Hiking Fools - Sun., May 5

What do you call a group of people who love to hike, make silly puns, sing a few bars of whatever song happens to pop into their heads, and play pranks on each other? Hiking fools (AKA San Antonio Hill Country Hikers).

Sunday morning I dragged myself out of bed to make the 8:45 a.m. start time at O.P. Schnabel Park Trailhead in northwest San Antonio. The park is part of the Leon Creek Greenway.

Meanwhile, Bob did a ten-mile run on the Riverwalk from our RV park into downtown San Antonio and back.

Once again our hike leader, Paul, took us on a mostly shaded hike. Did he stick to paved trails? Nooooo. He must know the park like a truck driver knows interstates. He had us traipsing through the woods on deer trails, gravel and rocky paths, over the "river" and through the mud. But we didn't end up at grandmother's house. We ended up right back where we started 5.7 miles later. Thankfully in the description of the hike, Paul told us to wear hiking boots or sturdy shoes. Especially nice to have on my boots for the steep rocky section of trail and for the mucky mud.

The heavy rain we had last week created more than mud. Wildflowers bloomed, grasses sprouted seeds, and the trees were vibrant green.

The hike wasn't the breakneck pace of last Friday evening's Tobin Park walk. Today we took time to smell the blooming sage, look at deer who were looking back at us, and take pictures. In honor of Cinco de Mayo, one guy broke out singing "La Cucaracha."

I am amazed by the variety of scenery in San Antonio and that we keep learning about new places to be out in nature. The locals on the hike talked about how much they like San Antonio's greenspace initiatives and vote for them whenever they are on the ballot. The greenspaces are well used by animals, birds, and people in the region. We saw many deer on our hike. The mud revealed tracks of deer, raccoons, people and dogs.

Runners with marathon numbers were on some of the paved trails. We were told they were running a half marathon. It must have been very popular because when we finished our hike the runners were leaving. Police had to direct traffic; the start/finish of the half marathon was across the main highway from the park we were in.

Surprise, surprise: I have photos from the hike today. Don't I always? Here they are...

Wooded glen.

Most times there is no water here.

Rain lilies.

One of the many deer checking us out.

This huge rock wall reminded me of a hike we took at the Ledges
area in Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio.

Our hike leader, Paul, said there usually isn't water here. All of us were impressed by this pretty, seasonal "lake."

Instant lake, just add water.

Wildflowers on the rocks.

Isn't this inviting?

Check out those roots!

Black-bellied whistling duck.

Paul talking, Kim, Carmen and Eduardo.

Paul capturing a moment.

Can you say "spring cleaning?" That's what we did all afternoon. It was way past time to clean our 5th wheel carpets so we rented The Rug Doctor machine from WalMart and Bob, bless his heart, made many passes of the carpet cleaner over all the interior carpet. When he had done enough, I took over and made a couple more sweeps of the living room carpet. It looks so much better!


Sunday night TV is 60 Minutes and Amazing Race. We finally sat down and relaxed with dinner, then later with a bowl of ice cream and cookies. Well deserved. Thank you, honey, for being the "heavy lifter/ muscle" in the carpet cleaning. It's so nice to walk on the carpet now.

So ended our second busy weekend day in a row. Even the cats are exhausted!

"I wanna hold your hand paw."

We love each other.

The end.