The most eventful part of this trip happened on the way to Choke Canyon. We didn’t have the most auspicious of starts. We hadn’t remembered to charge the Hare to full the night before, so we were charging during the day. Then Aneel had to run an errand right before we were set to leave. It was an odd start, we were running a little later than expected, and I was a bit frazzled.
This is why I was not particularly surprised when maybe 30 minutes away from San Antonio, our charging midway point, I asked Aneel “Did you pack the charging cable?” He wasn’t sure and I knew I hadn’t, but we were far enough away from home that we decided to check when we got to the chargers. Sure enough, no cable. It didn’t matter at the chargers, but we very much needed to charge at Choke Canyon to be able to leave and get to the closest set of chargers on our way home.
Aneel had the brilliant idea to buy one in San Antonio, if we could find one. So, as we were charging, we both started searching online. Home Depot? Lowes? AutoZone? After a decent amount of online hunting, we did find one in stock nearby at Best Buy. Instead of a silly mistake on our parts (readers: it was a silly mistake on our parts), we decided that this was just smart thinking. This means we can always have one cable at home and one in the Rivian. At all times. For emergencies.
Because we left late and had a charging adventure, we arrived at Choke Canyon later than expected and had to park after dark. Backing up the Hare and Tourtoise in the dark at a camp site that I’ve never been to? Not my favorite thing. But we managed. It was an easy parking arrangement anyway, I just literally couldn’t see where the dang spot was!
The park is a little rugged, quiet, and peaceful. The campsites are pretty big, but there isn’t a ton of tree coverage… so you can definitely see your neighbors. At one point, our camp site would have been lakeside, but that side of the lake has definitely dried up. We still had easy access to lake side, with a little outdoor alley right behind the camp loop. We had a nice hang lake side, bird watching and relaxing. And we did what little hiking there was. I will say… I wish there was more hiking.
They have a super cute, very small park store that sells live bait, camping must haves, and a small option of Choke Canyon State Park memorabilia. I had to pick up oil (because I forgot mine—oops). Apparently they do a weekend BBQ (not for me and my veghead ways), and they were just super nice.
Wildlife was abundant. Lakeside, we saw Northern Shovelers, Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, Canvasbacks (a first for me), Long-Billed Dowitcher, Common Gallinule, American Coots, Black-necked Stilts, White-faced Ibises, Roseate Spoonbills and more. Some of the more uncommon non-water/shore birds we saw included Curve-billed Thrasher, Bullock’s Oriole, Brown-crested Flycatcher, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, and Great Kiskadees.
But the best bird spotting for me was the Vermillion Flycatcher!!!! It’s been on my must-see list for a long time. I’m honestly surprised I haven’t seen one before now. It’s not common, but I’ve been to plenty of places where they live. At the park, we got a really good view of one hunting. They’re such pretty birds.
Probably the most amusing wildlife spotting was the javelina who just wandered through camp. It was after dinner, and we were just lounging… and here comes a javelina with no worries in the world just snorfling through. It came within just a few yards of us. We just stayed still and pretended to ignore it (while staring and taking pictures). It was clearly at home and just looking for any tasty plants and flowers nearby (or maybe potato chips and smores).
The wildlife and quiet at Choke Canyon was fabulous… but overall I’m not sure if I’d go out of my way to go back. Not enough hikes. But if we were nearby, it’d be a great stop over especially during another season (maybe autumn?) to see what wildlife was around then.
