It's almost impossible to get into the Hill Country parks in fall especially Lost Maples! It's home to a stand of Texas Bigtooth Maples that usually put on quite a decorative show.
Fortunately, we booked our day tickets a month ago and lucked into a campsite cancellation at Garner.
Our pass was only good until noon, so we explored as much as we could and then headed for Garner SP.
There wasn't much fall color yet which may have to do with the fact that it has obviously been incredibly dry or that the heat has lasted so long this year. Possibly both!
It was still a lovely place to wander in the woods even though the Sabinal was reduced to a few puddles here and there in the park.
The cold front and a persistent mist made our hike feel seasonal even if it didn't look that way!
It definitely provided ideal conditions to test out Violet's new hiking ride!
The Frio River is doing better than the Sabinal, but not by much. The park is still gorgeous, but has clearly suffered a lack of rain.
We started out by the CCC constructed dance pavilion and walked along the Madrone trail to an overlook and the Old Entrance Road trail. We felt like Violet had had enough of the hiking backpack for one day so we stuck to trails she could cover in her stroller. We had the road to ourselves - incredible, as the park was packed. The solitude might be why it was so popular with butterflies. We saw scores of them!
The sun finally burned away the mist revealing a beautiful blue sky. The corresponding hike in temperature sent us down to the river to relax on the shady bank and take advantage of a piscatorial pedicure.
On our way to our campsite, we stopped at the Native Plant and Wildflower Garden. It was amazing! Hundreds possibly thousands of butterflies were all over the plants. I don't think we have ever seen such a diversity of species in any natural habitat.
After squandering all our phones' memory and battery and I completely futile attempt to capture even a fraction of what we were seeing, we headed to our campsite to prepare for stargazing.
No moon and clear conditions made for a spectacular night sky.
We got up and out early to hike the Frio Canyon Trail before heading home.
Another fantastic weekend brought to us by Van Go and Texas Parks and Wildlife!
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