Thursday, August 2, 2012
The photos from my walk yesterday were taken in and around Culebra Creek. Like many, if not most, of the creeks in Bexar County, the Culebra is ephemeral meaning that it only has water flowing in it for a short time after it rains as it drains the runoff from its watershed.
There is a section of the Cathedral Rock Park Connector Trail that drops down into and zigzags along the creek bed for almost a quarter mile. The following photos were taken along that section of the trail:
Monday, January 30, 2012
Today's photos:
The Leon Creek South Greenway's trailhead is in Pearsall Park off of Old Pearsall Road just north of Medina Base Road. Of the mile and a half (one way) long trail, I walked to the one mile marker today. As can be seen in some of the photos, it was heavy overcast.
The weather forecast had been for a slight possibility of light mist and drizzle this afternoon. When I was still a half mile from returning to the trailhead, it began to rain heavy enough that for the first time since beginning my walks this past May, I had to tuck my camera under my jacket and put on my rain poncho.
There were a lot of birds along the trail. In order to make the photo editing more manageable, I will post additional photos featuring them tomorrow.
(As of midnight, the San Antonio airport had received almost a half inch of much needed rain.)
If there is one characteristic that distinguishes Leon Creek from the other major creeks and rivers in Bexar County, I think it is the underlying geology. More miles of the Leon Creek stream bed have eroded to the bedrock limestone than any of the others.
All of the creeks and streams here have portions that are eroded to bedrock, but Leon Creek has the longest continuous stretches of exposed limestone. The intermittent pools of water that remain for relatively long periods of time along the creek bed are critical to the survival of much of the surrounding wildlife.
At one point not far north of the Grissom Rd trailhead, there is easy walking access to one of these stretches. On my walk this past Friday, November 11, I walked out onto the limestone creek bed and took the following photos:
