Friday Hike

Friday afternoon I logged five miles on the Cross Timbers Trail (2.5 miles from Juniper Point to Cedar Bayou and back) with Abby, my one year old, on my back. Cross Timbers is supposed to be one of the ten best trails in the state of Texas, which, quite honestly, doesn't say much about the trails in Texas. The trail is nice, but I have certainly hiked much more beautiful trails in my life.

The section of the trail I hiked goes over and around cliffs on the shores of Lake Texoma, looking over the lake from Texas into Oklahoma. There are some pretty views of the lake from here. The trail is on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers property and is maintained by the Boy Scouts of America. I have the utmost respect for both organizations, and give special kudos to the Boy Scouts. The trail is in excellent shape, is well marked, and is definitely one of the cleanest trails I have ever been on. On the section I hiked, there was almost no evidence of the human stain anywhere.

The trail does offer some decent climbs going over the cliffs along the lakeshore. It also goes through the "cross timbers," a mixed forest of large oaks and scrub cedar, juniper, and an abundance of poison oak. There were also some wild grapes along the trail. I didn't really see any wildlife on the trail, other than some turtles in the water.

Abby slept most of the time, which meant she was leaned to one side in my pack most of the time. My shoulder was really killing me at the end of the hike. But we had a great time together. I'll try to get some pictures posted later of the hike.