Lost Maples State Natural Area

Jack and Sharon went home and we’ve moved on. We have a nice site here at Lost Maples State Natural Area.

This is pretty much the middle of nowhere in hill country Texas. The nearest town, Leakey ( pronounced Lakey) is a half hour drive away.

It is lovely and quiet,

although the park was full Friday and Saturday nights, including this group of boys in tents that took six sites. They weren’t noisy, though, and they weren’t near us, so that was fine.

The park is along the Sabinal River, which right now is quiet, but you can see that like all the rivers in the hill country, it floods.

They build the bridges here so the flood water will just flow over them, and not wash them out. This is the park road, but you see bridges like this on secondary highways all over hill country.

It’s a bit cooler in this high valley and the live oaks are larger.

And this microclimate supports Bigtooth Maples, which 10,000 years ago, when things were cooler, grew all over the area. Now this is one of the pockets where they remain, and one of just a few places on public land.

In the fall these little leaves are brightly colored…

and the short Maple Trail is very popular.

It is still a pretty trail. Matey and I walked it yesterday and brought Bud along it today.

Bud noticed this maple that they have walled up, probably to protect it from the floods.

You return via the East Trail, which is easy walking.

It does cross the river several times, but above the confluence of Can Creek, and in this weather, you don’t need to worry about getting your feet wet.

So far I’ve just been walking Matey, sometimes in his stroller, up to the day use area, less than a mile on the park road. Then we’ve hiked the short Maple Trail. There are some nice trails I hope to do in the next two days; sure wish Jack was still with us. It’s nicer to walk with a friend.