Camping at Canyon of the Eagles Resort and Nature Park, Burnet, Texas - Friday, November 12, 2021

After I was home less than 24 hours, Bob and I took the 5th wheel for a camping/walking trip 2-1/2 hours from our home. The walking weekend was hosted by the Colorado River Walkers Volkssport Club in conjunction with the Texas Volkssport Association's meeting.

We arrived at the Canyon of the Eagles Resort and Nature Park RV campground at 2:00 p.m. Our back-in site had a partial view of Lake Buchanan from our dining table. After we set up our 5th wheel, had lunch, and relaxed, we decided to do the Canyon of the Eagles 11k traditional walk this afternoon. It was scheduled for Saturday morning, but we wanted to do a day trip to Georgetown and Pflugerville to complete both those walks on Saturday. More on that tomorrow.

The trailhead for the walk was just down the road from our campsite. With a little breeze, sunshine, and 77 degrees, we ambled down the trail. In some places, there was a breeze, but when we were in the trees with no breeze, it was quite warm!

Most of the trails were grass, dirt, or rock. We had to watch out for a few trippers: rocks and roots.

One of the trails we were on.

Lakeside Trail. 

Interesting rocks near Rocky Point.

Bob on the Lakeside Trail.

Our first glimpse of Lake Buchanan
from the trail.

Lakeside Trail.

Canyon of the Eagles Nature
Park in the Texas Hill Country.

Viceroy butterfly (a
mimic of the Monarch).

The birds in the picture below were flying pretty high. At first, I thought they were cormorants. When I put the photo up on the computer screen back at the 5th wheel, however, I realized they were the American bald eagles that live here from October to March!

Bald eagles.

A trail down to Lake Buchanan.

Great egrets at Lake Buchanan.

Texas Hill Country and prickly pear cacti.

Texas Hill Country in the
late afternoon.

Common buckeye butterfly.

Cholla pencil cactus
(Cylindropuntia leptocaulis).

[NOTE: Do not confuse the Cholla pencil cactus above with the houseplant or outdoor shrub called pencil cactus (Euphorbia tirucalli). Differences:

The Cholla pencil cactus (Cylindropuntia leptocaulis) has thorns and the fruits are edible. It grows mainly in the drier areas of east Texas and becomes more common as you head west.

The pencil cactus (Euphorbia tirucalli) does not have thorns or fruit. It does have a toxic, thick, milky-white sap and for that reason is also known as the Milkbush. It is native to arid South Africa and India. I have even seen one of these growing on the dry side of Oahu. Many people like these as houseplants. The sap is harmful to people and pets, so care should be used not to break off the branches. For more information on this plant, see this link: Pencil Cactus Houseplant Guide.)]

At one point, as we hiked along, Bob stopped me in my tracks and said, "Look!" I was gazing skyward at the birds so I wasn't sure what he was talking about. He pointed down the trail. Standing right in the middle of the trail was a feral hog sow.

I've read that if you see feral hogs, you should yell loudly to scare them off. So I did. About nine more hogs of varying sizes ran across the trail, including a big boar! We waited a couple of minutes and then continued on the trail. Our eyes and ears were on high alert in case they showed up again. They didn't. Whew!

When we were almost finished with the hike, we took a wrong turn and as we walked that trail, we heard coyotes howling and yipping. Quite a group of them were making a ruckus and sounded like they were headed directly toward us. It felt like we were entering their territory and they were very agitated about it. 

We quickly turned around and backtracked. As soon as we headed away from them, they stopped howling and it got very quiet. That was so eerie!

Turns out, the last turn we had made was the wrong way. The realization hit us that we were right back at the start point. We walked back to the 5th wheel and had left-over chili and a salad for dinner.

Saturday, we are doing a road trip in our pickup to do walks in Pflugerville and Georgetown, Texas. We have dinner reservations at the resort restaurant after our long day of walking.