I set out on my journey to a Texas Ramblin' Roses rally in Caprock Canyon State Park on Tuesday, April 23rd. After taking my granddaughter to school and getting the cold food into the RV, I started out about 12:30PM with a planned stop overnight at the Cracker Barrel in Abilene. That turned out to be a little too tight for my comfort level. Walmart was right behind Cracker Barrel and I pulled in right next to a big Prevost which dwarfed me and provided great shade as he was on the west side of me. Some pretty serious weather rolled in at dusk which had Harley and I rocking and rolling. Fortunately the hail and tornado bypassed us and things settled down after dark.
The next morning I met up with my sister-in-law Elaine and we were off. We only had 3 delays with one lane, follow the guide truck, construction messes. This post is all about the park itself and the wildlife with other posts about the area and the actual rally to follow.
Caprock Canyon is located just outside Quitaque TX and is the home of the Texas Bison Herd. That is "bison" not buffalo as is commonly thought.
This sign is located along the road near the front of the park.
It is far from the only signpost that the bison use to scratch "an itch". lol.
Make no mistake, these are mighty beasts and they are not tame. they roam freely through the park including the campsites but they are pretty good at the "don't bother me and I won't bother you". Don't approach but don't run if theycome up on you.
There about 200 bison in the herd and we saw lots of relatively new babies.
Mary Ann Goodnight can be credited for saving the bison so we could have this herd. While they were being shot to the point of extinction by hunters, she talked her husband Charles Goodnight into saving a number of orphaned babies. They were raised on the JA Ranch.
These impressive metal bison provide a great picture opportunity in front of the pavilion.
The bison definitely have the right of way when they want to cross the road.
The bison range all over the park. This is Lake Theo which is very low right now.
While it is rude to honk at the bison, you really don't want to do it if you happen to drive a white truck. The rangers occasionally have to supplement the bison's food. Rangers drive white trucks and they honk to attract the bison to the food. This bison was definitely looking for a ranger handout. He walked all around the truck looking for it.
Enough of the bison pictures for now. They know how to make an impressive exit.
On to the majestic land scenery.
The views are impressive wherever you look.
It took a really long time to create all this magnificence.
No bluebonnets this late but the other wildflowers are amazing.
You can see the different layers of rock.
We checked out every campground. There are several but only one has electric and water.
There is a campground just for equestrians.
Back to the wildlife, the prairie dog town is located next to the water/electric campground.
They definitely have sentinals on duty to warn the rest of the community.
They keep the prairie dog area mowed down.
I guess this prospective mama had a taste for something different.
There were lots of babies here too.
Their tunnels have lots of underground rooms just like our houses and they have escape tunnels as well.
We saw lots of other wildlife too. I never managed to get a good photo of a road runner but they were definitely around and good sized too. These large rabbits liked my camping area. Harley was happy to share.
I caught them leaping around in a mating ritual.
The bison were hunted long before the 1800s.
The kill site was right next to Lake Theo.
The bison were enjoying the lake on this hot day.
