Lake Mineral Wells State Park

Lake Mineral Wells State Park

April 14 - After a few hours of blog updates here (getting everyone caught up with what we have been doing),  we packed up the CamelBak hydrating backpacks, picnic food, towels, changes of clothing, hiking sticks and more and headed off to Mineral Wells State Park (a little over 1 1/2 hours away) for what was an incredible sight to see and experience. We left about 10:30 AM.

This is the first place we have been to that offers rappelling and rock climbing. They already have the anchors sunk into the rock, so one needs only provide the rope, harnesses, etc. With X only being 5 (although he is about to turn 6) and A being 3, there are no harnesses for them to wear for this kind of fun. The rock climbing areas at "Penitentiary Hollow" were accessible via the most treacherous natural stairs we have been on at a State Park.

It was very windy and constantly on the verge of raining (although it never rained), but also a great temperature - so not too hot or cold.

We went through small caves, climbed lots of big rocks and watched several troops of Boy Scouts climbing and repelling for their badges.

After the rocky section of the park, we went on a much more gentle slope trailway (that we will explore more next time). We saw plenty of butterflies and lizards.

Finally, we to the small beach and played for about a half hour before heading back around 4:30 PM.

In the words of X, "This place is wicked!" That is a good thing, I guess :-)