We have one plot in our garden that has radishes growing but otherwise we have filled it with bluebonnets we bought at a garden center and bluebonnets we seeded, along with a few other non-edible flowering plants. I like having a small section dedicated to flowers, especially since we aren’t focusing on collecting plants right now.

I’d been checking on the bluebonnets but hadn’t had any inkling that they were ready to bloom. Then one day last week I walked right up and the blue-purple flower stood out and stunned me with its brilliance.

Finally, the bluebonnets were out!

Early in the year Chris had scheduled out several camping trips throughout the spring. I had warned that he could potentially be in the field all spring—things hadn’t started up yet and he not received word about work. Even so, he made reservations to many state parks in anticipation of spring wildflower season. So far we’ve had to cancel most of them, but we rescheduled this trip to Huntsville State Park to a weekend sooner then planned since he was going to be off that weekend. Unfortunately a cool front with rain came through causing us to postpone leaving to the campground until early afternoon, when the rains had passed.

We had a site right on the lake so Chris could set up his fishing pole. I had a book to read while lounging in the tent and all was perfect. At about 4 p.m. we decided to go for a short hike and were only about a quarter mile or so down the trail when the rain decided to come back. It had stayed overcast most of the afternoon but we really thought it was done. Back to the car we went and into the tent too, taking a nap while the rain passed.

Dinner was made quickly as dusk began to fall, the lantern turned on during the last minutes of dinner in order to wash up our plates and put everything away.

That afternoon the campsite was lively with a woodpecker, this yellow bellied sapsucker, keeping our interest and allowing for a few portraits to be taken.

A few other birds were hanging around, too.

The next morning we ate breakfast and soon after the clouds began to clear. The park has an extensive trail system and we decided to do part of the outer loop, connecting the Chinquapin and Triple C Trails.

The rain left the trails rather muddy but most of the trails were in good condition.

The Carolina jessamine is still lighting up the forest right now.

View looking east from the dam into the lake.

The dam….

which heads to Prairie Branch Creek downstream.

Fairly certain this is basket grass. Or a Dichanthelium.

We didn’t stay too long hiking that day as we still had other chores to do and Chris wanted to get a few other things done before driving back to his hotel later that evening. It’s only about an hour from our house so I would love to come back here on the weekend and hit up the other trails, or even connect to the Lone Star Trail.

President Houston wasn’t too far away, but maybe next time we’ll finally stop in and say hi!

Trout lilies are wonderful and beautiful native wildflowers, blooming early in the spring, really late winter. The last two years we’ve ventured out to Tandy Hills to check them out. The first year we found many blooms, but last year not so much.

This year I ventured out with with my brother to show him where a small population of them were; he’d never seen them.

When we arrived I didn’t think there were any blooms yet. I’d thought there would be with the warmer winter we’ve had this year. But it took looking a little closer to find the flowers. Most were just budding but one was fully open.

If you in the hunt for spring wildflowers, these are ones to be on the lookout for in woodlands. There is also a yellow variety, Erythronium americanum which extends east of Texas into the eastern half of the U.S., excluding Florida.

The two places we’ve found the plants have been in moist to mesic environments and are well wooded with a lot of ground debris, so be on the lookout in those areas.

More Information:
+Illinois Wildflowers
+USDA Plant Database
+Wildflower.org
+Horticulture Magazine

I’ll have macro photos of these flowers next week.

I’ve been thinking about this post for a few days, mostly because I am waxing nostalgic on the Appalachian Trail since March is around the corner, peak time for thru-hikers to start. And it will be 2 years since we left Georgia for Maine. Seriously, where did the time go?

Food is important on the trail and if we aren’t thinking about it, we’re talking about it. While I have been eating fairly healthy (with nice doses of cheese at restaurants) and mostly vegetarian for almost a year, my mind does wander to the junk food and not so healthy items that only people burning 5K+ calories a day can eat.

Typically people think about backpacking food in the manner of oatmeal, some variety of nutritional bar, and a dehydrated backpacker meal. Sure, there is a lot of that, but after awhile it gets old and the taste buds need some variety. Pair that with having to resupply in weird places like a gas station, you have to get creative. Some of my favorite backpacking foods aren’t what you might think about.

My favorites:

• Cheddar Waffle Crackers: I ate these some growing up but then they seemed to disappear from shelves in Texas. I found some at a Fresh Market in Florida but still have not found any in Texas. On the A.T. once we started hitting northern states I started seeing these crackers. Yes, they are probably not ideal because they can crumble, but sometimes that is all the better.
• Pringles: Probably not a good long term item to carry, but for three days, sure! The tube fits great in the outside bottle netting on packs so you don’t have to worry about crushed chips. Cheddar flavor is my favorite.
• Goldfish Crackers: preferably flavor blasted cheddar.
• Tortillas, bean dip, and cheese dip. Do you sense a cheese theme with me? Ounce whores will not appreciate these because they are ‘heavy’ and the tins are kind of annoying, but really, at some point you don’t care and you just want enjoyable food. Again, if it is a short stretch, why not? It gets you out of the peanut butter rut.
• Breakfast cookies: I think my dad got us started on these when he came to hike for a few days in Virginia. Best. idea. ever. Oatmeal: check. Other goodies like chocolate and raisins: check. You don’t have to cook it, you still get some filling oatmeal and fiber, but it isn’t nearly as hard to swallow after eating packets of oatmeal for weeks on end.
• Corn Nuts: Chris started these and after I had a few of his then the bug hit me. They offer a crunch you might be wanting but also give you back salts that have since leeched off into your shirt from sweat. Oh, we had some good salt rings on our shirts! I know a few other hikers who had it even worse!
• Gummi Bears: or worms, whatever. I like some sugar and I like chewy and this is a great combination. Again, ounce whores won’t appreciate them. Chris carries other candy like Mike & Ike’s. We met many hikers who had never thought about carrying candy other than the obligatory Snickers bar. It is a great addition if you don’t mind some added weight.
• Instant Refried Beans: We met a southbound thru-hiker in the White’s at the Crawford Notch General Store. He’d just received his maildrop and had too much of a resupply and handed off a package or two of beans to us. He also gave us taco seasoning to go with it, and we had some Taco Bell sauce (maybe Taco Casa?) in our drop as well, in addition to tortillas, so it worked great. We ended up eating our first meal of it at lunch at the Lake of the Clouds hut the following day. The beans will last several meals and if you have a block of cheese, it makes it even better.
• Macaroni Grill meals: or similar meals—even good old Hamburger Helper would work. This just breaks you out of the ramen or Knorr side rut. It works well for us because we used a pot cozy and didn’t have to boil our water constantly and waste fuel or have it really stick too heavily on our pot. Repackage into baggies after buying the box at the store.
• Cheese. Cheddar is ok in winter but will turn oily in hot weather and not do so well, stick with hard cheese in warmer weather and eat relatively quickly. Asiago, parmesan are great choices…though they tend to be a bit more expensive in the specialty cheese section.
• Backpacker Meals: We relied on these about half the time, having pre-purchased some of them for our drops but also buying them along the way. We did have our favorites and while some people turn their nose up at them, they really aren’t that bad. Although most hikers don’t have much good to say about the breakfast ones. Some of our favorites were… Backpackers Pantry: Louisiana Red Beans and Rice, Santa Fe Chicken, Mountain House: Lasagna with Meat Sauce, Alpine Aire: Summer Chicken, Garden Risotto. I know we have had other Alpine Aire meals, but I think, at least in my opinion, they are one of my favorite brands of backpacking meals. Someday I want to try Mary Jane’s Farm brand. We haven’t before because they are quite a bit more expensive.

I think I miss whoopie pies the most. When I went back to look up this post about whoopie pies I didn’t realize I’d semi-covered this before, but not in such detail. I should have done that then. That was a pretty good day, but I wish we’d sidetracked for a bit to the Gulf Hagas.

Backpackers, what are your favorite atypical backpacking foods?

Did you miss the first post? Read Part I here

Inside the cave, which really isn’t much of a cave, I couldn’t help but think it would make a great shelter. Which is probably what local tribes and other visitors, including animals, have done over the years.

As you can see, someone named Nichols visited from Bastrop sometime in 1883. This reminded me of seeing William Clark’s signature at Pompey’s Pillar in Montana in 2008.

This area is subject to flash flooding; several years ago they had some major flooding and had to sweep mud and debris out of the caves and do rehab on the trails before opening them back up.

Passiflora affinis. Originally I thought this looked like lutea but going off of the plant list for the preserve I have figured otherwise.

The crinkly aspect of this fern made for a good portrait of it. My best guess is that it is a southern shield fern, Thelypteris kunthii.

This set of leaves has enticed me to want to start a leaf portrait series. I did not look close enough as I was taking these to tell you what they were. I was mostly drawn to the lines and shadows.

I sat down for awhile waiting for Chris and these steps had me entranced for a few moments, thinking of postcards and posters of places in England and France, tiny little gardens with weathered stones. I almost let the moment go and did not photograph them. I’m glad I did.

A mixture of detritus and the water passing through the area. Sometimes I wonder how long leaves and debris sit before moving, decaying, or falling into another position. Does an animal walk by and brush up against it, will rain drops move it mere centimeters or a flood displace it entirely?

This little stump was beautifully textured and again sent me into a trance, reminding me of a stump that used to be in front of my grandmother’s house when she lived there. They don’t even look the same, but it was a stump and that is what memory it triggered.

I love capturing these little scenes, the ones we might walk by and not notice. Or if we notice we only think about it in passing. I’ve decided to pay more attention to them, call them small still lifes and perhaps compose some for use on Wildscape Photo.

I hope you enjoyed the little ‘trip’ to Westcave. If you are ever in Austin, do go see the three parks in this area. They are a real treat and when the weather is warm I want to swim in the Pedernales River!

Tucked away next to the Pedernales River just west of Austin, near the town of Bee Cave, is the Westcave Preserve. Westcave is a non-profit entity run in coordination with the Lower Colorado River Authority. Nearby there are two other beautiful parks, the Hamilton Pool Preserve and the Milton Reimers Ranch Park. One could spent an entire weekend exploring all three parks.

The photo above is an overlook at Westcave peering down at the Pedernales River.

The park is available to the public by tour only on weekends or with a school group during the week. But for $5 a person, we felt the tour price was well worth it! The tours last about two hours, and we did not feel rushed. We were able to chat with the park ranger about the various botanical and wildlife interests within the park and nearby areas. I think we kept him engaged, asking questions that only nerdy biologists would ask! There was only us and a family of four on our tour, but I imagine in warmer weather it would be busier. I was a little surprised it wasn’t busy since it was New Years weekend.

The tour starts at the visitors center and traverses the ashe juniper and live oak habitats on the same level as the environmental center, but as we descended we entered a riparian type ecosystem of ferns, sycamores and cypress. It was beautiful! The Ashe Juniper-Live Oak complex is utilized by the endangered gold cheek warbler and apparently a few birds have been known to nest at the preserve.

At the end of the trail we reached the ‘cave’, which is really a grotto, and then on the north side of the canyon is a deeper cave like structure, really a large room.

Because the group on the tour was small we were able to take our time to take the photos we wanted. Often on tours we are rushed and cannot experience a place very well, particularly if it is crowded.

Before the preserve was founded it was visited by many people, swimmers, picnickers and people who eventually, both purposefully and unknowingly, caused some damage to the typical structures you see in caves like stalactites and stalagmites.

In the next post I will show a few photos from inside the cave as well as some closer still-life shots of the surrounding area. It was wonderful to be able to stop and look at a tiny little scene and have the time to shoot it. I can’t wait to show you those!

And if anyone cares, I found the management plan for Westcave Preserve.

A few weekends ago, New Years Eve weekend to be exact, we stopped by Westcave Preserve on our way home. We’d been by there a year before but did not have time to go in. I will have more on Westcave itself in two later posts, but this one is specifically about the beautiful maidenhair fern.

The fern grows in all sorts of rocky outcroppings, and other nooks and crannies along the creek at Westcave. The creek flows maybe a quarter of a mile before emptying into the Pedernales River.

It really makes pathways it lines a magical place.

The Texas Vascular Plant Checklist lists one other species for Texas, Adiantum tricholepis or the hairy maidenhair fern. A Google search of that species is very intriguing and now I would love to see it. The USDA plant database has it listed as only existing in Medina county here in Texas…and only in Texas in the U.S.!

I almost think it is my favorite fern, and yet I saw a photo of a giant leather fern on Flickr the other day and I was reminded of how much I love them too. I think I just love ferns!

If you missed the first part of this series go here.

On New Years Eve I slept in and Chris got up early to take sunrise photos. Once up and breakfast was eaten, we headed off for the eastern side of the loop around the rocks. It was a gorgeously clear day again, perfect really.

Initially we were going to completely go all the way to the east on the loop but we came to the junction of the Turkey Pass trail and thought it looked good, a cut through up to another trail and we could catch the eastern loop up there. We passed this beautiful pond on our way through.

And just to the right of the pond was Turkey Peak.

The south face of Enchanted Rock. In the distance we saw other hikers descending from the rock, in a steep spot. The man in the group was cautiously inching his way down while the woman had resorted to scooting down. The day before we’d been in a similar situation and I’d debated scooting, finally opting not to. Once down on the ground I looked back up, incredulous that we’d come down that slope!

The Turkey Pass trail was quiet, passing one couple and then I think we met up with the steep slope couple towards the top of the trail. This area was definitely not where the main action was going on and would be a great place to explore and enjoy some peace and quiet in the park.

This oak and little rock pool area was beautiful. A small spring was flowing through here. If I’d of had a book and was not going to be hiking I might have spend a few hours perched under the tree.

I’m always surprised to see clear running streams/springs in Texas, which I’m not sure why I am surprised. Perhaps because in Florida I was not accustomed to seeing springs unless we were in far northern Florida.

We walked to the far northern boundary of the park on the loop, then cutting south through Moss Lake primitive camp and then to the Echo Canyon trail. Somehow we ended up off trail and found ourselves making our own trail—which wasn’t terribly bad because others were coming up the way we’d decided to go down.

It was fun going down this way, hopping over rocks.

Back at camp for lunch we opted for a leisurely afternoon of napping. We’d been planning on staying out for sunset to get some shots for that and we left camp with a couple hours of sun left to scout out a place to go. Unfortunately we left just about the time we both decided to get headaches. I’d popped some medicine but Chris hadn’t and his headache become consistently worse as we hiked on.

We did manage to find some beautiful views by taking a trail that was probably not a trail, because it dead ended and we ended up rock hopping and slab walking.

This beautiful slab was begging for its photo to be taken. Chris found a set of stairs leading up to the top where I ended up laying for awhile. Chris needed to lay too but he opted for down in the shade beneath the slab. An animal must have also found it to be a nice spot because scat was at the top too.

Our sunset expedition was called off when Chris’ headache worsened. Instead we hastened back for camp where he hit the tent and was miserable for a few hours before medicine kicked in. I made dinner for myself and sat outside reading by lamplight. I’d gone to bed too early the previous night and didn’t want to do so again. Eventually Chris emerged to eat his own dinner and he opened the bottle of Champagne he’d brought for New Years.

We knew 2012 had arrived by the loud raucous that occurred as the clock struck midnight. Yes, we’d gone to bed a few hours prior to that! I was a struck with sadness in my sleepy haze by the thought of another year coming in. It made me a little sad to know that this would be the first year in two years with no long distance adventures. I let the sadness go quickly because I was soon back asleep.

Enchanted Rock is a place that is beckoning to be visited again, perhaps on a more quiet weekend where we can enjoy it in peace.

Unfortunately I did not get to hug this one as you can see it is/was behind a fence. This is a photo of Chris and I on the Florida Trail last January, almost a full year ago, with The Senator.

The Senator is no more.

You see, this estimated 3,500 year old bald cypress tree, and 5th oldest tree in the world, burned down Monday morning. Burned down.. It’s almost difficult to fathom. I’m part of a swamp hiking group on Facebook and I happened to check my email Monday morning with a notification stating that the tree had been burned. I quickly went to search for news stories, hoping it was a pathetic rumor, but in fact it was horrifically true.

Somehow this tree had made it through Florida’s logging heyday. And if you look at that link, there’s a gigantic cypress being logged in the photos…devastating what we lost and didn’t realize! We took with it so many countless animals and plants—you can thank the logging of cypress and other hardwoods to the extirpation and probable extinction of the ivory billed woodpecker.

I hugged several large trees last summer. You don’t have to hug a tree, but you should appreciate what you have in nature, because it could be gone. If it isn’t a developer building on an empty lot, it is a potential arsonist ruining something beautiful.

I’m so glad we took the time to detour off the roadwalk we were doing last year on the Florida Trail and to stop in this park to look at The Senator and his neighbor, Lady Liberty. I only wish now that I’d sat there longer and enjoyed the tree a little more.

I’m kind of amazed that I grew up in Texas and never visited Enchanted Rock. My parents took us camping a couple times a year but I know we mostly drove within two hours of home. This would have been nearly five hours away, so probably not a feasible trip back then. I had mentioned this park as a place to go on our Texas Roadtrip in September 2010 but for some reason it didn’t make it to our list of places to visit. Well, we finally did make it.

The park itself is in the boondocks between Llano and Fredericksburg, west of Austin. The road the entrance is on has cattle guards on it with signs warning about free range cattle on the roads. I’d posted to Facebook that we were going out there and my friend Sara replied that she was driving down there for the day with her family. I was excited about this because Sara is a friend that I’ve gotten to know through the internet these last few years though we actually know each other from high school. Because I’ve been here-there-everywhere I haven’t had the opportunity to hang out with her in person all that often, it is nice to see her when the opportunity presents itself. In high school we didn’t really know each other that well back then even though we were in the same art class for three years, but it took the internet to realize that we had more in common than we thought. You know, high school and all its weirdness.

We arrived at the park around noon and were stunned to see a line to get into the park. It was New Years weekend after all, but still. This was craziness! Luckily the side coming from Llano was much, much shorter than the side coming from Fredericksburg. A few hours later, on top of Enchanted Rock, we saw the line from Fredericksburg was at least 3/4 of a mile long or more! I suppose that is something good to communicate, that there are that many people willing to wait in line to visit a state park and this isn’t even a touristy commercial park like Disney or Sea World or heck, the mall! But, we were around Austin and well, they don’t have Keep Austin Weird bumperstickers for nothing. It is the eclectic awesome spot of Texas—despite that so-called school that happens to be there. Austinites/Hill Country folks enjoy nature a lot.

We made it in and I gave Sara a call. She was still going to be a few hours so Chris and I set up camp and decided to go explore the area. Little Rock, the ‘smaller’ rock to the west of Enchanted Rock was right behind our campsite so we left straight up from there, building our own pathway as we found it. It was a pretty awesome thing to do!

It was beautiful out and clear, which for the last few weeks it had been cold and overcast. This is what I had been looking for all winter!

From near the top of Little Rock looking over to the east at Enchanted Rock. We had to dip down into a short gap (I like to say gap because it is very A.T.) between the two rocks.

I think this might be the only color photo I took the entire time, an orange sulphur butterfly, a female I believe. I used our Butterflies Through Binoculars Florida edition to figure it out. Colias eurytheme.

We played around on Enchanted Rock or awhile before I texted Sara to figure out where she was. She was still about fifteen minutes from the entrance by this time so we decided to hike half of the loop trail that went around the rocks. By the time we arrived back at camp I phoned Sara and they were on Enchanted Rock enjoying the late afternoon and I invited them to drop by our campsite before they left for home again. About an hour later they showed up and I was glad to sit and chat with them for awhile. Her two sons are super sweet and a bit shy but they really enjoyed playing on and pushing their dad on our hammocks.

Sara and her family didn’t stay long as they still had their nearly five hour drive back to DFW and it was already pushing dark by this time. (I hate winter—dark at 5:30 is not very fun!) We said goodbye and I went off to shower and hopped into bed at a much too early time but spent it reading a book by flashlight. I really need to get a portable battery operated lamp for winter. Chris headed off to take star photography shots. He’s still working on those so I can’t show you them.

And you will just have to wait for the next half of this trip report!