Check-In Is At 2:00!

We managed to get a 3-night reservation at South Llano River State Park in Junction.  We are finding that it's difficult to get reservations at any of the state parks as the on-line reservation system allows folks to reserve months in advance. 

Since S. Llano is only 1 1/2 hours from our house, and we have a very difficult time sitting around waiting to leave, we decided to leave a little early.  We knew that check-out is noon and check-in is 2:00pm so we thought arriving a little early wouldn’t be a problem.

We were wrong.  Even though the site was vacant, this park has a strict policy of not allowing early check-in.

With an hour-and-a-half to kill, we parked in the day use area and went on a nice little hike through the woods.

Day use area

The park has very nice trail maps posted on the trails.

We walked down to "Buck's Pond"

We were pleasantly surprised with all of the wildflowers that were still blooming, and the variety of butterflies, insects, and birds. 

Reakirt's Blue on small daisy

Sulphur butterfly on Verbena

Damselfly

We headed back to headquarters to check-in (making sure it was after 2:00 pm!).

We had a very nice site (#45) with an easy back-in and no close neighbors.    

After getting set up we headed into Junction for lunch.  We have been to this area many times including volunteering at S. Llano in November 2019 so we are familiar with the restaurants in town.  The Mexican restaurant wasn’t open so we headed to Lum’s for barbeque.  Lum’s has been in Junction since 1976 and has excellent barbeque.

After lunch we headed back to the park where we stopped at a couple of bird blinds. In the heat of the day, the water features in the blinds are particularly popular. 

Golden-cheeked Warbler

Yellow-breasted Chat

There are 4 bird blinds in the park.  We usually aren’t in Texas during this time of the year and were interested to see what birds we would see at the blinds. 

The male Painted Bunting is a spectacularly colorful bird, while the female is more muted. Remember, she has to sit on the nest and not get eaten!!

Painted Bunting male

Painted Bunting female

There are 22.7 miles of trails in the park.  Our second day we were on a trail at 7 am.  

Mid-Canyon Trail

Some of the trail was nice and level.

 Some of the trail was a little rocky. 

Besides birds, there were some beautiful wildflowers.

Purple Leather Flower

Pencil Cactus in bloom

Wildflowers being eaten by a Cottontail

Our goal was to walk 3 miles.  This is the farthest I’ve walked since my knee surgery.  I made it the 3 miles but I was happy to get to the truck!

After the walk we went back to the bird blinds and took more pictures. 

Golden-fronted Woodpecker getting a drink

Orchard Oriole female

Orchard Oriole male

Yellow-throated Warbler

The next day we hiked the River Trail.  It’s a beautiful trail that meanders along the Llano River.

River Trail

This pecan tree will probably be washed away

in the next flood.

The trail is in a pecan bottom and is nice and shady.

This Turkey Vulture was relaxing and hadn't started flying yet this morning. 

Our last morning we took our time getting packed up and headed back home.

Our second outing in the new trailer went well.  Even though we still have cabinets without anything in them, with a much smaller trailer we don’t bring everything we own with us.

So, when my mouse battery quit working, we had to make a trip to the dollar store.  Other than that, I think we’ve got things figured out with the new trailer.

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