Sam Houston National Forest

So you are thinking you want to get away from the city during a pandemy. First thing you wanna do is find some sort of activity where you have the least amount of contact with people. That would probably be hiking, boating, solo painting in a dark room with the door closed? Well hiking it is then.

Sam Houston has been on my list of places to visit forever so we packed up the volvo and headed east to the pine curtain.

Sam Houston is big, real big. Big enough that two people could go to the same trailhead and possibly never run into each other. National forests are also a bit of wild west still in the civilized world. You can hunt most of the year with a gun and the only stipulations are that you need to A. Buy a license and B. don’t shoot while standing on a trail and point away from the trail so that your bullet never crosses a marked hiking trail. I feel like the federal government is putting a lot of trust in people. You can also camp anywhere, not only designated camping sites. Even with all of that in mind only 1000 people every year are injured in hunting accidents, 75 of those result in fatalities. That seems like a lot, but get this 85% are self inflicted accidents. That means only 11 people die each year in hunting accidents where someone else was at fault. This makes hunting or hiking in a active hunting area safer than riding your bike. Now that I have convinced you to enter the forest with people carrying guns, lets checkout some stuff you might see.

Houston is swampy so most of the trails cross a water feature of some kind. Wear boots.

The most notable thing about a national forest is the silence. Its really quiet. There is a major road that cuts through Sam Houston that connects two counties. Even with this highway the sound of the road disappears within the first half mile of the hike. Once you get going you start to notice that YOU are the loudest animal in the forest. You really have to keep quiet to hear the sounds of the animals, because they hear you. We could also hear other hikers several minutes before we ran into them on the trail.

Coral tooth fungus Hericium Coralloides

Winter means that there isn’t a lot of wildlife but there is a lot of evidence of wildlife.

The trail had a hikers notebook in a mailbox that people write in as they hike by. I sat down for a while and read a few of the notes in there. Some were sweet, some mentioned things they saw, and some were quite sad. One hiker was in the midst of a serious medical battle and wasn’t sure if they would make it. It seems that many people return to the forest to seek some peace and guidance.

Sights and Sounds From Arapahoe National Forest

Situated just to the west of Rocky Mountain National Park and extending much further south is a huge chunk of National Forest land. Its hard to tell where Arapahoe national forest begins and Roosevelt national forest ends but they are intertwined together. If you have ever skied in Colorado there is a good chance you have set foot in ANF because numerous ski resorts operate lifts within the national forest boundary. We were both incredibly sore after multiple days of hiking so we decided to drive a bit on forestry roads and see how far we could get.

View looking back into the ski resorts of Vail Colorado.

We did not make it very far on the forestry roads. A rainy spring season had washed out quite a few of the dirt roads and we were met with closed signs at every corner we turned. We decided to park at the base of a ridge and hike up to get a better view. The hike proved to be very tiring but incredibly worth it. We started at about 8500 ft elevation and ended above 9000 ft elevation. The air was quite thin.

Our trail headed up to the top of the ridge.

The landscape lower to the basin is mostly shrub and grasslands. Most of the shrubs in the photo are about my height or slightly taller (5’7”) and the grasses were around knee height. The larger shrubs were each home to a nest of humming birds. They made their presence immediately known by alerting us loudly that we were in their territory. When it was clear that we weren’t leaving, they began a series of kamakaze esque dive bombs in our direction. We would look up to try to get a glimpse at the noise rushing towards us, only to see a flaming red dot with a beak attached zooming at top speed towards our eyeballs. At the very last moment the hummingbird would swerve around, zoom back to the nest, and perch on a branch. It would then huff and puff at our general direction letting us know that he meant business and that was a freebie.

At some point along the trail, the landscape changes you become immersed in a forest of young Trembling Aspen trees. It feels like entering a fantasy world. The grass, a rich green color plump from the spring snow melt and long summer days, grows up touching the grey bark of the Aspen trees. The landscape doesn’t seem real.

At the top of the ridge, we stopped at a hunting camp and took in the sights. The wind was fresh and crisp blowing in from the Rocky Mountains. Though we saw very few birds aside from hummingbirds, the air was full of songs.

Though I thoroughly enjoyed the hikes I did in Rocky Mountain National Park this short hike somehow felt different. We were completely alone on the top of a ridge looking down on the resorts. The sounds were new and interesting. The air smelled sweet and fresh, a scent I have never experienced before. The wind was fresh on my face as if someone had opened a massive refrigerator somewhere behind a mountain. The landscape was unique but harsh. The ground seemed to be exploding with life, just released from a winter prison and allowed to breathe for the first time. This place was different than any other, and I felt that there simply wasn’t enough time to even begin to absorb all of it. Many people say that they go to the mountains and become mesmerized by them. I can understand the allure. They are massive and daunting, just walking is exhausting and slow. You begin to feel small, and realize your place in the world as just one tiny organism in the giant universe. At the same time you feel important, as if it is somehow your duty to make sure places like this are here forever.

The two fears we face sleeping outside.

I first experienced camping at a very young age. I was also one of those kids who was sent away to sleep away camp for a week or so in the summer. As a result it is hard for me to remember my very first camping experience because the memories are all mixed together. One of the oldest memories I have is waking up at night to tiptoe off to the bathroom and being confronted with the darkest darkness that only the wilderness can provide. Living in the city, I was not aware that night time could be so dark. It felt suffocating and frightening almost as if you were going blind. I remember being frozen on the steps of the cabin trying to force my mind to make a decision, to step forward or go back into safety. That early experience with darkness in a way removed my fear of the dark. Any further experiences really paled in comparison. This fear of the dark can be seen at any campsite or group camping experience. People have the impression that if they can’t see then something has the possibility to sneak up on them or attack them in the night. Hundreds of horror movies have helped this belief grow, and in a way are one reason that I shy away from them. This fear ties in nicely to the second fear experienced while camping and that is silence.

We live in a noisy busy world. Take a moment to listen to the sounds around you, refrigerator, cars, air conditioner, maybe a cat or a dog.  We listen to these sounds so much that we no longer hear them, however, we do hear an absence of sound. The first night in the woods can seem like landing on another planet. The first thing you notice is how much noise isn’t present. Depending on the season there might be insect sounds but in the fall or winter you may be faced with total and complete silence. Any noise that you do hear suddenly becomes incredibly loud and instantly dangerous. You enter a constant state of fight or flight and have trouble simply relaxing or sleeping.

It is for these two reasons that people tend to dislike camping in general. Having experienced many friendships both making and breaking on these trips, camping tends to expose fears we weren’t aware we had. It can be vulnerable and embarrassing to express these fears around people whose opinion you care about. Instead of facing these fears or abandoning camping all together, people have begun to shape their campsite to dispel their discomfort. People bring large bright lights to shine into the sky pushing back the darkness. They turn up the stereo to their favorite song, to avoid hearing a possible approaching monster. All the while pushing away an experience they could grow and learn from. The stars are not visible from your campsite under a 100 watt bulb and you can’t hear owls call to each other behind a stereo.

The photo on the far right is the moon, while the two left photos are RV lights. 

The good thing is, you can absolutely have both. You can listen to music, hangout under a light and experience nature, just not at the same time. Most campsites have a 10pm curfew which calls for lights and sounds to be out past that time. A good camp host can also help you ease nicely into enjoying the wilderness. The host will drive around introducing themselves setting to bed some fears that we are completely alone out here.  The best thing to do is take a deep breath, face your fear, and turn out that light.

Pet Waste on the Greenbelt

As traffic on the Austin greenbelt increases year after year (1), locals and visitors are left wondering what to do about the trash left behind. Residents living near the greenbelt have reached out to the local news stations in the past year about the trash (2,3) but results from this media spotlight are uncertain. Besides physical trash, humans and pets leave other types of waste on the trails, I set out to explore how or if our chemical waste is having an effect on the water of Barton creek.

We have been there, all day drinking at the greenbelt, the sun is high in the sky and there is no bathroom in sight. You head to the water and quietly relieve yourself hoping no one will notice. Or worse, that 8am Rudy’s breakfast taco is hitting a little too hard and you aren’t going to make it back to the car, so you head for the woods for a quiet spot to contemplate becoming vegetarian. (Though I have heard that they also have rockstar poops) Let’s say you also brought your dog along, and they need to relieve themselves as well. You hiked more than a mile to get to this swimming hole, are you going to carry a dog poo all the way back? Austin has a “scoop the poop” education program and a city ordinance against leaving poop.  Upon our visit we witnessed 16 un-scooped poops directly on the trail, 8 were already bagged and 8 were not. Why am I even writing about 16 poops on more than a mile hike one way? This was a surprisingly high amount of waste for a very low traffic time, the water level is extremely low and it was a weekday. Secondly, most of the poops were within the first 1000ft of trail, the closest you will ever be to a trash can on the whole hike. The bagged poops were often lower down the trail, assuming people meant to come back and get it and forgot.  Let’s dive into some of the city water data to further explore.

The first question on everyone’s mind is “Is there really poop in the greenbelt water” The answer to that is yes, there is E.coli bacteria in the greenbelt water. The real question you should be asking is how much is there? E.coli is measured in surface water as MPN/100ml or Most Probable Number per 100 milliliters(5). The TCEQ (Texas Commission on environmental quality) allowable E.coli for swimming is 126 MPN/100ml(4,5,6).  So what does that mean for greenbelt water? Well Last year in July, the heat of the summer, the MPN for Barton creek upstream of Barton pool was 104 MPN/100ml(7). Throughout the year it varies from a very low of 24 MPN/100ml (winter and early spring), to the max of 104 measured in July(7). Not surprisingly the measurement in July 2017 further upstream, of the most popular swim spots, at Lost Creek Blvd was 73 MPN/100ml(7). The measurement is below the TCEQ recommended limits at the time of testing, and the bacteria levels are higher downstream of popular swimming areas. The water is safe to swim in, but no one out there is recommending that you drink it.

What are the impacts of human/pet waste in the water? Just because the bacteria levels are below recommended amounts does not mean that the waste is having no effect. Feces and urine are converted into nutrients that are recycled for plants to use. When the levels of nutrients are high, the levels of plant growth will also be high. This most commonly manifests itself in algal blooms in both freshwater and saltwater(8,9). As the algae die they use up oxygen and long term this can cause oxygen depletion for the fish and other freshwater organisms that use the water. 

Dogs are required to be on-leash in public parks unless it is designated as an off leash area. One of the main reasons for this is that you are more likely to see your dog poop if it is right next to you rather than up in the woods chasing a squirrel. The greenbelt has become a unofficial off leash area, do you think it should remain that way?

Sources for this post

1. Protecting our Natural Resources, 2015, Austin Tx, Gov,  http://www.austintexas.gov/blog/protecting-our-natural-resources  :Accessed 6/18/18
2. McGivern, Kylie, 2017 Trash Piling up on Barton Creek Greenbelt,  https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/trash-piles-up-on-barton-creek-greenbelt/994768060  :Accessed 6/18/18
3. LeBlanc, Pam, 2018, People are trashing the greenbelt again http://fitness.blog.austin360.com/2018/03/12/people-are-trashing-the-greenbelt-again-and-reddit-users-are-angry/ :Accessed 6/19/18
4. Bacteria in Surface Water, Quality Standards, TAMU http://twri.tamu.edu/docs/education/2012/em114.pdf  :Accessed 6/19/18
5. What is a MPN versus CFU, http://www.cascadeanalytical.com/resources-downloads/faqs
6. Three total maximum daily loads for indicator bacteria, 2012 https://www.tceq.texas.gov/assets/public/waterquality/tmdl/85carters/85-CartersCreekTMDL-Adopted.pdf   :Accessed 6/19/18
7. City of Austin public water quality data, Updated 2018, https://data.austintexas.gov/Environment/barton_creek_greenbelt_2016_to_2018/mwqh-227b
8. Big, Green and Rough, Cladaphora Algae Blooms, 2015, http://www.austintexas.gov/blog/big-green-and-rough-cladaphora-algae-blooms-austin-creeks  Accessed 6/20/18
10. Scoop the poop program, http://www.austintexas.gov/department/scoop-the-poop

Stephenson Nature Preserve

Located in South Austin, one side of the preserve borders William Cannon just east of Brodie. If you are attempting to enter from William Cannon you will rapidly find out that there is no easy way to get into the nature preserve. The main entrance is inside Longview Neighborhood Park (to the south of William Cannon) and therefore that side of the preserve gets considerably more traffic.

If you enter the preserve through the north side (as I did) you might possibly be the only person there. There is a lot of obvious animal activity in the area. A woodpecker made an appearance and two humming birds rushed by in a hurry. Cardinals were most present on my visit and each turn I took in the woods there seemed to be one fluttering by to get a look at me. There is evidence of deer in the area, and it is not uncommon for one to be seen either in the preserve or dead on the road. The meadows have appeared to recover from motorcycle traffic but it is obvious that there was some recent flooding.

Previously the preserve was open to both mountain biking and motorcycling which caused excessive erosion of the trails. Makeshift jumps were created in the meadows and at one time all resemblance of grass and wildflowers were nowhere to be seen. Currently the preserve is closed to all wheeled traffic and has since recovered remarkably in just a couple of years. Your opinion on the preserve however, may be determined by which side of it you live on.

Residents on the south side have easy access to the trails, all of which seem to be well managed. This side is also home to some local artists who have decorated the trails with metal and wood sculptures. Residents in this neighborhood undertook a daunting task this year of protecting the preserve from re-zoning. Code-Next is underway in the city of Austin and the preserve was due to be rezoned as PUD (planned unit development) instead of a city park. This means that there was a teeny tiny loophole that some administration in the future could build public housing, a school or recreation area on the land. It would have been up to the residents to constantly be vigilant to fight any future developments. Luckily they won their battle and it will be re-zoned as a park instead.

If you live on the north side of the preserve your view is starkly different. The very busy William Cannon has no crosswalks. Residents who live on the opposite side of the street must walk a huge distance to the nearest light to safely cross, or jaywalk over 4 lanes of rush hour traffic. Once you make it to the other side, you may be greeted with turned over shopping carts, trash, and overgrown grass. There is no sign to let you know that the land is open to the public, and no trail markers for entry. The easiest entrance is at the front of Jubilee church, but it is not visible from the street.

The land just adjacent to the Jubilee church on William Cannon is due to be sold.   After contacting the realtor, the land is about 9 acres and is going for around 2.5 million dollars. It is still on the market but there are a few interested buyers. At the moment she did not know what the planned development will be but that it would be "low intensity" due to its location near the park. Part of me is excited that if housing is built, more residents on the north side will see the value of the land and use it. Part of me is skeptical that more residents is really what a preserve needs. The future designation of a park instead of a nature preserve means that (hopefully) more funds will be available for maintenance and repair. 

Whichever side you choose to enter the preserve you will find a relaxing and enjoyable hike. Many thanks to the neighbors who helped keep this preserve protected. As development moves forward on the north side of the preserve lets hope that park use will be one of the major factors in its design. 

Sources for this post

Neely, Christopher "The fate of Stephenson Nature Preserve", 2017, Community Impact, https://bit.ly/2JIgrAK : Accessed Jun 16 2018
Funari, Keely "Stephenson Nature Preserve is here to stay", 2017, Medium, https://bit.ly/2lbMA53 : Accessed Jun 15 2018
Austin Explorer, trail guide, https://bit.ly/2yeAtNO
Code Next, https://www.austintexas.gov/codenext