Copper Breaks State Park, Quanah, Texas

Every time Bob and I travel through Texas, we have to remember just how HUGE the state is compared to others. Our travel day was about  180 miles long from Fritch Fortress at Lake Meredith to Copper Breaks State Park about 8 miles south of Quanah, Texas. We traveled US 287 for most of the way and found that each county we passed through had an excellent rest area. The only problem with the one in Donley County was the sign by the door to the ladies restroom: BEWARE OF RATTLESNAKES!  Not my favorite sign EVER! Fortunately Bob nor I saw one.

Once we arrived at Copper Breaks State Park, we were told to find an unoccupied site and return to the office with the site number after we were parked and settled. Contrary to what we had heard, the campground had quite a few campers. We found site 13 to be just right for Sol.

 What you can't see in this picture of me relaxing after a 'long' day is the picnic teepee behind Sol. These are the first shelters shaped this way that we have seen while camping in any of the states.

 Besides other campers, we were able to watch a lot of wild life while sitting outside. This rabbit was not sure if he wanted his picture taken, but he stayed still just long enough.

The big tree across from our site always had a roadrunner somewhere near. Often times there were mockingbirds chasing it. When that happened, he ran under the bush.

Bob and I got in a couple of hikes during our short stay. This field of wildflowers had passed its peak, but it was still pretty.

 There were steps along the canyon trail.

Now when we went geocaching along Powerline Trail in the park, we found the geocaches, but we also met up with one of those nasty critters called a rattlesnake. We had already been down the rock trail and were on our way up when Bob caught sight the critter in his peripheral vision at the same time it started rattling. The critter struck, kept rattling, Bob jumped back to where I was and we were both very still. The critter kept rattling and we walked WAAAAAAY around the area he was guarding. He didn't strike again and we increased our pace to get the H out of there! Once back in Sol, we researched just how far a critter like that can strike when coiled and it is up to 1/2 of its length. You'll be glad to know that we gave him about 20 times his length when we walked around the area.

The critter encounter didn't stop our hiking the next day, but we were extra vigilant. We walked a nature/mountain bike trail. From one of the higher view points, we could see the lake formed when the Pease River was dammed.

Near the end of the trail we found a ramada to relax in and enjoy the view. We were thankful we had not seen any more critters.

The following morning, we were off again to our next destination. It would be a long drive for us, but we needed to get close to McKinney, Texas, to get Sol measured for a front sunscreen.