Head and Shoulders, Knees & Toes - Friday, April 1, 2022

Today is April Fool's Day, but this blog is no joke. National Walking Week starts today and runs through April 7. There are walks scheduled by AVA: America's Walking Club[s] for each day. Clubs in 20+ states have routes set up for walkers. 

Here in the San Antonio area, we have the following walks during this week:
April 1: Friedrich Wilderness Park, San Antonio
April 2: 11th Tour de Castroville walk (the Little Alsace of Texas), event tent at Castroville Regional Park. Start 8:20-11:30 am. SPECIAL NOTE: This Volksmarch is in conjunction with the annual Tour de Castroville...a Walk, Run, and Ride. Registration is separate from the Tour de Castroville registration. Go to the Volksmarch Start/Finish tables under the tent to register.
April 3: Cibolo Nature Center Walk, starts at Comfort Inn, Boerne, Texas,  8-11 am.
April 4: Stone Oak Year-round Walk, starts at Drury Inn & Suites North, 801 North Loop 1604 between TX 281 and Stone Oak Parkway. Start time: 9 am-noon.
April 5: Leon Creek Greenway/Mainland @ Mainland Trailhead, 8238 Mainland Dr., San Antonio. Start time: 8-10:30 am.
April 6: Downtown Churches Walk Year-round Event, Residence Inn by Marriott, 628 S. Santa Rosa Ave, San Antonio. Start time: 9 am-noon. 
April 7: Leon Creek Greenbelt Walk Year-round Event, the lobby of the Drury Inn at NW I-10 and Loop 1604.

This morning, I arrived at Friedrich Wilderness Park at 9:45 am, just before registration closed. I was undecided if I wanted to do a 5k or 10k, so I got the 10k directions for a difficult hike. We had 13 walkers today.

Because of the terrain, I wore hiking boots, took my hiking poles, and wore my knee brace as a precaution. And, of course, I had my obligatory bottle of water.

A beautiful morning awaited on the trails. The temperature was about 62 degrees with a light breeze. What a delight to see the mountain laurels are in full bloom. In the Northwest, where we lived for over 35 years, we had lilacs which are one of my favorite fragrances. In Texas, we have mountain laurels which have a more muted scent but are still nice. 

Mountain laurel shrub.

I started on the 
Main Loop Trail.

One-half mile from the parking lot, I turned right to stay on the Main Loop Trail. There is a gate at this point. The purpose of the gate is to close the upper portion of the park if there is rain. Erosion is a big problem and people traipsing through when it's wet make the problem worse. 

Explanation of trail closures.

The Main Loop Trail looks so EASY here!
HA! This is a fake-out. 

These nice trail maps are
throughout the park. They don't want 
people getting lost out here in the heat!

While the trail was flat with pea gravel, I made good time. The trail started up gradually and then the gravel quickly turned to step-like rocks. It was medium-hard toward the start, but got steeper and rockier in a hurry!

Going up!

It's a must to keep an eye out so you don't injure your "head and shoulders, knees, and toes." Do you remember that song from camp? I sure do. It was our camp calisthenics. 

It's easier than you think to catch a toe on a small rock or hit your head on a low-hanging tree. If you do either of those things, you could end up with knee and toe injuries. You have to always keep your eyes open for problem areas. Even small pebbles on bigger rocks can cause a marble-like effect in which you feel like you're walking on ball bearings! 

Again, there were many mountain laurels gracing the trails. My senses were attuned to the scents of mountain laurel and junipers. Cool breezes pleasantly brushed my face and arms. 

Another mountain laurel.

I made it from the Main Loop Trail to the Vista Loop Trail. Soon I would have to decide the length and difficulty I wanted to do today; the first of seven straight days of 5k-10k walks. I had until partway through the Vista Loop Trail to make up my mind. 

Yup, this is what
I'm talking about.

Close-up of mountain
laurel flowers.

Here, I am at the intersection of the 
Main Loop and Vista Loop trails. 

Guide to the trail
difficulty levels.

Once I looked at the trail difficulty level and length of the difficulty, I had the information needed to choose either the 5k or 10k route. The trail guide above showed the 2.9 mile Restoration Trail (the 10k route) as difficult. I wanted to save my energy for the other six walks this week, most of which will be 10k. I chose to do the 5k walk. 

Even though I had 10k instructions, I have hiked this park enough to know where I can cut through to make the hike shorter. The Upland Range Trail is an easy cross-over back to the Main Loop Trail. I had already done two miles and it was 1.1 mile to the exit. I turned right and enjoyed the rest of the hike down. 

Upland Range Trail and another
mountain laurel. 

The breeze was so pleasant and birds unknown to me were carrying on in the trees. I passed some ladies heading down the hill, but I didn't know any of them.

The sign by this plant said
"Mountain Grape, Vitis monticola."
I don't think so, this isn't a 
vine!

Wildflower identifier kiosk.

Yuccas blooming next to the 
parking lot.

This is a very popular park and not everyone here is a volksmarcher. In fact, this park is so popular on weekends that you have to get to their small parking lot as soon as they open the gate at daybreak. If you don't get there early, you have to park along a busy road or at an elementary school about 1/2 mile away. 

As I was leaving, I saw Sheri Logan and asked her if she was going to lunch. She said she hadn't thought about it, so I invited her to go with me. We had a very nice lunch at Panera Bread. Thanks, Sheri, for taking a lunch break.

After lunch, I ran a couple of errands. First, I had to go pick up a Rabies Certificate for my cat in case they want to see it when we go through Canada this summer. Second, I needed to get air let out of my tires. I had them filled when it was cold; but now that it's hot, they're at 47 psi. They should be at 36 psi so Discount Tire took care of that for me.

Tomorrow, I am off to Castroville (the Little Alsace of Texas). My plan is to do a 10k walk.

Susan Medlin couldn't walk with me today because she was busy marking the walk in Castroville for tomorrow. And tomorrow, she is volunteering at a checkpoint, so I will see her when I walk by. She does so much for Volksmarching! Kudos to you, Susan!

Drag Me Kicking and Screaming - Monday, Nov. 23, 2015

I'm catching up on blogs from November.

Sunday, November 22: Our dear friends Jim and Peri returned from being away all summer and were staying at Canyon Lake. When they're in town, we love getting together over a meal or playing games. Because they were a ways out from San Antonio, we met for a late lunch at Cheddar's on the north side of San Antonio. When we got to the restaurant we texted to let them know we were there and where we were sitting. About one minute later, Jim and Peri popped around the corner. They had already been seated too. We consolidated tables and ordered our lunch.

Jim and Peri at Cheddar's restaurant

Jim and Peri volunteered at the Albuquerque Balloon Festival this year. They took some amazing photos and shared them with us. Plus they entertained us with stories about what they did as volunteers. We received a stunning 2016 Albuquerque Balloon Festival calendar from them. Wow. Thank you so much, Jim and Peri! For the next month or so, they will be spending time with their kids and grandkids in the Austin/San Antonio area.

Monday, November 23: My friend, Susan M., wanted to hike at Friedrich Wilderness Park to make sure the Volksmarch directions were correct and easy to follow. When I left the house, I had my mind made up that I only wanted to do the 5k (3.1 mi.) walk. When we met at the parking lot, she got out of the car and said, "Do you want to do the 10k or 12k walk?" I told her I wanted to do only a 5k walk. She wouldn't be dissuaded so I chose the 10k walk (the more difficult walk) which is shorter. I like the challenge of the hills on the 10k walk. She practically had to drag me, kicking and screaming, on the longer hike.

 

Friedrich Wilderness Park trails

Our weather was beautiful but a little chilly. We started the walk with our windbreakers on, but soon cinched them around our waists. It's the end of November and some wildflowers are still blooming. These are black-foot daisies.

Black-foot daisies (Melampodium leucanthum)

Challenging is the best word to describe the upper portion of our hike. The trails we were on had rocky shelves, roots, and steep, rocky grades that are probably waterfalls when  there's a monsoon-like rain event. Hiking boots, hiking poles, water, and even a snack are worth taking on this hike.

We hiked up, down and along rocky shelves like this one.

One of my favorite parts of the trail -
love the dappled sunlight!

By the time we finished our hike, we were famished. For lunch we chose Islamorada Fish Company inside the Bass Pro Shops. When you walk in, you immediately see a huge aquarium loaded with tropical fish. Snorkeling in Hawaii pops into my head.

Both of us chose fish tacos for lunch; and no, they don't serve fish from the aquarium for lunch! Our fish tacos were delectable. For dessert we split their decadent chocolate cake with fudge frosting. Yummy stuff!

After lunch we headed for our respective homes. Costco was on my way home, so I stopped, shopped, and gassed up the car.

Thursday, November 26:  Susan invited us to their house for Thanksgiving. Her husband Darren is in California building an ultra-lite experimental aircraft, so it was Susan, their son Kyle, Bob and I.

Bob and Kyle on turkey carving duty.

Our feast

Fruit plate, rolls and wine

Susan M. cleaning up

We are thankful for our great friends who are family to us. Thank you for having us to your home for a wonderful Thanksgiving meal.

The fur kids send their greetings...

Bowie and Sunnie

Bowie and Sunnie (cat condo)

Bowie at home in a box

Bowie the box cat

 Travel Bug out.

Wilderness Park near San Antonio - Sun., June 5, 2015

Friedrich Wilderness Park was calling our name today for a Volksmarch. A whole new part of the park has been opened up with new trails. Susan met Bob and I about 7:45 a.m. to do what I thought would be a 5k Volksmarch. She showed me the map with the new trails and it was immediately apparent this would NOT be a 5k. In fact it looked longer than the old 10k hike at Friedrich! I wasn't going to take my hiking poles, but when I saw the elevation changes, out came the hiking poles.

Before I say anything else, I'd like to congratulate Susan on her new position as Regional Director for the Southwest Region (Texas and New Mexico) of the American Volkssport Association.

Today, we were tasked with finding an easier way to do the 5k, one with less turns; however, that was not to be. As we started up the hill toward the new trails we realized there was not an easy way to go to the new section of the park. The easy 5k will have to remain as it is for now.

We started up the Main Loop Trail as it wound upward to the right. We stayed on it until we reached Vista Loop Trail, then took that to the new Restoration Way Trail. These trails are Level 4 out of 5, and I thought we were going to do an easy 5k. Ha!

New directional signs to Restoration Way

Susan writing new Volksmarch trail directions

Our new Regional Director on the trail at Friederich

As we were hiking we saw a very tall chain-link fence with barbed wire on top of it. I remarked it looked like we were hiking into the park at Jurassic World.

A beautiful, fragile, ethereal rain lily.

Quite a few wildflowers are currently in bloom at Friedrich Wilderness Park. We hiked open meadows, south Texas scrub, through some aloe and cacti as well as treed areas. The day was hot and humid.

Mexican hat (Ratibida columnifera)

Check out the new trail!

Coreopsis?

Nature's bouquet

Blackfoot daisies (Melampodium leucanthum) and
Mountain pinks (Centaurium beyrichii)

Bob and Susan discussing the Spurs
(for about two miles)

We got the biggest kick out of the signs on the high fences. Someone else thinks like I do. LOL.

New cactus garden soaking up the morning sun

Dayflower (Commelina erecta)

Rose mallow (Pavonia lasiopetala)

Purple horsemint (Monarda citriodora)

It was a good hike, but I was tired, hot, sweaty and grumpy because I thought we were only doing 5k (3.2 miles). When we finished, we had done 7.2 miles.

We went to Taco Cabana for lunch, then Susan headed home. Bob and I went to see Magic Mike XXL. If I thought the day was hot, the movie was scorching hot! Whoa. We'll leave it at that. At least the movie theater was cold.

Tonight we watched the U.S. women's soccer team take down Japan in the World Cup Finals. The finale was satisfying. U.S. women won handily.

That's it for today. Travel Bug out.

Hike, Eat, Shop - Sun., Sep. 14, 2014

Sunday morning: normal time to sleep in and dream. But we had other plans, namely, a 10K hike in Friedrich Wilderness Park. Susan and I are determined to re-do the faulty instructions (trails closed for habitat restoration and new trails opened) on the 10K Volksmarch. Today we are checking the mileage/km on this hike to make sure the new instructions truly are 10K. Bob and Darren joined in for the cool air and workout.

Susan M., Bob, Darren M.

Susan M. and Bob A.

Our calculations on the 10K hike were spot on. Susan is going to print the new directions and put them in Volksmarch box tonight. That way anyone else who does the Volksmarch won't get lost in the woods. (Well, you can't really get lost...there are trail maps throughout the park. But with the old Volksmarch directions you wouldn't have been able to follow the 10K directions.)

As per usual, after walking 6.2 miles our tummies were saying, "Feed me, feed me." Taco Cabana fed us quesadillas, burritos and tacos per our orders. Mmmm. Satisfying.

Susan and Darren drove home while Bob and I visited Bass Pro Shop where he purchased hiking (trekking) poles. Bass Pro Shop has such interesting stuff for outdoorsy types. Good photo ops abound too!

Islamorada Fish Company restaurant at Bass Pro Shop

Nice decor in this sitting area.

Then we were off to the big box mecca -- Costco -- to stock up on a few food items for our trip. 

Bob is now watching sports/napping. Now that my blog is written, I'm going to take a nap!

Below is a photo of two white-winged doves. I don't know what they're doing, maybe some kind of a mating thing. 

White-winged doves displaying wings.

The End.