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Picture A Day - November 21, 2009
Too Much Rain!
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You normally associate cactus with dry, sandy desert landscapes - but what happens when a Texas downpour passes through the area? Why, cactus drowning in pools of water, alongside the trail at Guadalupe River State Park. A small colony of barrel cactus rises through the porous limestone rock as the rain continues to fall.
Picture A Day - November 20, 2009
Cerro Castolon viewed from ruins near the Rio Grande
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Just outside the former outpost of Castolon off the Rio Grande on the southwest corner of Big Bend, there are a handful of ruins a few miles down the road towards Santa Elena Canyon. Built high on a hill, these rocky remnants are what is left of a few borderland ranchers that settled the area in the early Twentieth century. Through the open doorway, looking north and east in the distance, is Cerro Castolon, or Castellan Peak, which towers more than a thousand feet above the Chihuahuan Desert floor -- a giant, circular volcanic caprock mountain that is a reminder of the region's violent past. Just beyond that immediately to the left are the Mule Ears Peaks, two craggy igneous intrusive dikes, left standing over a thousand feet above the terrain as the softer sedimentary rock wears away, leaving the volcanic remnants behind. And far beyond that, nearly twenty miles distant on the horizon, are the Chisos Mountains, the central jewel of Big Bend and some of the tallest mountains in the state.
Picture A Day - November 19, 2009
Rose Vervain
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One of the most common of wildflowers found around Texas and the eastern 2/3rds of the United States, the Rose Vervain (Gladularia canadensis) sprouting during the spring in north Central Texas at Fort Griffin State Park.
And that's when I woke up. I was back in bed. "Huh," I thought, "I was just dreaming I was getting up." Very unusual. I could hear some low, muffled music in the background - the other day, the cat had managed to somehow step on the clock-radio in the other room in such a way that turned it on, so I assumed she managed to do that again. As I slowly awakened and the music slowly came more into focus, I decided I better get up to turn it off...
And that's when I woke up. Again. Stuck in a recursive loop of re-awakening. The thought crosses my mind - how can I *ever* tell what is reality, and what is a dream? A question philosophers have been asking for generations, never able to figure it out. For me, the answer is that if you cannot tell the difference between the two, then does it really matter?
What's even more suspicious - after lying in bed for maybe another half hour, still debating whether or not to get up...that's when I woke up. Again.
So, is this reality, or not?
 1. June 10, 2009 - Guadalupe River Crossing Near Kreutzberg |
The Guadalupe River is one of the most popular of the "lazy day summer" rivers in central Texas, where crowds gather on the weekends to slowly float down river on tubes, or rest on the banks in the Sun. |
 2. August 15, 2009 - Guadalupe River Crossing Near Waring |
Where the Waring-Welfare Road crosses the Guadalupe River, just to the north of the forgotten little Hill Country town of Waring, Texas. This far to the west, the Guadalupe is usually just a couple feet deep, but like most watercourses in the area, prone to flash flooding with any passing thunderstorm. The banks of the river are lined with old cypress trees. |
 3. July 12, 2009 - Devil's River at Baker's Crossing |
A watery oasis in the desert, the Devil's River cuts a thin ribbon of green through southwest Texas before meeting up with the Rio Grande a few dozen miles to the south. Due to its isolation, the Devil's River remains the most pristine of Texas rivers, barely touched by civilization. At four hours west of San Antonio, you really have to go out of your way to reach this spot - yet there are still a handful of campers, fishermen and kayakers who travel out to the uncrowded waters. |
 4. August 26, 2009 - Ruins of San Fernando Academy at Pontotoc |
For a brief moment Pontotoc was destined to be one of the cultural and commercial centers of the Hill Country. But it slowly withered away, never quite dying off completely, but reduced down to little more than a handful of side streets off the main highway. The most interesting are the old ruins of the San Fernando Academy, abandoned for good in 1927, and apparently gutted by fire in 1947. The tops of the second story visible from the highway, yet hidden away behind a thick underbrush, filled with countless nettles and thorns and biting insects. |
 5. July 5, 2009 - Easter Island Head at Stonehenge II near Hunt |
Not quite what you might expect to see on the side of the road while driving down the curvy highway along the Guadalupe River - a giant Easter Island head statue. There's not just one head, but another one in the distance, a few hundred feet from Stonehenge II outside of Hunt, Texas. |
 6. May 21, 2009 - Abandoned Asherton High School | On the edge of town is the once-grand Asherton High School, a two-story structure built a century ago as the town was quickly growing. But in 1999, the entire school district was forced to close due to taxation issues, leaving the high school grounds abandoned. The main building is boarded up and heavily vandalized, currently the home to a large colony of bees. |
 7. June 19, 2009 - Bel-Asher Mansion at Asherton | Every once in a while I run across some grand, impressive building in the middle of some tiny, fading Texas town. Usually the big-wig with the most money gets the idea to build the biggest, most modern (for the era) house possible, to show how 'cosmopolitan' and important they are to their uppity friends out east. One fine example is the Bel-Asher Mansion in the Winter Garden town of Asherton. |
 8. September 25, 2009 - Danger! Thurber ghost town | Thurber, Texas is billed as one of the 'premier' ghost towns of the state -- established in the 1880's as a coal-mining town, and it quickly exploded into a major center of industry in north central Texas. For a few decades, Thurber was the largest producer of coal in the state, plus a burgeoning brick factory, and the population exploded to close to 10,000. But the discovery of oil nearby in 1917 led to the town's sudden and precipitous decline, and by the 1930's Thurber was essentially a ghost town. |
 9. July 31, 2009 - Gorman Falls on the Colorado River | Gorman Falls is the feature attraction at Colorado Bend State Park, one of Texas' least-developed, least-visited and most-isolated park - only added to the park system twenty years ago. For many years the falls were off-limits to visitors except by special tour, and was only recently opened to self-guided tours within the past year. |
 10. September 19, 2009 - Bobcat along the hiking trail | Now here's something you don't see every day - an adult bobcat (Lynx Rufus) walking through the Texas desert brush. Along the first mile of the Rio Grande River Trail at Seminole Canyon State Park, the trail parallels the original 1882 alignment of the transcontinental railroad. The metal rails are long gone, but an earthen berm remains - crossing over this small rise and there she (he?) was - less than fifty feet away, slowly walking towards the sheer canyon cliffs just beyond. |
 | 11. July 22, 2009 - Overlooking Horsehead Canyon, Terrell County |
 | 12. August 6, 2009 - Adobe Church at Alamo Village |
 | 13. June 5, 2009 - Pecos River High Bridge |
 | 14. May 12, 2009 - Along the Tularosa Road |
 | 15. May 24, 2009 - Woodson Suspension Bridge |
 | 16. June 2, 2009 - Remember the Alamo! No, not that one, the other one! |
 | 17. June 14, 2009 - Fort Griffin 1885 Bridge |
 | 18. May 29, 2009 - Abandoned Truck in Buckhorn Draw |
 | 19. May 26, 2009 - Caution Flash Flooding Possible Next 58 Miles |
 | 20. September 15, 2009 - Inside the Cleo General Store |
Picture A Day - November 18, 2009
Commander's Quarters at Fort McKavett
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The former commanding officer's quarters at Fort McKavett -- an impressive two-story solid stone building with basement built in 1856, used for a couple of decades while the fort was occupied by troops, and ultimately gutted by fire in 1941. Fort McKavett was one of a string of forts established on the wild western frontier to protect travelers along the Old Government Road between San Antonio and El Paso. When the threat of Indian raids subsided in the 1880's, Fort McKavett was abandoned and fell into disrepair. But even more than a hundred years later, the remains of the fort are located in the middle of some of the least inhabited parts of the state, miles from the nearest town and at least an hour's drive away to the closest city.
Picture A Day - November 16, 2009
Remember Goliad! A Memorial to a Massacre
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On March 6, 1836, the Alamo fell to Mexican forces, and the young nation of Texas lost somewhere between 180 and 260 men. And with that, the importance of the Alamo was forever cemented into the annals of history, recounted in great detail in countless movies and books, forming the backbone of San Antonio's entire identity.
Yet two weeks later, an even greater massacre took place - the Battle of Coleto which lead to the Goliad Massacre - where 342 Texians were killed as prisoners of war, their bodies left to rot in the Sun.
Following the fall of the Alamo, General Houston ordered Colonel Fannin to abandon the fortress at Goliad and retreat to nearby Victoria. But Fannin delayed, and did not leave for a full week, by which time the Mexican forces were nearly upon them. Due to poor planning and other miscues, the Texians were soon caught in an open field near Coleto Creek on March 19th, and by nightfall they were surrounded. Fannin arranged to surrender, but the Mexican general was constrained to only accept an unconditional surrender. They were promptly marched back to Goliad, and a week later they were all shot by firing squad - 342 Texian soldiers dead, only a couple dozen managed to escape. The battlecry of "Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!" served to rally the troops in the weeks to come, as Texians chased the Mexican army across the state to secure their independence.
Near where the Battle of Coleto took place, halfway between Victoria and Goliad, a small park and memorial mark the site. The Fannin Battleground State Historical Site is little more than an open field with a single obelisk in the center, an open-air pavilion off to the side. Another memorial near the Presidio La Bahia outside of Goliad marks where the bodies were ultimately buried.
Picture A Day - November 16, 2009
Curry Creek Crossing
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Less than half an hour outside of San Antonio, there are still secret little hidden spots that are almost completely untouched by the modern world. Acker Road hearkens back to an era before modern roads and highways, when the Hill Country was criss-crossed by a series of bumpy, unpaved, one-lane dirt roads - this is what it would have been like travelling through the state a hundred years ago. Acker Road begins as an offshoot from Edge Falls Road heading east, passing three closed cattle gates as it crosses through the northern edge of Guadalupe River State Park, turning into Urschel Road as it approaches Spring Branch.
Curry Creek traverses Kendall County before joining with the Guadalupe River just to the west of Spring Branch. About a mile upstream from this point, Acker Road crosses the creek at a low water crossing - a quiet, hidden oasis lined with cypress trees. An older crossing (when the road was straight) is just visible in the distance.
Picture A Day - November 15, 2009
Fighting Great Egrets
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Spotted in a small pool of water in the otherwise dry Dry Comal Creek at New Braunfels on a stifling hot summer day towards the end of a record-long drought. Two great egrets battle it out (although I'm a little iffy on the identification - they could be immature great blue herons?) - they were also sharing this tiny oasis with a solitary tri-colored heron.
Picture A Day - November 14, 2009
Oh Centipede, You Can't Run Away...
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Spotted clinging to the rock wall at Seminole Canyon State Park - a nasty critter trying to find a dark crevice in the wall to hide. As near as I can tell, this is some sort of subspecies of Giant Desert Centipede (Scolopendra Heros). Most photos of this species have the two segments of the head as black, and the last three segments of the tail as black - but a few creepy-crawlies with just the two black tail segments (as above) have been spotted. This one was around nine inches in length, under a perpetually-shaded cliff overhang that protects some prehistoric Indian pictographs.
Picture A Day - November 13, 2009
Drink Big Red Push
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I just found this doorway interesting - an abandoned auto servicing garage located in the center of New D'Hanis. Originally it was on the main corner of town along the Old San Antonio-Fort Clark Road, until the main highway bypassed it to the south, on the other side of the railroad tracks. It does not appear this building has been actively occupied for decades.
Picture A Day - November 12, 2009
Yellow Rock Nettle
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It seems like many of the flowers I saw blooming at Big Bend National Park are usually more commonly found further to the west in the Sonoran Desert. For example, the yellow rock nettle, also known as the stinging rock nettle or velcro plant, is frequently found in southern California, Arizona and Baja California. A couple of shrubs were clinging to the cliffside along the Hot Springs trail on the Rio Grande.
Picture A Day - November 11, 2009
The Edge of Texas along the Rio Grande
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Where Texas meets Mexico along the Rio Grande near Boquillas Canyon on the southern edge of Big Bend National Park. A short trail leads over a small hill to the river's edge to the left, to where the waters disappear between the sheer multi-hundred-foot canyon walls. The Rio Grande separates Texas to the right, and Mexico to the left - at points just a couple dozen feet across and very easy to walk across. The water was running pretty low that day, but the next day someone opened up some gates upstream and the waters were running more deeply and swiftly. Along the river banks' edge (such as on the Mexican sandbar in the middle of the picture), you can see where the vegetation has been scrubbed and washed down, going back to the major river flooding that took place along the Rio Grande last year.
As part of the security measures in 2001, the far-flung "unofficial" border crossings in the region have all been closed. The small town of Boquillas del Carmen is located just a mile or two upstream, and it used to be a quaint, quiet, and largely-uncommercialized village for adventurous tourists - but as the border was closed and there is no other crossing for over a hundred miles, it has been devastated. Still, townspeople covertly cross the river, braving the possibility of being caught, to hawk their wares for a few bucks - items such as twisted wire sculptures, carved walking sticks or bits of semiprecious stone. One of the most colorful is Singing Victor, who will belt out a small tune for a few dollars. On this day, he had crossed the river in a canoe and was on the river's edge of the trail, attempting to serenade any visitors (unfortunately for him, most of the people on the trail at that time actually we part of a bus-tour group from a deaf school. Oh, irony!) Across the river, a compatriot and his dog waited on a tall rock, vigilantely watching for any park officials. However, despite all the official warnings from the park police, I get the distinct impression that they sort of look the other way most of the time, instead preferring to spend their limited resources tracking illegal drug traders, smugglers and human traffickers.
Picture A Day - November 10, 2009
Blue Bell Creameries Set in Bronze
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The iconic symbol of Blue Bell Ice Cream, the third-largest producer of ice cream in the United States, available in 17 states -- but for all intents and purposes, it's really the "unofficial" ice cream of Texas. In front of their main factory in Brenham, Texas stands the Cow and Bell Statue, which has been the symbol of Blue Bell for over thirty years - visible in silhouette on every half-gallon of frozen dairy goodness. Personally, I'm kinda partial to natural vanilla bean, pistachio almond, and white chocolate almond.
Picture A Day - November 9, 2009
Refilling Lake Buchanan
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Over the year-long-plus drought, lakes throughout Texas fell to dangerously low levels. As the autumn rains began the long task of erasing that drought, streams and creeks throughout the Hill Country slowly pour in. The largest of the Highland Lakes, Lake Buchanan, is still tens of feet below historic levels, exposing bare rock where the waters previously reached. But water trickles down from the hills from Beaver Creek and Silver Creek to the east, at the crossing of Ranch Road 2341.
Picture A Day - November 8, 2009
Shiner Shrine
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Shiner, Texas is known for exactly two things: The Spoetzl Brewery where Shiner Beer is born, and the Saints Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church. The church is one of the many Painted Churches of Central Texas, built by German, Czechoslovakian and central European immigrants during the nineteenth century. Known for their intricate displays of stained glass, expansive murals and colorful mosaics, these grand galleries rise above several small towns between San Antonio and Houston. The church at Shiner, Texas is a grand example - a massive structure on the south side of town, large enough to rival the largest of megachurches in the Dallas suburbs.
Picture A Day - November 7, 2009
Northern Black-Bellied Whistling Ducks
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Often called the most "un-duck-like" of duck species, the Black-Bellied Whistling Duck is common throughout Central and South America, but can only be found on the far southern fringe of the United States, and usually during the summer months. This brace of about ten whistling ducks was spotted just before sunset in the swampy lakes at Brazos Bend State Park, south of Houston, in late October. Very wary, they would come to a complete stop and bunch together when I came within a hundred feet.
Picture A Day - November 6, 2009
Hill Country Low Water Crossing
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A typical view along the road in the Texas Hill Country - which is criss-crossed by little one-lane trails just like this. Before the age of highways, all of the roads in the region were like this: twisted, narrow paths wending between ranches, crossing small watercourses that would flood at a moment's notice. Some of these roads are popular trips for weekend warriors in search of wildflowers during the spring, such as the Willow Loop just to the north of here. This spot is a little more out-of-the-way, along the Wahrmund-Ahrens Road at Willow Creek (a minor tributary to Grape Creek), leading from Ranch Road 1531 to Cave Creek School and Ahrens Ranch. During the summer, this part of Texas had been under extreme drought conditions for many months, until a recent spate of fall showers dropped several inches turning the hillsides green with splashes of whites and yellows from flowers that had been waiting months to bloom.
Picture A Day - November 5, 2009
Paleface Hibiscus at Big Bend Hot Springs
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A single delicate pink flower near the former general store at Big Bend Hot Springs - a former resort community on the banks of the Rio Grande near Boquillas Canyon, where a geothermal spring burbles directly into the river. The Paleface Hibiscus is a common variety found throughout the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts.
Picture A Day - November 4, 2009
Pronghorn Antelope of the Trans-Pecos
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The Pronghorn Antelope is the only antelope native to North America, and used to be quite common throughout a large swath of the United States. However, hunting had severely reduced the population in the early part of the last century, and nowadays can only be found in Texas in a small corner of the trans-Pecos and Panhandle regions. While mule deer and white-tailed deer are a dime a dozen around the state (I practically see deer near where I live and work every day), this was an unusual sight for me - spotted just off the roadside a few miles south of Marfa. While at one time the species was endangered, the population has rebounded to the point that limited hunting of the pronghorn is allowed. But still quite unexpected for me.
