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.