West to Mineral Wells

We left Hickory Creek COE Park and started west today... actually, we went north to Denton and then came south on I-35W to I-820 around Fort Worth and then got off on US180 heading west.

We came through Weatherford - US 180 splits and goes around Parker County Courthouse.

It looks like they are doing some roofing on the domes of the courts building.

I had done some research and discovered a place marked as "Other Parking" on Allstays... it was a rest area with picnic tables, but... I should have done a bit more looking for information... it was a bit tight both side-to-side and roof clearance for Miss Doozie...

We decided not to stay as no one else could have passed us if they also wanted to use the rest area....

This sign was beside the rest area.

We called a Walmart in Mineral Wells and they said it would be fine for us to park there for the night. We made it safely out of the rest area, and headed toward Mineral Wells. As we got into town, Dwayne was telling me about his memories of coming to ROTC camp in Mineral Wells when he was in high school. I asked if he would like to stay here a couple of days, and he said that he would. After we got to the Walmart, we disconnected the Jeep and drove to Lake Mineral Wells State Park and drove around to see if we found a site (and roads to get there) that could accommodate Miss Doozie.

We found a nice site right near the lake... it is just 30A, but that is fine as long as we don't need to run the air conditioners.

There are a lot of "cattails" (or some other water plant) growing at the edge of the water. I asked the lady at the office if there were snakes, and she allowed as there probably are... I'm watching where I step very carefully!

 Dwayne specifically remembered hiking over to this area from the ROTC camp and visiting a rock climbing area - he asked the lady at the office about it and she said that there was a nice overlook up there, so we decided to visit it this evening.

A map of the park area...

The rock climbing/rappelling area is on the bottom right where the red arrow is - Miss Doozie is parked on the other side of the lake, in the last section that is right on the lake (Juniper loop).

The name of the rock climbing area is Penitentiary Hollow...

The signs in the area indicated that you should not put any bolts, pitons, or other items that would damage the rock surfaces, but there were a few items bolted in at the top that could be used to tie off ropes, I guess.

It was really pretty - narrow crevices... probably about 30' deep...

At the bottom, it appeared that the ground would be easy to walk on - 1' to several feet wide.

The lake was pretty from this vantage point...

My sweetie getting some pictures!

One of Dwayne's pictures of the lake...

And of one of the crevices....

We made our way to an overlook area --

There was a bench made out of stones and protective railing...

In this area, the crevices were at multiple angles - so the railings kept you from stumbling into one...

There was also a rough stone stairway down - we decided that we weren't ready to make that trip this evening (I was wearing sandals and we hadn't had dinner yet) - but maybe tomorrow!

Our plan is to be here two nights - but we might find more to do and extend our stay!