Lost Maples Adventure

After experiencing "ranch fever" I finally got a full weekend off and decided to take a solo trek. I chose Lost Maples State Natural Area as my destination. So 55 miles and an hour later I was racing a huge thunder cloud system...Unfortunately I lost. However on the 'bright' side, my car got washed and the system turned before hitting the park.

While hiking the air was heavy with moisture and some even leaked out from smaller clouds laden with water. Actually the sky was quite impressive with its moaning and groaning as it threatened to lash out with a mighty fury on the land. The trail (a.k.a. eroded trails with rocks that grab your feet and threaten to 'throw you down') began in the valley near a low river, inclined up to around 2550 feet at Mystic Canyon then back down to some ponds stocked with bass, sunfish, and a few others. I only saw a half dozen people while hiking until I got to the ponds where people were swimming and fishing so I was pretty pleased that I got to see more nature than homosapiens.

Ever had that strange feeling that you have been somewhere before? Not deja vu, but that you were supposed to stop on the other side of something and view a sight from a different angle? Well at the beginning of my hike I saw this dangling branch that had somehow grown in a circle. I thought this would be a cool picture because looking through it you saw the dry river bed with a lush green bank down below. So I took the picture thinking perhaps I can remember this spot on the flip side and take a picture looking up into the hill where I am standing now. Later I totally forgot about this 'thought' until I walked by a familiar piece of land. I stopped, trying to figure out why this seems so familiar. It took me a couple of minutes then I looked up and saw my dangling round branch, and I smiled. Glad I listened to that 'feeling' because it was quite a sight to see... Always trust that gut feeling because it can reveal so much that we humans have been desensitized to.

Along the low or dry river beds were towering limestone cliffs. These eroded cliffs were amazing in person; and not to mention offered a nice place to sit in the welcoming shade to escape the humid sun. You can find the river and its' limestone cut-a-ways criss-crossing all over the area in no apparent fashion. Provides lots of nooks and crannies to explore.

Some of the fauna I observed were lizards scurrying throughout the dead leaves and brush trying and most times succeeding to be invisible. Funny, sometimes it seemed like you were being followed...dun dun dunnnn. Up in the meadow I encountered snorting whitetail deer and the exotic Axis prancing away. There I also paused for a bit to watch some brilliantly colored orange beetles eating away at the waxy covering of the Devil's Claw bloom. I have only heard of this flower and was excited to finally see one. I also discovered tadpoles resting in stagnant and slow moving ponds, waiting to be released from their restrictive tails. Then nearer to the huge ponds large jumping fish were taunting the giddy fishermen roasting in the humid sun. I laughed to myself as I passed by.

The flora consisted of pretty ferns and moss/ivy covered trees that reminded me of the PNW coast. This is by far the greenest place I have been since arriving in West/Central Texas (I'm told the Eastside is also very green). Large stands of maple trees can be found all over...giving the area its' name. There were many 'reflection' pools, I call them. Small gatherings of water surrounded by moss covered rocks and greenery...usually accompanied by a fallen log of course (hence the reflection, hee hee hee).

This picture is living proof that one should always have their eyes open...even when squatting to the call of nature. I found this cool spider web a few meters off the trail. It was my first tunnel web ever and I was so excited and caught up in trying to get my camera out that I almost forgot to finish my 'business'. I would never had seen this if that running water hadn't encouraged my bladder so much but see, stopping to smell the flowers and explore off trail is always a good idea

It was a very beautiful place to spend the day. I was able to do a lot of thinking, talking (to myself), and taking in the awesome experience that one gets by appreciating the natural world and realizing how small and powerless man is in comparison to the forces of nature.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/lost_maples/