Friday, May 18, 2012
Salado Creek Greenway South, Between Covington Park and J Street Park Trailheads
Today's photos:
Following the heavy rain early this week, the Salado Creek left its banks and there was minor flooding. Today it is back to bank full, but with a very strong, swift current.
This section of the Salado Creek Greenway South (pdf map link) just opened recently. The new section goes from Jack White Park, which is between Benz-Engleman Rd and I-35, south to Covington County Park. It adds about six miles to the greenway system of trails.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
I have taken so many photographs and begun so many series of posts this month, publishing them all is going to take some time. I have been a bit concerned about all of the juxtapositions that will occur in posting "part 2's" in something of a random order. After giving this some thought, however, it occurred to me that my walk locations have meandered around Bexar County anyway.
Bexar County is home to four different eco-regions: Edwards Plateau, Blackland Prairie, South Texas Plains and Post Oak Savannah. Different flora and fauna predominate in each of the four regions, but there are no distinct boundaries. One region blends into the adjoining ones. While each of my posts is from a distinct area within the county, as an aggregate, the posts reflect this unique blend of eco-regions.
I probably should also mention that there are numerous non-native invasive species of both plants and animals in Bexar County such as Chinaberry trees, ligustrum (privet), Chinese tallow trees, etc. to name only a few. This is a topic I have briefly touched on in a few of the previous posts. Eventually, I will address this issue in a post dedicated to the topic.
With that introduction in mind, today's photos were taken on my walk from the Ingram Transit Center Trailhead, Leon Creek Greenway on May 4. This series features a sample of the numerous wildflowers I encountered:
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Eisenhower Park, Cedar Flats > Live Oak > Hillside (south) Trails
Today's photos:
Monday night and Tuesday morning the sky opened up releasing a deluge of rain, officially 4.01 inches worth to be exact. May is normally the third wettest month of the year in Bexar County. On top of the previous rain this month, as occasionally happens here in South Texas, we received an entire month's worth of rain in less than twenty-four hours.
Rather than beginning the new While on a Walk year along the Salado Creek as I had been planning, I decided it would be better to walk today at Eisenhower Park. This park is on high ground that drains fairly quickly. It is essentially the side of a very large hill. And I hadn't yet walked the south portion of the Hillside Trail in the park.
I passed up several gazillion photo opportunities.
I really did.
But, I still ended up with way more than enough photos for one post. So, the torrent of nature photographs continues…
