McAllister Park, Walk #1

Today's photos:

The land for McAllister Park was purchased by the City of San Antonio in 1968 and until 1974 was called the Northeast Preserve. I have many fond memories of spending time with friends in this park in the early 1970's during my early years in San Antonio. Both the park and especially the surrounding land have changed dramatically since those days.

In the early '70s, most of the land north of Loop 410 between Interstates 35 and 10 was still farm land. Subdivisions were just beginning to be developed primarily along the IH 10 and U.S. 281 corridors. The land surrounding McAllister Park is now heavily developed and the park itself has been transformed from a wildlife preserve to a multi-use facility that includes numerous sports fields.

Regardless of the development, the park remains one of the premiere wildlife areas within this heavily urbanized area of the city. It is one of the largest parks in San Antonio. There are about 15 miles of trails: approximately 5 miles paved and 10 miles unpaved. Unfortunately, other than the two unpaved trails, the red trail and the blue loop, the trails are unnamed. Thus the title for this series will be by number. Today I walked west and somewhat to the south of the Al Becken Pavilion.

Tomorrow's post will be another "highlight" set of photos from today's walk.