never even raked leaves into a pile, let alone burn them.

Growing up in north Georgia in the late 60’s, my 3 brothers and I would camp out most of the summer and burn anything and everything on our campfire. At the end of summer there wouldn’t be a stick, pine cone, or needle on the ground. We smelled like mountain men and didn’t even notice it. Of course we showered every third day or so and put on clean clothes, but we pretty much lived in our outdoor summer campsite. It was a grand time of adventure and primitive living. I guess you could say we were happy.

The other night when it fell into the 50’s, I beckoned my bride to step outside, as someone was burning wood. I’m not sure if she was impressed like I was, but I stayed out front for sometime and my memories were refreshed. It is the simple things in life that sometimes bring the most pleasure. Someone asked me one time what brings true happiness and I told them it is when you fulfill your duties, or a job well done. Peace and contentment bring real joy also.

Disneyworld is nothing more than entertainment. It doesn’t induce lasting happiness. Standing in front of my house smelling that wood smoke made me happy, as I was living in the past and in the moment and days later I still feel good about it. I was content. Doing good deeds and accomplishing things also bring a sense of well being. In a time when everything is pushed as entertainment, we almost forget that none of it really makes us happy.  People go on cruises and vacations and never talk about them afterward.

There is so much hassle and logistics involved to go and do things anymore that when it is all said and done, I’m not sure we got anything more out of it than seeing and doing things – and spent a bunch of money we don’t really have and why? Because we are chasing the illusion of happiness. My dad could sit in one spot and fish all by himself from sunrise to sunset and be as happy as a frog eating a June bug.  The scenery never changed and all he might have seen around his boat was water and sky, but he was more content, than if he would have traveled and climbed up to Machu Picchu.

Wood smoke and camp fires. How long has it been since you hunkered down by a campfire and let the world fly by without you? Of course, you cannot haul in a lowboy of modern conveniences on this trip, or you just complicate it. No, just some meat on a stick; coffee in the morning, and maybe a cooler with beverages is all you need. Get a pocket knife and whittle a stick, just frittering the day away. I promise, it will do you more good than a trip to a crowded stadium, where you have a 50/50 chance of leaving disgusted.

My little doggies make me happy on a daily basis. They demand nothing, chase each other in mock fights and dadgumit, they just are great companions. I feel good caring for them, by taking them for walks, making sure they have plenty of food and water, and great veterinary care. It’s these simple everyday things that enrich my life and the best part of it all is I recognize it. I don’t have to book a flight to Belize to have a great time or to be content.

Like the burning leaves, wood smoke, and campfires, what has truly made me satisfied in life - is life itself.

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Pedernales Falls State Park - OR Bust!

All great adventures begin with an adventure.  Did I write that?  My adventure started a few days before we left to go to Pedernales Falls State Park when my geocaching buddy, Aaron Barbee gave me a utility trailer.  He told me it needed TLC and it did.  I love this trailer.  I poured my sweat into it to get it ready to haul camping gear and firewood 225 miles to the campsite close to Johnson City, Texas.

The Trailer

I added $200 worth of new tires, straps, and wheel bearings to make sure it would handle the trip. Always keep an eye out for auto parts store coupons; they come in handy.  I was so excited to leave, I forgot my tent and 2 containers of camping equipment.  When we camp, it is as if we are the Dugger family, taking anything we might possibly need and more.  I blame the small amount of Boy Scout training I had for this behavior.

I pride myself on making few mistakes and to say I made a few mistakes on this trip would be a bald-faced lie.  The trip was one mistake on my part after another.  I was determined to relax and I must have taken a brain-relaxer, because it was as if I was back in 9th grade algebra - I was dumber than a box of rocks.

Being the guy that I am, I stopped about every 30 minutes and checked the trailer load and wheel bearing temperature.  The drivers side was getting warm, but nothing serious.  The 4th time I checked it was in Bastrop and we stopped and ate a bite at the Dairy Queen there.  After we were done, the bearings seemed cool, so off we went… and then my bride got a phone call from my son-in-law informing me that while picking-up our doggies, he discovered our left-behind equipment.

My Bride loves me even though I am a bit of an oaf at times.

"That's it.  We have to turn back."  I stated.

"But we are 200 miles from the house!"

"I know, but we can't camp without what is in those two boxes."  I exclaimed, feeling failure wash over me.

"Well, if we drive all the way back, I am not going to camp."  My bride said, voicing my disappointed sentiment.

Ready to roll?  Yikes!

So, I wheeled the trailer and Jeep around and pulled into a Valero gas station to top off my tank.  That is when I noticed the drivers side wheel was about 10 minutes from falling off.  The bearings were completely gone and the wheel was wobbling.

"Aye Curumba!"  I yelled out in a vile torrent of butchered Baytownian Anglo Tex-Mex!

"If we would not have stopped when we did…"  I said and we both thanked the God we serve for the phone call.  All I can figure is it is divine providence that I left the supplies, or I could have lost that tire at 60 mph.

Bastrop Auto Works

I drove slowly back east on SH-71 and seeing a garage, I pulled into Bastrop Auto Works - Foreign and Domestic Specialists and met the nicest guy named Rene Rizk, who is the owner/manager.

"If you can drop the trailer Mr. Marshall, I'll have it ready for you in the morning and it will handle like new - I promise," were his exact words or something like that.

So, off to Wimberley my bride and I head.  Wimberley, Texas to my bride is like going to heaven.  I did not do everything wrong my friend.  We chummed around town and finally got a room at the excellent Square Inn, right on the square.  It is a real nice place ran by a single mom of triplet teenage boys. I highly recommend it.

Square Inn, Wimberley, Texas

The next morning, we made our drive back to Bastrop and Rene's son took our denaro, as Rene was fishing for Spec's and Red's in the Gulf this fine morning.  Hitching up the "like new" trailer, off we went for our camping trip and true to his word, the trailer performed like it was supposed to.

Arriving at Pedernales Falls State park, we learned I had lost my $20 deposit and had to pay the full price, since I didn't give the State of Texas a 72 hour notice I was going to have a bad trailer spindle.  Oh, well, just pass it off as another minor inconvenience and move on down the campsite.  Number 64.  The Ranger whispered it was highly coveted and a few days later, a woman asked when we were leaving, as they wanted our spot.  I felt pretty smug after that.

Camp site 64!

We had almost everything set up before my daughter and son-in-law came rolling in with the tent and our missing containers of camping gear - and our 4 little doggies!  Oh joy!  What a fantastic rescue they put on for us!  We cooked food on the campfire and swam in the Pedernales River over the next two days.  While in camp, we listened to my DVD's of the Cornell Hurd Band, Hank Williams, James Harmin, Wayne Hancock, and Bert Wills.  It just didn't seem right not to listen to Country and Blues music around the campfire.

Baytown Bert  AKA Pedernales Bert

My bride and I camped the last two nights by ourselves and even made a mandatory trip over to Marble Falls to eat at the Blue Bonnet Cafe - an absolute must and thanks to my friend Buddy Casto, we even made a trip over to see the Castle Avalon on the mountain.  By the way, it was 100 degrees outside and it is April for crying out loud!

100 degrees in April?

In the Park we saw deer, turkey, 3 short-nosed gar - hiked the 4-mile Loop trail, did a bit of geocaching, cycled, cooked meat on a stick over a campfire, and had a wonderful time.  An amazing sight was looking up through the netting on the tent at night at the millions of stars - after taking a good warm shower in the clean Park bathrooms of course!

Beautiful Pedernales Falls State
Park

I don't want to conclude without mentioning that I left my cell phone charger and had to nurse my usage carefully - but remembered to bring 3 cameras.  I warned everyone repeatedly about the raccoons at nighttime and then I left a case open and the rascals destroyed a bit of foodstuffs including coffee and grape jelly.  I clumsily stubbed my great toe in the shower. I brought 4 pair of binoculars, which we didn't use, but forgot the tent.  Then on the way home, my Jeep caught a rock in the windshield.

I did however percolate French Market coffee with chicory over the fire in my Dr. Strangelove coffee cup and by golly it was American and delicious!

Drinking chicory coffee out of my Dr. Strangelove cup seemed fitting!

Texas Camping and Hungry Varmints

If you camp over-night in a state park, be it Texas or any other park, you will have varmints visit your site while you sleep. It’s what is called, “a given”. In other words you will have animals in your camp looking for nibble goodies; little scraps of food, or more - unguarded loads of food.

The number one camp bandit is the raccoon and in state parks, the raccoons have ninjas-on-steroids skills. They have seen and will open almost any kind of container, cooler, box, or chest. They’ve seen it all and unless you place a heavy rock on top of your cooler, there is a good chance you will awaken during the night to the sound of “coons” rummaging through your stuff.

Raccoons make a very peculiar sound, especially when they are excited after finding something edible. To me, they sound like an alien from outer space, something like Mel Gibson’s character heard while standing in the cornfield in the movie “Signs”. It’s a major creep-out to novice campers, who huddling inside their tent and in the dark have no idea what it is.

I will attempt to describe their sounds: bubbles, clicks, purrs, and a cooing sound - kind of like a mischievous little monkey or a hideous malicious and drooling alien. Add to this the sound of a bungee strap slapping repeatedly against the side of an ice chest, aluminum and plastic cookware and eating utensils falling from the picnic table and the tree limb rubbing against your tent and you have everything you need to plead the mercies of your God.

However, once you realize what it is you are hearing, you have a couple of choices. First and the one I recommend is exiting your tent and chasing the critters to the far side of your flashlight’s beam (that’s all the farther they will retreat - trust me). Secure your stuff and then go back to sleep, hoping you didn’t miss something.

Your second choice is to suffer in silence while the raccoons ransack your site, again and again. My first experience with this phenomenon was about 30 years ago while camping at Camp Strake with the Boy Scouts. We were a bit sloppy in our camp discipline and the raccoons triple-teamed us all night. There is a reason they have the bandit band over their eyes. I think it has evolved along with their skill to rob campers of their goods.

This past camping trip I heard the hanging trash bag rattle as we sat around the campfire. Turning my powerful flashlight on, I spied a large coon peeking inside the bag, only halfway concerned with my awareness and about twenty feet behind it was a small fox. The fox is a second tier thief. Its modus operandi is to rob the raccoon and split the scene before the coon can catch it.

To me, that is justice served.

Meat on a Stick Time - Part 2!

We came, we saw, we camped, and cooked meat on a stick! Last Sunday, we wrapped up a four-day camping trip to Pedernales Falls State Park and due to my many obligations, I am just now finding time to write about it.

My brother TJ Bustem, nephew Andy Tallant, coworker “Big” John Graham, his son “Texas Slim”, and buddy “Texas Shorty” arrived at the quiet and mostly empty park Thursday about 2pm and began the process of setting up our tents and gear. I began worry about rain on this trip a full month before we arrived and I must say; we couldn’t have dialed in better weather, even if we had that ability.

The day before we left, I defrosted Elk and Axis deer back-strap my friend Brian White brought me and soaked it in milk overnight. Draining the milk and washing it, I put it in a one-gallon freezer bag and added Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce and Tony Chachere’s Creole seasoning. Thursday evening, we skewered the tasty meats and held them over an open fire.

It was delicious! It was more than delicious, it was heavenly delicious.

The milk removed the normal gamey taste and appeared to tenderize the meat also, as it almost fell off the skewers. There we were, hunkered down, each of us as pioneers of old, cooking meat on a stick. Our two 10-year old “Texans” were getting both a taste of outdoor cooking by their own doing and the secure fellowship of men who actually care about their future development.

The Baytown Hiking Fellowship was enjoying its first campout. As stated in the previous Blog, our fellowship was founded last year to honor the memory of my son, Sgt. Nick Marshall and to promote fellowship and personal development. We all agreed we will have many more hikes and campouts, in the future.

I was determined to attempt a number of methods and new equipment on this trip, as possible for my own development and one of these is a knife/magnesium striker device, for lighting fires. In preparation for the first fire, I made cotton balls soaked in melted Vaseline, a fire-starting trick I saw on the Internet, but widely used by the Boy Scouts, hunters and hikers.

We gathered around the fire-pit and I pulled 2 cotton balls out, placed them in the pit and struck the magnesium rod with the edge of the knife blade. Like magic (and to my utter amazement), the cotton balls ignited and just like that, we had the beginnings of our campfire. My only regret is, we failed to video it.

Friday and Saturday we hiked as a group and Geocached. We were blessed with sunny days, but the nights hovered in the mid-30’s, which was fine, albeit cold. I opted to sleep in my tent with no heater, as did Andy and TJ Bustem and although my sleeping bag kept me comfy, my face was cold as ice and my only option was to wrap a fleece blanket around my head each night.

Once again, geocaching is a high tech treasure hunting game using a GPS device to locate “caches”. Pedernales Falls has close to 30 approved caches hidden within its borders and our first objective was to locate a number of them on the 4-mile loop trail. However, the Pedernales River had the only crossing flooded, so we went off to find other caches, eventually locating nine.

By Saturday, our two pint-sized Texans were weary of the slow-pace us seasoned campers were keeping, so Andy took them off to Pedernales Falls for four hours of hiking while TJ Bustem, Big John, and I hiked part of the Wolf Mountain Trail and located more caches. At the Pedernales Popcorn cache we found our first Travel Bug, which is a cool-looking dog-tag thingy and this one was attached to a travel boot ornament. The idea of a travel bug is the person who “grabs” it, carries it to a distant cache according to the wishes of the original owner and all of this is recorded later on geocaching.com.

This Bug is going to be placed Saturday, March 6th on the Goose Creek Trail, helping it on its way to the Appalachian Trail.

Raccoons, accosted our camp as always, but we kept a clean site, so they got very little besides a couple of my favorite Los Toritos bean, cheese and jalapeno tamales and a can of bean dip. Jackrabbits, deer, and even a fox passed through our site as we sat by the fire and who knows what else while we slept.

It was a weary bunch of trail-broke happy campers who rolled up their gear Sunday morning. At this point all of us could have stayed on without reserve, but commitments and our folks at home beckoned. As we drove out of the park, all were making plans for the next adventure.

Meat on a Stick Time!

What is that smell I smell?  Is that the visceral and distant calling of the wild upon my modern intellect, or is it simply the ancient practice of cooking meat over a campfire that brings the tendrils of feral game and burning wood to my flaring nostrils?

I am excited about camping and camping we will do next week.  Last year about this time the idea came to me to form a group to promote fellowship and inner development for young men who were buddies of my son, Nick Marshall and to honor his memory and I did, but this is the first chance we have had to exercise or execute an activity.
I called it the Baytown Hiking Fellowship and it is defined thusly on our website: 

"Fellowship is offered to qualifying men through referrals by members to both young and older in support of their efforts to pursue mental health and higher ideals through fellowship with other men while hiking and camping within the borders of Texas. As a general guideline, members are those who have demonstrated a desire to better themselves through hiking, camping, men’s fellowship, hard work, personal devotionals, self-improvement, sharing and mentoring and again, must come through a referral by an existing member".

This month we will make our way to Pedernales Falls State Park, close to Johnson City for our first fellowship.  It will consist of four days of camping, hiking, fellowship, and personal development.  I am also requiring each attendee to bring a skill to share.  My skill will be GPS orienteering and operation with geocaching as an objective.

Many of those attending have lost one or more parents, close friends, or sibling(s) and are in desperate need of a certain amount of healing and this is the real goal behind our fellowship. Some just need others around them who care about their future and we will supply this as well and then there is the very real need for all of us to simply get outside and rediscover our American pioneering spirit.

Over the last year, I’ve been scouring the area for sleeping bags, old tents, blankets – anything I could find to ready us for this day, as well as looking for sponsors.  It’s my goal that the fellowship will grow beyond me and become self-sufficient and by this I mean that it will not revolve around me, but develop those we mentor so they will carry this into their own maturity.

In our group we have an age range from as young as six to my age of fifty-seven.  We have two Dads with sons, a number of very stable adults, and quite a good number of twenty-something younger men - and all of us are very excited.  It’s a grand time for all concerned and we are beginning to amp up.Me?  I want to “do like Zog do” and hold meat over the fire, albeit on a stick instead of holding it in my hand and I want to do it in the company of those who are more used to holding a game controller, than a hiking pole.

Last week I inventoried my camping gear and it’s all setting beside my desk as I write this.  One of my nephews, Andy Tallant is coming by today to practice setting up his tent.  We plan to set it up, tear it down and then set it up again.  I’ll do the same with mine.

We are expecting the weather to be anywhere between 25 degrees F. to 60, so we are preparing for anything and everything and that is the luxury of Park camping over back-packing.  We can carry a lot of gear.  After all, our goal is not survival training, at least not at this juncture, but to get away from our routine and enjoy the outdoors, a roaring campfire and best of all – men who care enough about other men’s future to help them along.
*cartoon from The Far Side by Gary Larson

There is no Year Like This Year

I have very mixed emotions starting this year off. Like many others, 2009 was not my best year. Personal losses, family members whose great jobs disappeared and the general sluggish Obama-led economy all took their toll on me. In a nutshell, I do not want a repeat of 2009 in 2010.

For months now, I’ve felt a lethargic weight on the back part of my brain and what I need is a panacea or elixir to pull me back upright. I’m not a believer in astrology or fortune-telling and I have enough years in my poke sack to realize that if this year is going to be better for me, it is within my power to make it happen. I’ve stated this many times over the last 30 years and danged if I didn’t succumb to the wiles of misfortune anyway.

I learned the hard way in 2009 that a person cannot prepare for every eventuality successfully. However, each time something tragic happens, I am still optimistic that I will survive and in the long run, come out stronger. That too is up to me.

As a fundamentalist Christian with a partial and practiced Zen Buddhist mind, I still became entangled in a state of depression that kept me mentally chained most of this last year. No one can say with certainty how they will react or recover from something truly tragic until they have emerged on the far side, regardless of what they say beforehand.

Racking up over five hundred hours of overtime at the Plant kept my body busy enough, but mentally I ghosted most of the year away. I wasn’t as strong as I should have been for my bride and family and I’ve determined that 2010 would be different, albeit ten days into January, I am just now getting my plan into motion.

I’ve booked four days at Pedernales Falls State Park, out Johnson City way for late February and plan to camp with my brothers and friends more this year than any previous year, excluding my teen years. I camped for almost 3 months in Georgia with my brothers and life’s responsibilities prevent me that luxury now.

I’m going to call on my old friend and nemesis – exertion, to once again rejuvenate my mind. Exertion has never failed me and as I age I realize that exertion is the one constant in my life that has provided me with true physical mental health. As I told a friend recently, “I am not happy unless I am pushing myself physically to the point of exhaustion”. I guess I could ask my niece Tiffany, what kind of mental problem this is, since she has a Masters degree in psychology, but I probably won’t, as it won’t change anything.

Back in the Stone Age when I was young and strong and thought I could take on all comers, I ran and ran and ran and lifted weights, did karate, push-ups and pull-ups like a fanatic and it kept my demons at bay. In 2010 I will make fifty-eight years of age and these days my testosterone level is obviously not what is was, so I will simply tighten up the strings on my hiking or work boots put on my leather gloves and bang my feet on the trails and climb the ladders at work to get my mental buzz on.

I listened on the radio as the exercise sage and godfather of fitness, Jack LaLanne explained that even at 95 years of age, exercise is number one and nutrition is number two. According to his bio, at the age of 70 handcuffed and shackled, he fought strong winds and currents as he swam 1.5 miles while towing 70 boats with 70 people from the Queensway Bay Bridge in the Long Beach Harbor to the Queen Mary, so I think it is safe to say he knows what exercise can do for a person, both mentally and physically. He is full of vim and vigor which is defined as a healthy capacity for vigorous activity and forceful exertion.

Forceful exertion breeds a healthy capacity for vigorous activity and that is my simple plan for 2010 to get my mental health back and in the process my body will benefit also. Want to join me?.

Texas State Burn Bans Ruin Camping!

Texas County Commissioners issue burn bans which effectively stop campers from campfire camping or cooking on charcoal in state parks. I witnessed and experienced this first hand this past Spring Break weekend at McKinney Falls State Park near Austin, Texas.

See the first video here.

In order to reserve a camp site at many Texas state parks, it is necessary to book months in advance and this I did. Since Texas is a big state and has very little public land, camping in a park is what most of us are forced to do or we will have no place to camp. I booked this campsite January 20th, 2009.

Upon arrival at the Park Thursday March 26th, I was informed there was an "extreme burn ban" in effect and no campfires or charcoal cooking or fires would be allowed under heavy penalty. I informed the Rangers that I had checked the Texas Parks and Wildlife web site daily and it showed Travis County this very morning as not being under a burn ban and they said I was wrong, as they had checked it also.

I had indeed checked the website and it did not show a burn ban or I would have cancelled my reservation, as camping without a campfire is just not the same thing and evidence of this attitude was everywhere in the park – which was basically empty.

It had been pouring rain in the park for hours and I asked if the ban would be lifted because it was so wet and I was once again informed that this decision had been made the previous Tuesday and it would be Tuesday March 31st before the county commissioner would review the ban.

I was outraged to say the least and once again felt like our Texas government was working against us law-abiding families. The pervasive strong-arm of government interference once again is used to keep anyone from making a decision based on changing conditions. Why in the world would a blanket burn ban be used to stop a family from cooking on charcoal in a State park? The hundreds of picnic tables and charcoal burners were vacant Friday and Saturday each time we walked by them on the many trails.

My pile of hardwood hauled 200 miles from Baytown lay unburned at our screen shelter and I was informed it would be removed by park staff, rather than leave it for the next camper.

See the second video here:

The solution is simple and it involves understanding the nature of families and camping/picnicking and a governing official with enough brass to take this bull by the horns and correct it.

One: The Park superintendent should always over ride the County Commissioner on burn bans, even if it takes the Governor of Texas to step in. Camping and campfires are synonymous, just as picnics and charcoal grills (folks are just not going to tote a propane stove 300 yards to get to a picnic table, but they will tote charcoal, etc.). We must be allowed to have them, so how is this accomplished in a safe manner?

Two: Engineering controls need to be implemented so that fires are always contained. Better fire rings with wind screens and charcoal braziers which do not allow the wind to whip through them are good starting points.

Three: Campers should be educated on safe and acceptable campfires and each camp site should be randomly checked by park staff on acceptable practices. An evening 10 minute camp fire class could be held at the pavilion by park staff/volunteers to facilitate safe camping is an option.

Four: CO2 or Class A fire extinguishers could be made available for campers or at least water hoses for those who wish a campfire.

The bottom line is simple. Campers and picnickers should always be put ahead of County burn bans. The empty parking lots and vacant picnic tables told the sad story. I want to add that my complaint is not with Park staff, but their compliance with the blanket burn ban decisions which effectively ruin camping and picnickers from enjoying the park to the fullest.

I talked to a Park employee for about 20 minutes and we reviewed one of the videos I made and I asked if anything they saw on the video was inaccurate and they said “No”. I am taking this all the way to the Governor of Texas to get this changed and I ask everyone to write, call or do what they can to join me.

Pedernales Falls State Park is Awesome - Part 3!

We are on day 3 of our 4 day camping trip at Pedernales Falls State Park, it’s about 55 degrees, cloudy, windy and feels like it is fixing to rain. I don’t care, I’m going hiking and I’m going solo, as my brother, TJ Bustem has an aching back.

The trail itself is 7.5 miles, but about 1.3 miles from our campsite and I aim to walk to the trail and back which will give me a good 10-mile hike. I’ll be honest and say I am a fair weather/sunshine lover, but I can also be a determined person and nothing short of a heavy downpour of rain will dampen my hiking spirit.

Now, it’s still winter and the vegetation is fairly bleak and the absence of other hikers on this trail makes it appear less than hospitable. There are parts of it that look like Mirkwood from ‘The Hobbit’ in fact. Goblins probably hang out here while on R&R.

The first part of the trail resembles a gravel road, as the primitive camping area is about 2 miles up the trail and is serviced by vehicles, but after you pass that, it becomes more rustic and in places a mountain biker would have trouble. However, I did not find any of it difficult and anyone capable of walking that distance could walk this too. Now, after saying that, I want to add that any trail can be hazardous and if I would have slipped and sprained my ankle, I would have been in a fix. In the summer, there is the extensive heat and then there are the snakes also.

On this hike, my main concern was the wind and a smattering of rain. 50 degree F weather with a 20-mile per hour wind is flat cold. I was wearing a large lumbar pack with about 20 pounds of gear and water and despite the cold, I was sweating. Sweat, wind and cold can cause hypothermia and people have been known to die in these conditions when injured and I was hiking solo. I moved on and watched my step.

Up on top of Tobacco Mountain there are the remains of a old stone house. On the rocks around it are all kinds of old nails, pieces of pottery, and relics that hikers have found and left. It is close to Jones Spring, so if you hike this trail, look for it. Remember the rule of hikers everywhere – take only photographs, leave only foot prints.

Now I’m not a paranoid person, but I am a cautious one and the upper part of this trail under these dark, windy and cold conditions can get a person to look over their shoulder a bit. I thought I heard voices a number of times, or sounds of pursuit, but each time I stopped and listened, nothing appeared.

In the book ‘A walk in the woods’ by Bill Bryson he touches on lonely hiking when a hiker begins to hear things and becomes obsessed that they are being followed. I knew there was no one out there, as I had saw two mountain bikers early and the trail showed no signs of them and at the primitive camping area, I had talked to one fellow only and he was looking for the latrine. I moved on against the wind and cold and just kept my eyes open.

I was about 4 miles into the trail and 5.3 miles from camp when I caught the first ray of sunshine and it sent a bolt of adrenaline through my soul. From there on in, the sun gradually came into full view, the clouds dispersed and I made my way around Wolf Mountain a happy hiker. Bring on the orcs.

The trip around the top is about a half mile and I began my descent, camera in hand. Hikers and primitive campers with their large backpacks began to pass me heading up the trail, as I made my way back across the three dry creek bed crossings and finally arriving at the trailhead, I walked the 1.3 miles on the road back to the camp site. I must admit, I was a relaxed slow-moving camper the rest of this day.

My brother TJ Bustem drug out a largish sirloin steak and tossed it on the grill side of my Stansport propane stove and he had whipped up his specialty salad mix of artichoke hearts, tomatoes, avocado and onions and we dined like Kit Carson did, only better. Meat on a stick – yeah, meat on a stick. It doesn’t get any better than that, except when I looked up from my plate and there were five deer standing between us and the campfire. One even walked over our pile of kindling.

Closing out the day by the campfire and slipping into my bag for our final night, I drifted off perfectly content to stay another week and slept like a baby. Rolling out early for more coffee, I greeted the sunshine and the 26 degree F weather. Reluctantly we broke camp, cleaned up after ourselves and made the drive home.

Pedernales Falls State Park is Awesome - Part 2!

It’s day two of our camping trip to Pedernales Falls State Park (PFSP) and we’ve decided to tackle the 4-Mile Loop Trail and since my brother, TJ Bustem has a temperamental back, I will hike the Wolf Mountain Trail solo on Saturday, which from our campsite is a little over 10 miles.

The first obstacle we encountered was a shallow river crossing called the Trammel Crossing. TJ removed his low-quarter hiking boots and socks and waded across, but I was able to ford the river without getting my socks wet. He remarked that it was not even close to being as cold as a river he forded in Montana.

We began catching close-up views of deer and Thursday night we spied a 9-point buck was within 50 feet of our camp. After a mild ascent of this trail, we began seeing extensive evidence of feral hogs, but no hogs. The weather was beautiful, sunny and pleasingly cool, but without wind. It was picture perfect and we were taking pictures aplenty.

It was also fairly easy and we wandered over the trail taking photographs and our time. Up on top, we tried to get a cell phone signal and we stopped by an ancient family graveyard. It was so old the stones were in disarray and their marking were faint. We also came across quite a few cairns. Cairns were used by Native Americans and Mountain men to leave messages and point directions. A cairn is described as a mound of stones piled up as a memorial or to mark a boundary or path.

The hike took a total of about 4 hours and that included many diversions, photographs and observations of this and that and since we were not on a schedule, the time was well spent.

The temperature rose into the 60’s and was quite comfortable. We cooked on our stove, drank more coffee and toured the park using their map, which is free at the welcome center and finished the day back at the Falls. This area is very rough and flood prone when it rains up north and since it is basically like God made it, kind of unsafe to those who are not agile or inattentive. There are no signs warning you to watch out or you could fall and break your bones and I liked this immensely. Go down around the rocks and you pay attention – it’s that simple. We met a number of good folks and a couple from Fort Worth/Dallas.

Back at camp, we lit off our campfire and settled in around the flames to watch the stars. Wow, there are a lot of stars visible when you are away from city lights. We saw a number of satellites too. Hitting the sack about 11:30, I was not near as wary as I was the first night and since we had already had a visit from our raccoon marauder while at the campfire, I figured the night would be uneventful. It was not to be.

Somewhere around 2 am, the raccoon was back and I got up and threw rocks at it. They are extremely adept at accessing your equipment. Yesterday morning, the little rascal had eaten about 15 Hershey mini-candy bars from my brothers container. It had reached through the carrying hole and one by one had pulled the candy out, removed the aluminum foil wrapper and left a small scattered pile of debris. Evidentially chocolate is not hazardous to raccoons.

When we awoke Saturday morning, we discovered our furry friend had opened my ice chest and removed about 3 pounds of fish fillets, ate his fill and even left a small amount on the trail leading away from the camp area. I imagine this happened about the time I got up to chase it off. The sound we heard was evidentially the noise a coon makes when it is very happy. It sounds like a bubbling warble with a few clicks thrown in for good measure. TJ Bustem wasn’t a happy camper, as he had warned me and wanted to put the cooler in his truck for the night.

In Part 3 I hike the Wolf Mountain Trail – Stay tuned.

Pedernales Falls State Park is Awesome - Part 1!

Well, I finally got my Camp-out on and it was everything I had hoped for and more. This past weekend, my brother TJ Bustem and I spent four days in Central Texas, specifically Pedernales Falls State Park. Texans know it as “Perdenales” thanks to LBJ and both pronunciations are acceptable according to the Parks and Wildlife web site.

Back in January while making plans to camp, I made a number of purchases to replace old camping gear, including a new tent, mummy bag and camp stove, etc. On this trip I planned to prove this equipment and since it had been years since I had camped, I also planned to tote along anything else I might need, erring on the side of too much equipment.

I was pleased with the quality of my “3 season” Eureka Apex-2XT Dome tent. It was about a hundred bucks and is easy to set-up. I did get a surprise Thursday night when I went to zip up the tent at bedtime when a honeybee stung me on my right pinky finger. I had left the fly open on the tent and when the sun went down and the temperature fell, the bee landed right by the zipper. Lesson learned – keep that tent zipped at all times.

My sleeping bag is the Kelty Mistral 20 degree mummy and I was toasty, even when the temperature fell to 26 degrees F Saturday night. My propane stove is the excellent Stansport H.O. model 206 and I heartily recommend this model to everyone. The H.O. stands for high output and I made coffee on it in under four minutes using my vintage Comet aluminum coffee percolator, and this at below freezing temperatures.

I broke-in my new cookware, which is a 3-piece set made by Texsport. They call it the “Hard Anodized Cook Set” and it was used to heat up water for oatmeal and clean-up, along with the various foods we cooked. I bought everything through www.JoesSports.com and their service and prices are very satisfactory.

It’s about a four hour drive from Baytown to PFSP and check-in time for a reserved site is 2pm, so that doesn’t give you a lot of daylight to set up camp and do much of anything other than walk down to the Falls and look it over. The Falls on the Pedernales River can flood in 5 minutes and I’m told they have a siren set up to warn folks that a dangerous (and I mean a Tsunami) amount of water may be on its way. It’s something to consider if you crawl over the rocks in the river bed and have physical limitations. 5 minutes to clear the area and if you think you can’t, then don’t go down there, but stay up high on the sides of the river. Here is their web site.

Let me tell you about the rest facilities (toilet/shower) at this Park. They are heated, clean and make your camping experience wonderful. The Park itself is well-staffed with “Park Hosts”, which are basically retired campers who help maintain the Park in exchange for parking rights and they do an excellent job.

It’s been a number of years since I broke out of my comfort zone when it comes to sleeping and I’m not counting motels beds either. Sleeping in a mummy bag inside a tent, out in the woods is a far cry from what our spoiled bodies like and the first night was a bit uncomfortable. Add in the raccoon that decided to check all our gear for food and I didn’t get a whole lot of sleep. Neither did TJ Bustem.

We were up at the crack of dawn though and it was 29 degrees. My hands and feet were beginning to freeze as I made coffee and stoked the fire pit. Camp fires are allowed at this SP if kept inside a metal pit, unlike the Guadalupe River SP, which is under a total campfire ban. Thank the Lord, as camping without a campfire, is like showering without water in my opinion.

We shook the cold off, made a breakfast of hot oatmeal, jet-fuel strength black coffee and jalapeno, bean & cheese tamales from Los Toritos in Baytown. I decided this would become a staple on my campouts, as you can easily heat them up in a covered pan of boiling water and they taste great and stick to your ribs; besides camp food always tastes great regardless of the combination. Stay tuned for part two.

Getting Back to the Basics

I am like you; the average American and I’ve had enough hustle and bustle to last a lifetime.

We are swamped to the gills with ignoramus product advertising claims, reality-television nonsensical blah, blah, blah, end of the world doom and gloom news reporting and are in serious need of a change of pace, relaxation and just a break from it all.

Good news of any kind for us average Americans would be most welcome, especially about the economy, world peace, global warming and the future concerning American politics, the succeeding security of our investments, health care and the cost of living staying within reach.

We however are not stupid enough to think we should hold our breath and wait for the inauguration for “new air”, as we have already figured out that Washington DC politics have little to do with how we breath down here, regardless of how many times hysterical fanatics from either party say otherwise.

About ninety percent of all these invasive distractions and worries can be brought into control by simply shutting off the television and returning to the basics of just enjoying life. Most of the doom and gloom reporting is not going to affect us anyway, so why do we abuse ourselves with it, especially on a minute-by-minute basis, via TV, radio and the Internet?

Why do we keep looking for a fast-acting disposable remedy or a visual and sensory over-loading instant mini-vacation spot to make us happy, when deep down inside we know what we really need is simply a major detour from our noisy existence and a bit of old-fashioned peace and quiet?

A truly rewarding peace and quiet existence can’t be found in a rapid-fire quick airline flight get away or a hell-bent-for-leather cross-country drive to Branson, Orlando or Six Flags over Whatever regardless of how many of us attempt to find it there. What we need is a true safe haven from our hustle and bustle, which is the opposite of what we normally consider and can only be discovered by deliberate planning.

We need to get back to the basics of living folks, if we are going to live well and protect our well-being. Personally, I plan to do it by hiking and camping and in the process, I’ll be cooking meat on a stick over an open campfire, something my ancestors did and enjoyed. I want to pitch a tent and sleep on the ground and bust out of my routine before my routine destroys me.

I have to be honest with myself and make a few initial concessions though, as I am so deeply entrenched in our fast paced lifestyle that going totally primitive would probably find me sitting along a trail in a catatonic state, drooling and mumbling computer code. I’m making plans to stay at some of our fine State parks - the ones that have camping sites with running water and an electrical outlet. It’s a start and I need a jumping off place after all these years of city living. I’ll worry about going totally primitive after I get a few of these under my moccasins.

Back in my high school years I camped often. One year my brothers and I camped out for over a month straight and as an Airman in central California, I took camping/backpacking trips each weekend. Looking back it seems like it was simpler times and I yearn for that again.

Of course, I could fish or hunt again and that would bring a measure of mind-numbing repose, I’m sure, but truth be told, I want to hike and exert my aging muscles to the point of weary exhaustion and that is difficult to accomplish in a 14-foot John Boat or a deer blind.

I plan to squat on my haunches over an open fire and cook cowboy coffee for starters. I’ll crack a few eggs to go with about six thick slices of peppered bacon for breakfast and after that, I’ll ponder the trail, camera in hand. Somewhere during the day, I’ll break open my trail rations and finding a scenic overlook, I’ll savor the moment and maybe nap a bit.

As the evening rolls around, I’ll stumble back into camp, tired and at peace with the world and myself. I’ll cook my meaty provisions over an open fire, much as my ancestors of old and look at the heavens and marvel. Maybe I’ll see a few falling stars or an orbiting satellite.

At the end of my nature and wonder-filled day I’ll plop down in my dome tent smelling of leather, wood smoke and cooked meat with the intention of doing it all again the next day. I’ll fall fast asleep with a smile on my face.