Friday, November 18, 2011
Today's photos:
It has been about nine weeks since the last time I walked this section of the Salado Creek Greenway and about ten weeks since the wildfire scorched the creek and adjoining land east of Wetmore Rd. I set out on the walk today specifically to find out how this wetland section of Salado Creek was responding to the somewhat wetter weather we have been having since September and to see how, if at all, the burned area was beginning to recover.
What I encountered was another total sensory overload of the type I have come to expect when walking the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River. I now have what feels like, at this late hour, an overwhelming task of organizing the experience and the photos for publication. The photos published here are a mere sample, not even a real cross section, expressing my experience of today's walk. I will have at least two, and possibly three, more posts based on what I came away with today.
The best I can manage to say at the moment is that the wetland is wet and wow!!
As I mentioned in yesterday's post, the fall wildflowers are blooming in abundance at Eisenhower Park. Where there are flowers, it is a near certainty there are insects. In addition to the butterflies that are generally easy to see, if one looks close enough, one will find a wide variety of smaller insects:
Today's photos:
My main interest on today's walk was to see the northwest corner of Eisenhower Park, specifically the Red Oak trail that forms a loop with and is connected to the Cedar Flats trail by the Hillview trail. This is a fairly long walk because the parking lot is on the eastern edge of the park, so one must walk approximately a mile along the Cedar Flats trail to reach this northwest corner.
Given the fact that the weather was ideal again today for walking, I considered the long distance to be something of an added bonus in all that one could see along the way. I will be posting more photos from this walk tomorrow.
I found the park to be more "alive" today than on my previous walks here. The recent rains, we received an additional half inch or so yesterday, have been a great benefit to the wildlife in the park. Fall wildflowers are blooming in abundance. There were elusive field sparrows, but I managed to photograph one peeking out through the brush. I have been hearing American crows frequently on recent walks, but today was the first time I actually saw (and photographed) one as it flew out from from the trees.
When I first saw the cottontail rabbit, it was foraging in a sunny clearing, but as soon as I raised the camera, it quickly hopped into the shade. It turned and watched me intently as I took its picture. I have a feeling, if rabbits could use a camera, it would have been taking my picture.
There is one more thing I mention as an aside. I am generally able while on my walks to leave the everyday world of my life behind and enter into the experience of the moment. Some days, like today, that is more difficult than on most days. I learned this morning before leaving for the walk that three men who have been doing work on my house were in a serious auto accident yesterday evening.
Two of them only had minor injuries, but one, a man about my own age and the hardest working of the three, was seriously injured. From what I have heard, he will recover, but he has a long way to go ahead of him. This is another reminder that has especially weighed on my mind all day, how life is both exceedingly tenuous, yet at the same time, remarkably tenacious.
