A Day at Lake Somerville

I left Waco early this morning and headed toward Lake Somerville. I had to make one stop that only took me a few minutes before heading over to the lake. The drive was pretty uneventful until I got closer to Lake Somerville. The fog was so thick I could barely see 20 feet in front of me. I had to drive really slow and thankfully the Garmin helped me to navigate. If it hadn't been for the Garmin telling me when I needed to turn I would have had a very difficult time making out the signs.

I arrived at the park (Birch Creek Unit) and paid the fees and grabbed a map. Last night I had pretty well organized the clues I had and what area of the park I needed to be in to find those boxes. I first headed to the Equestrian Area. I looked for four boxes and walked about four miles round trip. I only ended up finding two of the four boxes. I had a nice walk though, the weather was great - all the fog was gone and it turned out to be a beautiful morning. Next I drove to the Old Hickory Camping Area. I walked about one and a half miles and found one box here. On the way back to my car I heard some noise with in the trees. At first I thought it was some birds being spooked but as I came upon a small clearing and this drift of hogs came barreling out of the trees. They crossed the trail about 25 feet ahead of me. I came to an abrupt stop and at first I didn't know what to do. I waited a few minutes to see if I could hear them but it was all quiet. So I picked up a stick and slowly proceeded. After a few minutes I realized that they had run off and I was okay - I made it back to the car without another incident.

From this area I drove to the other end of the park and stopped at the Yaupon Camping Area. I looked for a series of three boxes. But I only found one, and that was the last one of the series. The first one was supposed to be behind a tree that was near the trail and I think someone probably saw it from the trail and took it. The second box was supposed to be in the fork of a tree. The tree was behind a bench but it wasn't out in the open, it was behind other smaller trees and bushes. Someone would have had to go back there to be able to see the box and it wasn't easy getting back there, so not sure what happened. I then drove to the Group Pavilion Area near the Cedar Elm Camping Area. Here I found three of six stamps. One of the ones I couldn't find I think is missing because I am pretty sure I was at the right dead tree and there was nothing there. The other two were another story. I counted the steps from an intersection (the number of steps were the same for both boxes for the first part of the clue) but I really didn't get the landmarks - nothing made sense. I backtracked and counted again and then I thought that maybe I needed to double the steps thinking that it was paces instead of steps - things still didn't make sense. I spent about 20 minutes trying to figure this out before giving up.

My last stop in the park was at the Post Oak Camping Area. I looked for one box near Site 57 but was unable to find it. I then looked for four more boxes near the Family Fishing Pond and I was able to find all of them. I ended up finding 11 out of 19 boxes I looked for. I think it was a pretty good day - nice weather, good hikes and fun stamps. But it was time to leave the park and head for College Station for the night. On the way to College Station I made a short side trip to find one box in Snook. It was a quick drive-by and I was back on my way in no time. Arriving in College Station I decided to get something to eat before checking into the hotel. Now I am settled in for the evening and have made my plans for tomorrow. I will drive to Mexia for the Native Feast meet and then get ready for T.A.L.E. 8.

Addendum: My camera is on the blink and I wasn't able to take any pictures, so I had to borrow these from the internet.