Splorin' With My Sweetheart

The chiddlers used to call it that when they were young. They would often meet in secret and whisper their plans of epic adventure before approaching me with wide, shining eyes, "We're goin' splorin' Mama!"

They spent their childhood splorin' . There's lots of adventure to be discovered on a big ranch. They never wandered too far - once in a blue moon they would cross a fence line, but a 3000 acre pasture was big enough to hold a childhood worth of  daring exploration. They would always return dirty, but happy, brimming with stories and starrrrvinggg!

I guess they come by it naturally. Their Daddy and I like splorin' too.

Saturday was a splorin' day.

We left out early and drove about 2 hours south to a little place in the Guadalupe Mountains called Sitting Bull Falls.

About an hour into our trip. I told DH, "Remember when we were first married and didn't have 2 cents to our name and we would set out on little day trips and explore the area?"

DH said, "You mean like today?" LOL. Yes, like today, honey.

Here's a picture from one of those trips. I remember telling DH that this would make the perfect first home for us:

That was 28 years ago. We would take one or two days a month and do just that. We didn't have any money and we would pack a sandwich picnic lunch, jump in the pickup and take the road less traveled. We would find a spot and hike along rivers and creeks and mountains. We always took along the denim quilt his mom had made us for a picnic blanket as well as the library books we were currently reading.

When we arrived, the Falls were closed, but after reading the fine print on the posted notice, we concluded that we weren't breaking any laws. So we left the pickup in a parking lot and hiked the .6 miles to the picnic area, wound our way through that and hiked another 1/2 mile to the falls.

We're in a drought. In a desert.

                                                   

So all you really get is a bit more than a trickle, but it was such a pretty place to spend the day.

Its part of the Lincoln National Forest so there are miles and miles of trails to hike I marked our trail in black.

The recreation area and trails were built by the CCC:

I am married to a mountain goat.

This man claims to be out of shape and I just laugh. I walk 5 miles just about every single day, but we live in flat desert country and hiking in the mountains makes me feel like a wimp. Still, I was  a happy wimp. DH kept having to stop and wait for me because I was camera happy

I could not stop taking pictures

You can't take a wannabe photographer to a place like this and expect her NOT to take pictures!

We hiked up and over the falls

                                       
down creeks

                                        

 into green valleys

                                            

past interesting  walls of rock

                            
across streams

and found ourselves at this cave

Sure wanted to go spelunking!

DH found me an anniversary walking stick as we hiked

                                      

Pretty much made for the best day together! It was past dark when we arrived home to chores by flashlight. First order of business was to order a couple of books of detailed maps. We've got more 'splorin to do!