In 2011 Bastrop State Park suffered a devastating fire.
Roughly a year later, I wanted to see a meteor shower and decided to go camping. Everyone else did too, so camping spots were impossible to find.
In fact, I called all Texas State Parks within a three hour radius and only one had a spot. It was the last spot in Bastrop State Park. I took it. I was so focused on finding a place to sleep under the stars that I had forgotten about the awful fires in Bastrop.
The trees should have been full of green, but most where just skeletons.
We set up a tent, made use of our <a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009PUPX8/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0009PUPX8&linkCode=as2&tag=traveltracks-20″>Coleman stove</a><img src=”http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=traveltracks-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0009PUPX8″ width=”1″ height=”1″ border=”0″ alt=”” style=”border:none !important; margin:0px !important;” /> to make dinner, and built a fire. It was a beautiful night, but the cloud cover ruined any chance of seeing the meteor shower.
After we cleaned up our gear, I took this shot of our camp site. We had set up everything in the dark, so we didn’t have a full grasp on the landscape until morning.
Now, two years later, the park is still rebuilding and planting trees. 96% of the park was affected by the fire, but firefighters were able to save cabins built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps.
May your journey be your muse,
Rachel
Related links: McKinney Falls State Park
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