After some great hiking at Enchanted Rock I moved on to South Llano River State Park again. Yesterday was pretty dreary and rainy all day so I just hung out, read and stared off into space. Big dark storm clouds covered most of the sky this morning but I did see lighter skies off in the east. I took my time with breakfast. By then the sky looked like it might not dump on me so, packing raingear along, I headed off into the Walter Buck Wildlife Management Area right next to the state park.
Earlier in the morning I'd seen a half dozen deer grazing nearby along with 40-50 turkeys. These guys had the dark body and a large brown stripe on their tails. They also seemed somewhat larger than other wild turkeys I've seen.
The trail follows a dirt road along the perimeter of the Wildlife Management Area for a distance of 6-7 miles or so. After yesterday's rain the trail at lower elevation was just slightly damp but the mud clung to my boots something fierce. No amount of kicking and scraping would dislodge it either so I just had to clomp along with the couple of extra pounds attached to my feet. The sun played peek-a-boo from behind clouds all morning. When it was out it was very warm and I'd take off my wind breaker and shirt. Then it would disappear and the wind would pick up and I'd put everything back on.
If you like walking in the woods along a dirt road, this trail is for you. A short stretch of 30-40 foot high brown sandstone cliffs were the only thing to break up the juniper and live oak trees. Other than a few hills the hike was pretty flat and I was back at the camp site 3 hours later.