Note: Left click on any photo for full screen view.
About thirty people gathered early on a Saturday morning at the third crossing of the North Prong of the Medina River on FM 2107. We were there to participate in a North Prong Medina River Watershed Tour sponsored by the Medina River Protection Fund. Our kind hosts were Judy and Jerry Pierce. Shown above is Judy giving a brief introduction at the crossing. From there, the Pierces led us up Mickle Creek Road to their Lonesome Hills Ranch, the site of our tour.
We hiked up a small ravine, passing by several small springs. The water table had risen after most of the juniper had been cleared from the ranch, and there was quite a variety of trees and plants. Above, Jerry explains the work they have done at the ranch as Bob Brischetto, who helped organize the tour, listens.
Blackberries were starting to ripen on this bush. They were quite tasty.
With no livestock grazing, the grasses and flowers were quite lush.
After the severe flooding in 1978, the Corps of Engineers had constructed several dams along the Medina River tributaries. One of them created this lake at Lonesome Hills Ranch.
After the formal tour was over, about a dozen of us accompanied our hosts on a driving tour up FM 2107. The road crossed the North Prong several times as we gained elevation, and the scenery was very nice.
At one crossing, the river spilled over rock ledges between large bald cypress trees.
We speculated about how long ago this boulder had broken free from the rock face.
Nancy found a comfortable seat.
Looking down about fifteen feet to the shallow river.
With our headwaters tour over, we drove back to the town of Medina to pick up the boat trailer and vehicles we had left there on the way up to the North Fork. Of course, we also had to eat lunch at Love Creek Orchards Cider Mill and Country Store, which is where we had parked our gear.
After lunch, ten of us launched our kayaks at the Camp Bandina crossing. Earlier that morning, on our way up from Bandera,we had left a couple of vehicles at the Peaceful Valley Road crossing, about 3.5 river miles downstream from our put-in. Those deciding that the day would not be complete without actually getting on the river were Stan, Joline, Nancy, Dan, Cynthia, Bill, Bob, Linda, Laurel, and I. Sorry I didn't get a group photo.
Joline, Cynthia, and Dan pretended to be enjoying themselves.
Some deeper water gave Dan an opportunity to practice his roll. Cynthia was ready to provide any assistance that might be needed.
Along the way, Bob worked hard to remove some of the invasive water plants that had established a foothold in one section of the river. Sorry I didn't get a photo of his efforts. The roots those plants have are really large.
A merry group (Joline, Nancy, Stan, and Linda) at the take-out. Looks like Stan's whistle worked well in calling the wildlife.
Note: To view an additional 22 photos of this outing, click here to be linked to my Flickr page, then click on "Slideshow."
No comments:
Post a Comment