Walk Washout, But We Went Anyway - Sat., July 19

Lady Bird Johnson Community Park in San Antonio is where the Volksmarch Sunrise Walk was supposed to start. At 7 a.m. we arrived, paid $3 each, signed in, and started walking. As we headed through the parking lot, the first people to head down the path were returning saying, "The trail is under water!" We had to see for ourselves.

Yep, the trail is definitely underwater!

Not only underwater, but the creek is flowing swiftly.

Thursday night, rolling thunderstorms and full-sky lightning awakened us from sleep. Rain pounded for about 1-1/2 hours. We went back to sleep. At 4:00 a.m. I woke up because the bed was wet from my knees to my feet! Roof leak. The quilt and sheets were soaked and COLD. Thankfully we have a waterproof sheet on our mattress so it did not get wet. All the wetness was on my side of the bed. I got up, pulled a bunch of big, thick towels from the linen cabinet and put them all over the bottom of the bed. I made a towel cocoon from a dry towel for my feet and legs and then finally went back to sleep. We had 2-1/2" of rain. But I digress.

Friday, storms dumped rain farther north. It was obvious that there had been flash floods through the Salado Creek Greenway. What we saw Saturday morning was left as the water receded.

Some walkers found a gravel/mud trail higher up on the near bank and decided to take it from Lady Bird Johnson Community Park. They wanted to see if they could hook up with the main trail farther down.

Bob and I decided to drive to Tobin Park (farther south) and walk south from there. Good decision. We were able to do a 10K walk on Salado Creek Greenway Trail without encountering any low creek crossings blocked by the remnants of the flood. However, we saw where the floodwaters had come through and left debris high up from where the course of the river flowed.

Breaking news: South Texas is GREEN in July.

And there's water in the creek.

Seriously...turn around, don't drown.

Beautiful green from all the rain we've had.

In the next photo, you can see a pile of debris deposited on the bank by the flood. All the white/blue stuff is garbage.

Debris deposited by flood.

Salvia

More debris in the woods.

Me on the trail.

So much water where usually there isn't much.

Great egret

The water is still flowing strong.

Snowy egret fishing

Debris stuck on a tree.

Common sunflower

A history marker explains the Battle of the Salado, the last Mexican invasion of Texas six years after the Alamo. This battle prevented the capture of Austin, the capital of the Republic of Texas.

Other Volksmarchers.

Pretty yard at a glassblowing studio

Snail crossing the path.

Big debris next to the trail.

Bob under a beautiful old tree.

We ended up having a great walk and finished the 6.2 mile walk in two hours. Some of the people who had walked the upper gravel/mud trail from Lady Bird Johnson Park connected up to the main trail and we saw them along this section of trail. I'm glad we drove to Tobin Park and walked on the paved trail.

In the afternoon we went to Buckhorn Museum/Texas Ranger Museum. I'll review that in my next blog.

Travel Bug out.