Microsoft OneDrive Memory Takes Me Back To Mountain Biking In Texas

Arriving in my email this morning is another Microsoft OneDrive Memory from this Day that I actually remember.

Though, not on this day, it being a January day. January is not a warm month. 

I appear to be sweating in this selfie photo taken with my antique, long gone, Casio digital camera.

I don't think I have done any sweating in Texas in January, especially at the location of this photo.

With that location being the mountain bike trail that begins in Rockledge Park on Lake Grapevine, in the town of Grapevine.

I have not been on a mountain bike trail since moving to my current Wichita Falls location.

When I moved to Texas I thought my mountain biking days were behind me, what with Texas being a bit scarce in the mountain department.

I soon learned I was once again erroneous.

A couple months after moving to Texas I took a long drive to far east Texas, known as the Piney Woods Region. I was quite surprised to see that the Piney Woods Region looked a lot like the forested zones of Western Washington.

I drove in a park called Tyler State Park. This is a big park. I soon was seeing people on mountain bikes.

And then I came to a big parking lot, located where there were multiple trailheads for multiple mountain bike trails.

I was looking at a big sign with a map of the trails. A couple other guys were also looking at the map. I remarked to them that I was surprised to find mountain bike trails of this quality in Texas, that I thought I was not going to be mountain biking in Texas due to the lack of mountains.

One of the guys asked where I was from. I told him. He then asked where I was located in Texas. Haslet, said I, a tiny suburb of Fort Worth.

Fort Worth? Says the guy. So, you are in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. Well, there are many real good mountain bike trails right in the Metroplex, some of the best you can find anywhere. The guy told me to go to a Bicycle Inc. store where I could get a map showing where all the trails are in D/FW.

I did so, the following week, and was amazed to see the number of mountain bike trails in D/FW. Over the years I think I biked each of them, at least once. And some dozens upon dozens of times, like the Rockledge and Horseshoe Trails on Lake Grapevine.

Another favorite was what are known as the DORBA trails in Cedar Hills State Park. Great biking and hiking trails are in that huge park.

Dallas Off Road Bicycle Association is where that DORBA name comes from. There are three loops to the DORBA trail in Cedar Hills State Park, with the third loop labeled as EXTREME.

Because it was not easy. I only biked the EXTREME trail once. On that EXTREME trail I had my one and only in the wild rattlesnake encounter in Texas. A big rattler, off the side of the trail. I heard it shaking its rattle before I saw the snake curled up, ready to strike.

The week previous to that rattlesnake encounter I'd been to the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup, so the rattle noise was fresh in my memory. I think I almost overdosed on adrenalin when I passed that snake, and soon thereafter the trail entered a sort of marsh-like, tall grass section, which greatly heightened my snake anxiety.

But, I saw no additional reptiles that day.

Fort Worth has a couple mountain bike trails. The Gateway Park mountain bike trail was close to my abode, so I biked that one frequently. The Gateway Park trail is a fun one. It has a sort of roller coaster feel to it, in places.

Arlington's River Legacy Park has miles upon miles of mountain bike trails, some marked difficult, which were too difficult for me to master.

In River Legacy Park I had multiple snake encounters, but never with a rattlesnake. Several copperheads, though. And bobcats. Lots of bobcats. And armadillos. Including baby armadillos, If memory serves me accurately I think I put at least one photo of baby armadillos on the River Legacy Park webpage I made years ago.

All this mountain bike talk and remembering how much fun I had in those various D/FW parks, it is making me a bit nostalgic. 

There is a mountain bike trail here in Wichita Falls. I have hiked part of it, accessed by crossing the suspension bridge in Lucy Park. Soon after crossing that suspension bridge one comes to a section of the mountain bike trail called Alligator Alley.

When one Googles Wee-Chi-Tah Mountain Bike Trail in Wichita Falls one finds a lot of websites with information about this trail, including a Facebook page.

A short description of the Wee-Chi-Tah Trail from one of those aforementioned webpages...

"Explore this 12-mile loop in Wichita Falls along the Wichita River. Generally considered a moderately challenging route. This is a popular trail for mountain biking, but you can still enjoy some solitude during quieter times of day. The trail is open year-round and is beautiful to visit anytime".

I think when Spring arrives I may take up bike riding again, maybe even braving Alligator Alley and the rest of the Wee-Chi-Tah Mountain Bike Trail...

A Saturday Hike On The Tandy Hills With Mike, Sara & Penny

That is Mike and Sara and their canine hiking companion, Penny, taking a break and having lunch on the Tandy Hills today.

Mike and Sara have lived in Dallas for 3 years. Before Dallas they lived in Eugene, Oregon, where they'd hiked a lot.

Mike and Sara were Googling for places to hike in Texas and somehow found this blog called Durango Texas, which led them to their first visit to the Tandy Hills.

I talked to Mike and Sara and Penny for awhile. Told them about other hiking places in the area.

I forgot to mention some good hiking locations, so I'll mention them now, in the oft chance Mike and Sara visit that Durango Texas Blog again.

Well, Lake Grapevine has some good trails. The trails from Rockledge Park are probably the best. You'll find the entry to Rockledge Park after you drive across Lake Grapevine Dam. Grapevine currently charges an entry fee to Rockledge Park, which I consider an outrage and an abomination.

There are several park areas around Lake Grapevine from which you can access the trails, like the Horseshoe Trails.

Across the Red River, in Oklahoma, there is Turner Falls Park, with hiking, caves and cliffs to climb.

About 60 miles southwest of Fort Worth you'll find Dinosaur Valley State Park. There are miles of good trails in this state park. Very hilly. And it is very easy to get lost. The trails are marked by color. Which does not help all that much with the getting lost problem.

There are a couple other good Fort Worth hiking locations. The Fort Worth Nature Preserve is one. It's got miles of trails, cliffs, prairie dogs, bayous and alligators. Trails that you can access from the Lake Worth overlook in Sansom Park are the steepest I have been on in Texas. Sansom Park is a maze of trails and it is possible to have fun getting lost.

I told Mike and Sara about the trails in Cedar Hills State Park. I neglected to mention how huge this park is. It is a several mile drive, once you enter the park, to get to the first hiking trailhead. At the end of the road you'll find the trailhead for some 13 miles of mountain bike trails, that you can also hike. I told Mike and Sara I've seldom seen a snake on the Tandy Hills. At Cedar Hills State Park I had my biggest rattlesnake encounter. As in, it was HUGE.

This makes twice this week I've run into humans on the Tandy Hills who had not been there before. The hills are coming alive with humans.

Rockledge, Lake Grapevine, Costco and a Camera

Well, I've had me a good day. It started off with French Toast topped with Lemon Curd and went uphill from there.

Oh, I forgot about my YouTube distress. I guess I blocked that out and went on to have that good day thing happen.

So, I went up to the Southlake Costco for the free sample lunch. It was being real good today due to all these vendors were pushing Super Bowl goodies. Everything from Meatballs to Chicken Wings to Fajitas to Hot Damn Tamales to a new Kirkland Signature brand energy drink that made me gag.

After Costco it was off to Lake Grapevine and Rockledge Park to do some hiking along the beach. There are a lot of big boulders which makes for good exercise. There were a lot of people there today, due to the warm temperatures. Lots of bikers, hikers, boaters and guys fishing.

I saw one disturbing scene of 3 grown men with a group of little boys. They were high up on the cliff. There used to be a fairly good trail along there, but the flood of a few years back did a lot of erosion damage. Now, it is just scary. I turned on my camcorder and aimed it at them, expecting one of the kids to fall.

To get around a washed out part, they had the kids sliding down a makeshift trail, one guy at the end of the slide and another down below, I assume to try and catch a kid if he fell too far.

I shouldn't be too judgemental, I guess. I was known to put my nephews in danger, a time or two, when they were little, but never like this. I do remember nephew Joey and me hiking up Sauk Mountain in the Skagit Valley when the trail was covered with ice and it was snowing, lightly. We made it to the top. Joey brought up that nephew in danger incident when I saw him this past summer. He remembers it fondly. I remember it as what the hell was I thinking?

I forgot to mention. I finally got a new camera. Today Costco had the Canon one that I wanted. I'd narrowed my search down to a Canon and a waterproof, shockproof Olympus. The battery for the new camera is charging. I probably won't get around to figuring it out til tomorrow.

Today's pictures were taken with my video camcorder. I see something, shoot a few seconds of video and then extract the "picture" in Windows Moviemaker. It works fairly well, as a stop gap measure til a new camera could be found. Which it was, found I mean, at Costco.

After Costco I went to Sprouts Farmers Market and got all sorts of good stuff. Including giant Texas Red Grapefruits. I was down to only 4 remaining of the huge supply of grapefruits my mom and dad imported into Texas from Arizona with them, earlier in the month. I still have lemons and oranges from the mom/dad delivery.

It got warm today. I have the windows open. It's time to close them. The sun is starting to set. It goes down fast here.

We're Sorry, This Video Is No Longer Available

Help!

YouTube is worthless in the help department. Yesterday I uploaded a video to YouTube. It took way longer than usual to process. When it was done and I clicked on it I got the message you see on the left, telling me the video I just uploaded is no longer available.

I deleted what was no longer available and uploaded again. Same result. So, I uploaded the video via this Blogger program's video upload. That also did not work.

This morning after wasting an hour trying to figure out what was wrong I asked someone else to try and view the video on their computer. It worked.

So, it's some problem on my computer? I deleted the temporary internet files. Ran the Malwarebytes Anti-Malware program that fixed a YouTube problem when I was up in Washington last summer. This time this was not the fix.

I tried the video in Firefox and Google Chrome. Same "unavailable" message.

I looked in YouTube's useless Help Center. Under "error messages" I found the "We're Sorry" message. YouTube said this message occurs if the uploader (me) has deleted the video. Or if YouTube has removed it due to it being in violation of terms of use.

I did not delete the video and it was not in violation of terms of use.

Then I found that about half of my videos bring up the "We're Sorry" message. About half work fine. So, if it's something on my computer causing the problem, why do some work?

It's vexing and has wasted way too much time this morning.

I've got to get out of here, away from this computer. I think a walk by water would be salubrious. I'm guessing Rockledge on Lake Grapevine would be the best for that purpose. It'll be in the 60s. I won't go swimming. Oh, great, the YouTube video I made of Rockledge at Lake Grapevine, that one still works for me.

Is there a good alternative to YouTube? If so, please let me know.

Hiking Lake Grapevine & Costco

It's just half past 3 and I've already had myself a good day. I think starting the day with an icy swim makes the rest of the day much more pleasant than it would be otherwise.

Due to the temps being in the low 80s there weren't a lot of people out braving the cold at Lake Grapevine. So, parking was easily had.

I went to Costco before I went to Rockledge Park at Lake Grapevine. I needed printer ink. It'd been awhile since I bought printer ink. It was over $50. My printer cost less than $50. I also got a pizza. You can get a pretty good lunch wandering around Costco getting samples.

Almost all the sample giving people seemed to be old and German. And then when I went back to the food court to get my pizza there was a lady standing by the pizza window and I asked if she was waiting for a pizza. She also had a thick German accent as she said "I am #97, you are #96. Your pizza is ready, he just called your number."

I asked how she knew my pizza number. She said she was standing behind me when I ordered mine.

I wonder why there are so many old Germans in Southlake at Costco? Is Gar the Texan's latest wife moving a lot of her relatives over?

I hiked along the beach at Lake Grapevine. I like doing that. It's very relaxing. I only saw two odd things today. One was a rogue out of nowhere wave way out in the lake. The other was this guy on some sort of strange waterski that was sort of like a hydroplane. He'd hit the wake and do a total flip. I must have seen him flip a dozen times. Only on two of the times did the flip not work.

I saw gas for $2.57 at several locations in Grapevine. I didn't need any so I got none.

I got lots of good stuff at Sprouts Farmers Market, including a bag of something called Texas Sweet Oranges. My mom sent me home with a backpack stuffed with something called Arizona Sweet Oranges that were the best oranges I've ever had. I'm hoping these Texas ones are like that. I'm prepared to be disappointed.

An October Saturday in Texas

I did my regular early morning swim. The temperature got down to 51 overnight. Coldest yet. And yet I swam for almost a half hour.

This morning I see Gar the Texan rudely blogged about me rudely blogging about my obsession over the obesity epidemic. He used an amusing video to illustrate whatever point he thought he was making.

I'm going to be at Rockledge Park on Lake Grapevine by noon or so today. If you want to go hiking with me, that's where I'll be. I may take my video camcorder along, so you can be in a movie if you show up. The last time I took my camcorder to Rockledge I messed up most of what I thought I was videoing, due to getting the off and on buttons reversed. So, I ended up with an awful lot of video of jerky images of the ground I was walking over.

Before going to Rockledge I'm going to Costco to have free samples for lunch and to buy a pizza to picnic with after hiking.

After I'm done with Rockledge I'm going to my favorite grocery store, Sprouts Farmers Market to get some fruits, vegetables and grain products. Sprouts always has good coffee to sample. Among other things.

Below is the previous video I made of Rockledge Park on Lake Grapevine....

Hiking and Picnicking at Rockledge Park on Lake Grapevine

It seems like I'd just gone to Rockledge Park on Lake Grapevine. But it was way back on Memorial Day, at the start of summer. It was hot and crowded on Memorial Day. Today there were a lot of people playing in the water, but the park was not crowded. And it was hot.

Today me and my entourage mainly stayed on the beach, with one renegade taking the upper trails.

There were several people fishing. Unlike some lakes in Texas you can eat fish you catch in Lake Grapevine. Even clams grow in this lake. I saw a lot of clam shells today. I doubt there are any fresh water crabs in the lake. But I wouldn't be too shocked if there were.

Lake Grapevine is a legitimate Army Corps of Engineers flood control project, unlike the dubious Fort Worth Trinity River Vision. The Army Corps of Engineers built several nice parks on the shores of Lake Grapevine. There are dozens of miles of mountain bike and hiking trails. Well maintained by the Dallas Off Road Bicycle Association (DORBA) people.

I believe Lake Grapevine is my favorite outdoor place in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex. I used to live way closer to it and played there way more often. Now it's only a few times a year.

Lake Grapevine was made 50 or 60 years ago when a giant earthen dam blocked a little creek. I think the name is Denton Creek, but I'm not sure. You drive across the dam to get to Rockledge Park from the town of Grapevine. Part of the road across the dam goes over the dam's flood spillway. I don't know if the lake has ever gotten flooded enough to go over the spillway. I have seen Lake Grapevine high enough to flood the parks and cover the picnic tables. If it got high enough to go over the spillway, this would be a bad thing. Grapevine Mills, a mall on steroids, is in the shadow of the dam. I think it'd get wet if water went over the spillway.

Today when we first got to Rockledge there were dozens of what appeared to be students of some sort, with clipboards, climbing all over the cliffs. I don't know what they were doing. The photo does not do justice to how odd it looked.

After the hiking, Costco pizzas were our picnic. It was a good picnic. After the picnic I went to my favorite grocery, Sprouts Farmers Market, in Southlake. Got all sorts of good stuff. Sprouts is opening more stores in this metro zone, with one rumored to be in Fort Worth. I hope it is in my zone of Fort Worth. That'd be a good thing.

Lake Grapevine Rockledge Park Video

Like I said I was going to do, in a blogging earlier today, I went to Lake Grapevine to hike, swim and picnic. I'm back from that ordeal and have already YouTubed a primitive video.

The hiking was hot. I hiked in my swimming suit which made swimming an easy transition. I was sweating like a fat pig. Was so looking forward to the water. I'd not been in Lake Grapevine since I was attacked by a maniac turtle way back in July of 2002. I'd sworn off getting into murky Texas Lakes. But Lake Grapevine was somewhat clear today. And warm. Way warmer than the swimming pool water. The air temp was near 100. I don't think the lake water was far behind. The only time a lake has felt warmer was way back in 1999 at Lake Mead in August with my nephews.

We had some difficulty finding a picnic table, but eventually found a huge pavilion that was supposed to be used by reservation only. And I assume a fee. But, we weren't the only scofflaws. Soon after our picnic began, a huge family showed up with quite an elaborate set up, including a hammock.

Anyway, here's a very short video giving you a very short idea of what Rockledge Park on Lake Grapevine is like on a HOT July Sunday in Texas.

Drunk at Six Flags

It is a beautiful 5th day of January here in balmy east Fort Worth, Texas, heading for a high in the 70s today, that unpleasant sub-freezing business behind us for now. I am going to head north today after getting some work done and go to this place called Rockledge Park. It is on Lake Grapevine. On a warm winter day like today, with temps expected to be in the 70s, there will be a lot of hikers, bikers, sunseekers and dog walkers.

UPDATE: It is late afternoon, back from Lake Grapevine. It was borderline HOT today, enough so that it was hiking shirtless weather in north Texas this day in early January, 2008. Such is the schizo weather of Texas in winter, freezing one day, balmy the next. It is currently 74 coming up on 6pm. Maybe I should close the windows and conserve this heat.

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Okay, on to getting Drunk at Six Flags. If you don't already know, Six Flags is a theme park chain. The first one started here in the D/FW Metroplex in the town of Arlington, it arrived first, followed by the Ballpark in Arlington, which is due west of Six Flags, with the new Dallas Cowboy stadium under construction west of the ballpark. And due north, just across the freeway, is Six Flags Hurricane Harbor, a waterpark.

Now, the Six Flags parks are under some financial distress, some have been closed, others are near being closed. It is not difficult as an outsider who has been to Disneyland, Disneyworld, California Disney and Knott's Berry Farm to see why Six Flags might be in trouble. It is just a bit sub-par if one is a connoisseur of theme parks.

So, with Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington and Hurricane Harbor in a bit of a money pinch they came up with an often tried solution. Sell booze. This has caused an uproar here in the buckle of the bible belt. Texas is one of the states that never quite totally got over prohibition. The liquor laws in Texas are a bit macabre. You have wet, damp and dry areas. In some places the county controls the level of liquid. In others it is decided on the municipal level.

For instance, I live in a wet zone. I border a dry zone. As a result there are a lot of liquor stores in my neighborhood, one right across the street. Down the road a block, at the first freeway exit from the dry zone, there is a liquor store at each exit. Restuarants in my zone can sell booze including mixed drinks. In some dry zones you can bring your own booze into the restaurant. In some damp zones (beer & wine only) they may permit a store next to the restaurant to sell booze and serve it in the restaurant after paying a corking fee. Some zones have what is called the Uni-Card system for booze buying in a restaurant. You have to prove you are of age and then you are given a card that says you are of age. It is free of charge. You then show your Uni-Card when you order your drink. In some zones of Dallas when you go into a store, like a country clothing store (the only place I have experienced this) you are greeted and asked if you'd like a beer or glass of wine. In the Fort Worth Stockyards beer is openly sold and consumed on the streets just as if you were in Vegas. Without showgirls, just some naked cows. And Buffalo Butt Beer at Booger Red's.

So, you get the idea, the liquor laws in Texas are extremely convoluted and confusing. It is easier and best to just stay sober. Which leads us back to Six Flags. Now I'm pretty much a let anything go type guy, but even I think it is just wrong to let people get drunk at such a place. As in totally nuts. At Six Flags I've often had the experience of smelling recently expelled vomit. Can you imagine what an increase there will be of that phenomenon when you add booze to the churning mix? Six Flags is mostly roller coasters. One would think it intuitive that booze and coasters do not mix. Just like booze and kids do not mix.

As for Hurricane Harbor? It is mostly kids who go there. Parents drop them off for the day, as they also do at Six Flags, it being a friendly family venue after all. So, now you are going to add the spectre that some bad character is being emboldened by park sold booze, among all those underage potential victims?

I'm thinking if it takes booze sales to save Six Flags bottom line maybe it is time to shut the thing down. Or sell it to Disney.