Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Tuesday 21st November 2017...Road Trip Day 4!!!

It was a lot warmer this morning and I took my time over making a nice breakfast with fresh eggs from the ranch...did some planning for my day tomorrow...listened to my music, read my book, packed up a lunch and was on the road by 11 am and headed to the area below....

The only way to see the gorge is with a guided Ranger hike and I was lucky enough to get a reservation for the 1 pm hike today....


The drive of about 45 minutes was on the Interstate and then off on rural roads.....

Canyon Lake Gorge

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Part of Canyon Lake Gorge
Canyon Lake Gorge is a limestone gorge around 1 mile (1.6 km) long, hundreds of yards (metres) wide, and up to 50 feet (15 m) or more deep, which was exposed in 2002 when extensive flooding of the Guadalupe River led to a huge amount of water going over the spillway from Canyon Lake reservoir and removing the sediment from the gorge. The gorge provides a valuable exposure of rock strata as old as 111 million years showing fossils and a set of dinosaur tracks, and forms a new ecosystem for wildlife with carp and other creatures in a series of pools fed by springs and waterfalls.[1]
The Gorge Preservation Society formed as a local citizen's group to develop long-term plans for the Gorge in partnership with the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.[2] Public access to the gorge is restricted to guided tours by the Society along a designated route for a hike lasting about three hours. Availability of tours is limited, no pets are permitted and no rock or fossil collecting is allowed. Research permits can be obtained by university or scientific research groups.[3]

    The flood of 2002

    In July 2002 up to 67,000 cubic feet (1,900 m3) of water per second flowed over the spillway of Canyon Lake, Texas for approximately six weeks, the first time the spillway had been in use since the reservoir dam was constructed in 1964. Normally, the flow out of the reservoir is around 350 cubic feet (9.9 m3) of water per second. The Guadalupe River basin forms a part of "Flash Flood Alley" which is one of the river basins most prone to flash flooding in the world.[4] Nine people were killed by the flood over a 20 miles (32 km) stretch of the river, which damaged or destroyed 48,000 homes and cost around $1 billion in damages,[5] but the Canyon Lake manager has stated that even though the floodwaters went over the spillway, the dam still prevented an estimated $38.6 million in damages downstream during the event.[1]




    Enjoy the photos from the three hour tour...a bargain at 10 dollars!!!


    First we were taken to the Dam.....
     This is the spill way where in he big flood the water crashed over...

     These dinasaur tracks are at least 100 million years old...
     They really do not know what made these tracks...
     All these rocks were forced here by the force of the water..
     The resident Geologist explained so many facts about the area and how it was disturbed by different water flows both surface and under ground...
     These fossil particles are about 75 million years old...



     Very beautiful...




     I really enjoyed the tour and glad I came......I was home just before sunset and walked into the woods on the property like I did last night but got lucky tonight....
     My long time readers know that when ever I see deer I think about my Dad..a story for another blog one day!!!

    My buddies waiting for me back home!!!!

    It was another great day and again a huge learning curve for me....


    I still have enough turkey left overs for one more meal, did I mention it is my favorite meal??

    Another long hot shower and another movie!!!!

    Yashi Kochi!!!!

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