Rough Road???

 Adventure Location:  Del Rio, Texas

Adventure Date: 8-20-2020

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The OFM Walking Team got off to a decent start this morning and headed to Diablo East for the “heart treatment” otherwise known as walking for old folks. 

As we entered the parking area the OFM got a wild idea to hit the backcountry road to the Cliffs picnic area. It is closed to most activity except walkers that maintain social distance. But the reality is no one goes in there with the current restrictions in place.

Sierra grabbed the usual parking spot next to an area light.  The OFM got his stuff together and away we went. Most of the area is dried out from the lack of rain so it is not an exciting walk but it is nicely remote when the entry gate is closed like now.

The road is a bit rough, we think on purpose, and slows the vehicle traffic somewhat when the gate is open. It is not really bad but the “low riders” groups in the area have fits with it. Here is a typical “bad” spot in the gravel road.

It was a very pleasant 3.3 miles of desert walking.  There is even vault toilets a couple of places in the picnic areas.

But the big surprise was the shade shelter for one of the picnic tables had been ripped off the foundation by a storm.  This particular shelter is very near the edge of a pretty high cliff.  We are guessing one of the storms this summer must have been too much for the shelter.

The anchor bolts held just fine, but the mounting for the feet was held to the shelter by two sheet metal screws in each leg.  It was interesting to note that all but one of the sheet metal screws held.  The legs seem to have fatigue failed right above the anchored footing piece.

It would not have been fun being there to see the failure happen.

We finished our walk and the OFM had one last drink of water in the bottle when we got to Sierra.  We need to be very careful about carrying more water when we are going to go more than two miles or so. This morning was decently not hot but the water supply ran too close for comfort.

Running out of water on a desert walk is a very BAD way of trying to have tooooo much fun.