Cathedral Rock Nature Park (0n Three and a Half Hours Sleep)

Today's photos:

Extreme fatigue plays tricks on human perspective in every sense of the word. This has been an incredibly intense and demanding week for me culminating with only three and a half hours sleep last night.

Even as I set up this post, I am struggling to stay awake. The only thing I can say with any certainty at the moment is that this is a park with trails through diverse ecologies and compelling natural beauty.

I will be revisiting Cathedral Rock Nature Park, hopefully soon, on a morning when I am more rested, alert and capable of being fully present. (And preferably on a day with a dew point well below the 75 degrees that it was this morning.)

The San Antonio River, Park Segment, Part 2

Of course, it just wouldn't be the San Antonio River without a yellow-crowned night heron.

More photos from yesterday evening:

I have previously written about my fascination with trees. It is probably obvious to regular viewers of this blog that I also have a fascination with streams, creeks and rivers. As with the trees, this goes back to my childhood.

I grew up in and around St. Louis and Columbia, Mo. Hinkson Creek, which is comparable in size to the San Antonio River, flows across property my family owned just north of Columbia. Both the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers are a fundamental part of the lore and culture of the region.

I am generally not consciously aware of my childhood memories, but there is something reassuring and calming for me when I am walking the waterway trails. I look forward to eventually adding the Leon Creek and Medina River Greenways to the trails I have covered for While on a Walk.

The San Antonio River, Park Segment, An Evening Walk, Part 1

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

This evening's photos:

My original plan was to walk the dirt trails on the east side of Mud Creek in McAllister Park this morning. One reason that didn't happen is because it rained fairly heavily over the Mud Creek watershed late yesterday afternoon. I suspect this morning the dirt trails were mud.

And then life started happening. By late afternoon, still no walk. It was well into the evening when I finally headed to Brackenridge Park to walk the Park Segment of the San Antonio River. I walked the trail along the river south from Tuleta Dr past Mulberry Ave continuing south along the drive between Brackenridge Golf Course and the river.

This drive dead ends at a foot crossing across the river at Woodlawn Ave and River Road. I didn't make it quite the entire distance as the sun was setting. It was about fifteen minutes after sunset when I returned to the car.

Despite the late hour, I did get a prolific number of photos, so I will post the second part of this walk tomorrow.

A Few Notes and Reflections on the First Two Months

Eisenhower Park

This past Friday (Jul 15) marked the two month anniversary of While On A Walk. I haven't kept any kind of record of how far I've walked in those two months, but I'll take a semi-educated guess that it has been around 55 to 60 miles.

I have covered a good part of the Salado Creek Greenway from north of Voelcker Ln to South Side Lions Park, the San Antonio River from its headwater in Olmos Basin to Mission San Juan Capistrano and a number of other assorted locations. in these past two months, I have experienced the dry uplands such as are found in Eisenhower Park and the relatively lush environment of the San Antonio River channel.

The numbers don't mean a whole lot, but if anyone is interested, as of today, this is the 49th post, I have published 577 photos and there have been a total of 665 page views (blogger doesn't list unique visits). I have been asked what I'll do when I have walked all the trails. I have barely begun and seriously doubt I'll run out of new trails any time soon.

I have a few features I'm in the process of preparing to add to the blog as separate pages, such as a page specifically on the San Antonio River restoration process. This has been by far the single most popular series of photos I have published so far.

From my personal perspective, I am quite amazed that I have only missed one walk in the two months and that was because of jury duty. Even with that, I still managed a post for the day. Allowing for my medical situation, I am probably in the best physical condition I have been in since I finished Army basic training in 1971.

I have learned much from the feedback I have received and look forward to sharing my experience of the Bexar County and South Texas environment for the foreseeable future.

Eagleland Reach, San Antonio River

McAllister Park, Walk #4, Anderson Pavilion Trailhead, North Along Mud Creek

Today's photos:

One thing is certain (he wrote stating the obvious), white-tailed deer are to McAllister Park what egrets, herons and cormorants are to the San Antonio River trails. If one is at all alert, it won"t be very far along a trail before one starts to see them.

As a matter of fact, I had seen many along the trail when I had just walked through a small, empty clearing beside the creek bed. I stopped, realizing it was time for me to head back toward the parking lot. I literally laughed out loud when I turned around and there were three deer now grazing in what moments ago had been an empty clearing.

The closest one was less than fifteen feet away form me. As I have mentioned in an earlier post, deer have a way of moving through even dense brush without making a sound. I hadn't heard these three enter the clearing after I walked through it.

Probably the highlight of today's walk was the golden-fronted woodpecker. I frequently hear the woodpeckers, but they seem to have had a way of staying out of sight.