Shakedown Trips
A "shakedown trip" is basically a practice drill. Generally, shakedowns are short, close-to-home trips that allow hikers to test gear and flex their mental and physical muscles before the big hike. As it turned out for me, the most valuable experience gained from these excursions was time spent outdoors with good friends. The goal was to go on one weekend trip per month starting in the fall. Between September and April, we managed to do six trips- not too shabby!
Pedernales Falls State Park, TX
September 2016
Adventurers: Lauren, Kaylee, Daniel, Brian, Bille, Viago
Distance from Houston: 3.5 hours
Seth and I had been to Pedernales when he first moved to Austin in 2013, so I looked forward to exploring the park a bit more. Pedernales Falls is a fun place to camp and hike, but its swimming is the highlight. And we needed the swimming because this trip was hot! This is car camping where you drive your car up to campsites that have water, picnic table and fire pits available, so not exactly roughing it, but we’re out there! The trails are gravel and stones without much tree coverage- making the heat that much worse. Billie barely made it out alive (or that’s what she’d say if you asked her). We tried out the Cloudburst 3 on this trip and loved it. I also tried a potential hiking outfit- a Patagonia fishing shirt, Prana pants, andsandal Xero shoes- they all passed the test. We hiked for a few hours on Saturday and Sunday and wrapped up each afternoon with a dip in the Pedernales River.
Pace Bend Park, TX
October 2016
Adventurers: Lauren, Kaylee, Daniel, Brian, Lauren (LP), Billie, Viago
Distance from Houston: under 3.5 hours
Brian had been to Pace Bend before and raved about the beautiful views of the water from the campsites and he wasn’t wrong. These sites were also car camping except the camp sites just had a picnic table with no water or fire pit. I was pretty set on hiking some miles on this trip, so we did enough to get our feet sore. The trails were similar to Pedernales trails except that paths were more gravelly instead of stones and there was a bit more tree coverage. This trip debuted my Zpack Arc Haul- zip backpack, which I love for its customizable fit and light weight. I also used my new Enlightened Equipment sleeping quilt, which takes some getting used to, but I think will be more versatile for the AT. We also did some swimming in Lake Travis. Brian tried some water soloing (climbing rocks from the water), but I can’t recall how successful he was with it. Let’s just say he was successful, for his sake.
Wild Azalea Trail, LA
November 2016
Adventurers: Lauren, Kaylee, Daniel, Lauren (LP), Mike
Distance from Houston: 4 hours
I randomly found this trail searching the internet for places to hike within driving distance from Houston. The trail from point to point is about twenty-three miles and it promised more of a backcountry experience than the campsites we had stayed in the past couple trips. All of us were impressed by the beauty of LA- we are more used to the swampy parts, but we hiked in a forest of large pines and got to see some trees turning into fall colors. The trails were dirt and soft pine needles, so pleasant to walk on. This was a colder trip, so I got test my Mountain Hardwear down jacket, my underlayers, and my new Ahnu hiking boots. The jacket and boots worked great, but I ended up trading in my underlayer pants for a warmer pair after the trip. Since we camped more ruggedly this time, we actually had to filter our own water and I learned that I did not like the bags that came with the Sawyer Mini Filter, but the filtering system itself worked fine. We had a lot of fun adventuring up a fire tower and did a lot of walking this trip. I really liked changing up the scenery and wished we could have covered more of the trail- it was a perfect trail to experience fall.
Enchanted Rock, TX
December 2016- January 2017 (NYE!)
Adventurers: Lauren, Kaylee, Brian, Lauren (LP), Mike
Distance from Houston: 3.5 hours
By this time, the outdoor climbing bug had bit Brian hard, so our trips started including plans to climb. I think my expectations about how much these trips could actually prepare me for the AT started to shift as well, so I was just happy to be with my friends in the outdoors. We camped at the available campsites in Enchanted Rock and spent most of Saturday hiking around, finding fun bouldering problems. I liked the symbolism of celebrating New Year’s Eve camping as an intention for 2017 and we brought in the New Year with sparkling cider! On Sunday we hiked Enchanted Rock and top roped. After a hot day of climbing, we enjoyed the most delicious snow cones from a snow cone truck at the base of the mountain.
Milton Reimers Ranch Park, TX
March 2017
Adventurers: Lauren, Kaylee, Brian, Lauren (LP), Billie, Viago
Distance from Houston: 3.5 hours
We have all been to Reimers Ranch over the years to top rope. This was the focus of this trip, so we camped at a site called Rock Dog, which specifically caters to people wanting to rock climb at Reimers. There is a little bit of hiking to different walls, but nothing too strenuous. We conclude climbing days with swimming in the Pedernales River, which runs through the park. The river always feels so soothing on our muscles and hands after a day of climbing.
Rained-out Reimers Ranch, TX
April 2017
Adventurers: Lauren, Seth, Kaylee, Brian, Lauren (LP), Daniel, James,
Distance from Houston: 3.5 hours
This was to be our last outdoor hoorah before my move from Texas. We did camp at Rock Dog Friday night, but the pattering of rain on our tents early Saturday morning signaled a cancellation of our outdoor climbing plans for the day. Not to be deterred, we spent the day at Austin Bouldering Project instead, so not all was lost. I was sad not to get to spend one more weekend outdoors in Austin, especially with Seth in town, but being with friends continued to be the highlight anyway. After climbing, we ate at a delicious food truck park, so at least we got the Austin experience.
