Water started gushing out of the ground when we lifted the fire pit. It started off as a little puddle refusing to drain on one side, even after Trey made a little channel under the steel for the water to leave through. We had driven 2.5 hours that morning and were ready to start making lunch, so we decided just to pick up the whole box and drag it to a new spot. This particular box had two stakes built in to the grate side, and once they left the ground, it was like we’d stabbed a vein.
After a few nervous minutes, our geyser slowed to a trickle and stopped. Maybe it was just a pocket of underground water – who knows. All the recent October rain had thoroughly soaked the firewood we purchased from the park office, but we had the prettiest spot at one of the nicest campgrounds any of us had been to in Texas. We quickly settled into our site and got a fire going with our only dry logs – a bundle Trey thankfully decided to bring from home.
We set our tents up pretty far from the tent pad, as the dogs had already claimed it as their mouth-fighting zone. Behind our designated area, a path was cut wide through the surrounding brush and emptied into a wide-open field. Whether it was technically allowed or not – it was the perfect spot and all ours for the weekend.
We dried out the soaked wood with the original fire, and Trey chopped every bit of the larger logs into tiny bits so they’d dry faster. The day, as almost all successful Newcomb-Mount camping excursions go, was spent with a lazy mix of reading, drinking, napping, wood-splitting and cooking. For our lunch, Daniel made a glorious vegan chili and Jenny brought the tents down with her cast-iron cornbread. While I neglected to photograph some of the more exciting moments (i.e. bonfire featuring an entire tree trunk as fuel), this trip will go down as one of our favorites in the state.
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