Lost Maples State Natural Area

Last March, I finally got a reservation for Lost Maples SNA for the month of October. I had been searching for one since December and considered myself lucky to be able to get a reservation for three nights.

My Sweetie, Rocky, KR, Bobby O'Bear and I packed up and headed down on a Saturday to this beautiful area south of Junction near the metropolis of Vanderpool, TX.  We arrived sometime around 1400 or so and lucked out with a really sweet, semi-secluded campsite. I was glad we got there when we did because it was overcast and it could start raining any minute!

Unfortunately, I had failed in my battery maintenance duties and our 12 volt battery used to lifting the top of Rocky as dead as the proverbial door nail (I always wondered what that meant). So, My Sweetie and I had to hand crank the top while we were experiencing a slight misting which turned into a small shower. Really good thing it was not 110 outside.

Even with this stumble, we were both in great spirits. Deciding to explore the park before firing up the grill, we headed over to the bird watching blind near the trailhead of the Eastern Trail. There, we were waiting for the hordes of birds that should have been there feeding on the many tasty morsels left by the rangers. Alas, we saw a cardinal and a couple of different types of sparrows. Not much else, sigh.

Once back at our campsite, we did manage to see this bird for just a few minutes. This is a Pyrocephalus rubinus or the Vermilion Flycatcher. This was truly a surprise for us.

As we finished up having a fine cigar and downing a nice bottle of red wine after finishing our steak supper, we noticed quite a bit of lightening in the sky. Too far away for us to hear any thunder but we hoped we weren't going to be drenched.

Sunday morning and we woke to a beautiful clear sky! As I was sitting outside waiting for the waffles to be ready, I noticed something approaching Rocky with a seeming purpose in life. 

Yep, it was a tarantula. When I moved to get up, she froze completely and allowed me to get very, very close to her. Don't worry. Her bite is not as bad as a bee sting. In fact, when I was growing up in Big Lake, TX, I would sometimes find these beautiful spiders in the wild and actually play with them, letting them crawl on my hand and shoulders. As long as I never actually hurt them, these gentle creatures would leave me alone. We actually saw another one on the Eastern Trail, one at the Ranger Station, and finally, an immature female tried to hitch a ride back home with us!

After a nice breakfast of waffles, we got into KR and drove to Bandera to attend mass at St. Stanislaus Church, the second oldest Polish church in the U.S. I was very impressed with the inside of this church and in the number of folks leaving the Spanish mass when we arrived. Since Bandera has about 950 residents, I thought having two English and one Spanish mass on Sunday was a bit much. But the second English mass was just as crowded as the Spanish mass. Anyway, I enjoyed taking the time to listen to the highly-accented priest (who, by the way, is from Poland).

After getting back to the park, we decided to take Bobby O'Bear on a small hike through the Maple Trail. As you can see in these photos, Bobby wasn't too happy when he saw the Eastern Trail length but he was a trooper on the Maple trail. He also was very interested in the fun facts about the Guadalupe bass (Micropterus treculii, a rare species of fish endemic to Texas).

We called it a day and returned to Rocky so we could get a good rest before tomorrow's hike of the Eastern Trail. With just a few shattered clouds to the west, we figured the night would be cool and we'd be sleeping like a babe in the barbed wired woods.

After a hardy breakfast Monday morning, My Sweetie and I started out on the Eastern Trail. Fortunately, the weather cooperated and we had overcast skies and temperatures in the 70's. Perfect for hiking. The trail was less than 5 miles long but took you to the top of the mountain (about 2,200 foot elevation) and we had to climb up about 400 feet of elevation is about 1/2 mile.

I'm ready

Vultures circling for us
halfway up the mountain

OK. Which way do I do?

Looking down at the Ponds

At the Ponds looking up
to where we were

You are here -
middle of nowhere

Ponds

Once on top, we had great views of the surrounding valleys and of the river. We also saw how far up we had actually traveled! We headed down towards the Ponds before finally getting near the river bank again and, mostly, a flat path. We were pretty tired!

 Although we weren't here during the peak of the color season, we did get to see a lot of maples and some color changes.

 Overall, we both adored this park. Very peaceful, quiet, clean, fresh, and a long way from everywhere. The Rangers were friendly and our fellow campers were very nice. Definitely is on our list to visit again and I'll give this one a healthy three-campers up!