A Hike in Government Canyon

Know thyself? If I knew myself, I'd run away. 

~Goethe

And so we ran away to the wild.

Field of wildflowers and various grasses just visible in the early morning light.

Our involvement with Texas naturalists has broadened our lives so. Whenever we travel we check calendars of 3 or 4 groups to see what might be happening while we are on the road. We found a number of lectures and hikes in the San Antonio area for the weekend. A hike at Government Canyon State Natural Area was open and fit in our schedule. I should have realized it was going to be a challenging hike. The sign-up sheet had a "sign out" spot.*

We had gone about a half mile at a brisk pace and I knew immediately that it was not "my kind of hike." There would be little explanation of flora and fauna. There would be no time for photography.

We really wanted to hike. This place is so popular that there are signs indicating how long you will wait to get through the pay station. On our way out the gate was shut - the area was full. They are serious about this being a wildlife area and preserve. They are protecting the place and doing research.

Before long a number of us decided we needed to break off and pursue a nature walk rather than "march or die."

We headed up Joe Johnston Trail (Moderate to Challenging) towards the dinosaur tracks.**

Signs along the way marked our progress and also advised when we were passing "not a trail."

We arrived at the relatively busy overlook and tracks. It is a wet area - perhaps an intermittent stream? There were pools of water surrounded by a swaths of switchgrass. And then the cricket frogs started their calls. We attempted some recordings (avoiding the "chatter" as best we could). 

The trip back always seems a little shorter. Perhaps it was the snack and hydrating that made the difference. After frequent stops for blooming plants - familiar and unfamiliar we reached the Visitor Center, "enjoyed" the SNAKE FEST,*** and loaded up for the journey home.


Here is some of what we saw:

THE PATH (AND SIGNS)

It was mostly a large gravel path. Once laid out as a road, it is wide with a few stretches of dirt (and mud when it rains).

It is 2.5 miles to the tracks. This sign encouraged us on.

Note the rocky path. It became clear the boots I was wearing would simply NOT do. They will be donated and I will keep looking for the right boots for this type of terrain.

We saw lots of scat along the trail. We thought wild hog. We saw a number of spots where there had been some digging similar to other hog related disturbed ground.

Many large Live Oaks shaded the track.

And I suspect this is the time of year to hike...everything was green and blooming or preparing to bloom.

I only noticed a few spots where tree roots interrupted the path.

DH stops to let me catch up.

This is not path. This is an intermittent stream/drainage route along the trail.

They are working hard to keep people ON THE TRAIL. This is one of many spots where it appeared hikers were going "off path" and creating unwanted and potentially hazardous trails.

Stunning Live Oak

Rugged way

Looking out on the "back country" from near the trail head.

 

 

TRACKS

 

There are pretty serious tracks - from a Acrocanthosaurus

The tracks are in a creek bed at the foot of a cliff.

Some of the stream.

A perfect place for Blanchard's Cricket Frog - we heard them, but did not see them.

The Scenic Overlook atop the cliff

A friendly vulture came to call.

People atop the cliff

Another view of the three toed tracks.

Slightly higher are these tracks, from the Sauropod

 

WILDFLOWERS, GRASSES, AND CREATURES

 

Grasses - Sideoats Grama and Speargrass, among others.

Prickly Poppy. Surprised I didn't fall on it.

Bluebonnets

Silver-leafed Nightshade

We saw many pollinators. Here a beetle on ???

Prickly pear about to bloom. Further on was one blooming yellow.

Probably purple vetch. I love the seedpods.

False Dayflower

Agarita

Crowpoison or similar

Nerve-Ray (Tetragonotheca texana) - another wonderful seedpod.

More pods showing.

Looking off the trail

Spiderwort

Spiderwort II

Green spider on blooming shrub

Moth on flowering vine

Very dark bluebonnet

There are so many yellow flowers! I will have to spend some time in the book.

Webworms

Rose Mallow (found under a larger shrub)

Texas Dandelion

Cedar Elm

Cedar Elm "grove"

Some little yellow composite

Antelope Horns Milkweed **** with Juniper Hairstreak butterflies and tiny black beetles (not Cobalt Milkweed Beetle, but maybe a type of leaf beetle).

I was so excited to find milkweed. This was the only one I saw along this trail. I am not surprised as this was a woody area and I generally see these growing in the sun. with no plant canopy.

Blue-Curls

I don't remember seeing these before. They look like a tiny purple octopus.

Something is eating this

Maybe Rock Lettuce flower with moth

More Sideoats Grama

DH - a vision through the Switchgrass.

Small Redbud

Pincushion Daisy

Spiderweb

Thistle and beetle

Gaillardia (Firewheel)

Gaura

Grouping of wildflowers

SNAKE FEST

Snakes in those containers!

Checked out the snakes, but skipped the crafts.

NOTES:

*I had never heard of a "sign out" option on a hike. I suppose it happens to them frequently. ALSO, in State parks and wildlife areas trails are "graded." Had I looked at the map before the hike began I would have seen the two routes selected for a 6 mile, 3 hour hike were rated "Challenging."

**Yes, I am 12 years old. I needed to see those dinosaur tracks. According to Government Canyon information Acrocanthosaurus and Sauroposeidon dinosaurs wandered the area. We saw prints of both.

***A Master Naturalist sponsored program, Snake Fest included an enormous display of snakes (most alive, many venomous, a few stuffed). I learned that coral snakes have been found in Texas that are not the usual red, yellow, and black ("Red and Yellow - kill a fellow. Red and Black - venom lack.") The snake wrangler said the unusual coral snakes were all black and black with red spots. I'm more than concerned about these highly toxic creatures "changing their stripes."

http://tpwd.texas.gov/education/resources/texas-junior-naturalists/be-nature-safe/venomous-snake-safety

****Since this one is blooming I am motivated to check along the dam where I have seen them growing (last year). The gate was locked when I had planned to seed-save. Maybe this year.

Yeah!

Simple Tree Class

 Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky.

~ Kahlil Gibran, Sand and Foam

Mesquite catkin.*

DH and I once walked a mile or so early each morning. We have gotten lazier since retirement. We walk Z-girl, but don't always do the mile or so that is the walk to the park along the river.

Today, sans pets, we decided to exercise the hike-sore muscles and wander. We used it as a "short" bird and tree class.

We saw mockingbirds, heard and saw cardinals, wondered where the doves were, saw one generic sparrow, and spied a field of grackles. A vulture flew over. Morning birds called all around us, but we are poor "call identifiers."

We started talking about trees and I taught DH to identify the trees I know (and how I identify them) - live oak that keeps its leaves, dropping them at a different time than the other oaks; pecan, the harbinger of true spring as it will not leaf-out until danger of freeze is past; cedar elm whose small leaves are rough as a cat's tongue; mesquite with devil thorns, lovely catkins, and almost frond-like leaves; and the China berry, our demon invasive.**

There are more trees out there, but we focused on these few, pointing out specimen after specimen all along the walk.

I take for granted my 60+ years here - gardening with Mom and Dad and wandering the woods throughout the state. DH is catching up.

Our park woods with a little opening. Don't you want to investigate?

NOTES:

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catkin

**We have spend a few hours working to eradicate a China Berry grove at one of our favorite parks.