Ringing in the New Year with Cold and Ice

Icy morning near Ft. Davis

Our New Year’s week in the Big Bend did not turn out quite as planned.  We arrived at Davis Mountain State Park about 2 in the afternoon and managed a quick 3 mile hike up the Skyline Trail.  The next day was much colder but we did get to take a trail with friends Melissa and Dustin who were also camping  at the park for a few days.  Maya was happy they brought their Australian Shepard, Rocky along.  Melissa, Dustin and Rocky met us in Ft. Davis last year at the very same time.  If we aren’t careful this could get to be a tradition.

 

Dustin and Rocky, David and Maya

 

Walking stick cholla cactus, spines coated with ice

 

Then on New Year’s Eve a winter storm came through giving us below freezing temperatures and rain that turned to ice.  For three days we holed up in the RV only going out for quick walks around the campground with Maya.  Weather to the south was not quite as cold but all around us the cold and the ice on the roads made travel unsafe.  Giving up plans of visiting other Big Bend destinations we were content to stay put, eat warm soups, go for very short walks and read.  

 

 

Sleet and ice continued to come down and tree limbs started breaking around us.  Our campsite had no trees hanging over our RV or car and we were very glad of that.  As far as we could tell no limbs fell on any of the campers but there were many small and large branches down and even a few trees fell.  We lost power from one of those trees bringing down electric lines but it was restored in a few hours.  In the meantime, our propane heater did a fine job keeping us warm.  Going without electricity isn’t a problem for us but in cold weather power is nice.

 

 Mullein leaves stiff with ice

There was a break in the weather on Saturday so we left about noon and headed back to Odessa.  The roads were still a bit icy from Ft. Davis to Pecos but not dangerous and we went slowly.  Once we were back in Odessa we heard all kinds of stories from friends and family about the ice storm in West Texas.  It seems like we were actually a little better off in Ft. Davis than those to the north.  Many friends in Odessa lost power and didn’t stay nearly as warm in their homes as we did in our little RV.  (Fortunately my parents had no power outages or ice damage.) With the massive number of downed trees and car accidents in the Odessa area, our little adventure seemed pretty tame.  Well, it was enough for us and we are glad it is over – for now.

 

Starting to thaw

 

David's Stats:
Days Hiked   2

Rain/Ice Days   3     
Total Miles Hiked     5.57
Ave. Miles per Day  2.79   
Total Elevation Gain     1,039
Ave. Elevation Gain per day  520