Cairn mound created to pay homage to Native Americans who hunted and lived on this hill

This is a picture of where I placed my cairn mound. It is placed above the head of the Thunderbird. I didn't plan on creating any of this. But when I was raking rocks off the trails, I started pulling up big slabs of limestone. I thought these were cool so I started collecting them and knew I could create something. Since this is a documented 4,300-year-old Native American quarry site with the state of Texas, I thought a cairn mound would be perfect! Heck, I had plenty of rocks to work with. Of course, after that came the Thunderbird!

I created the border first and then filled it with dirt and smaller rocks.

These are the limestone slabs I pulled up, which I placed on top of the mound.

This portion of limestone slab that juts out of the side is used to put objects on as offerings, such as tobacco, herbs and stones. From my research of Native American cairn burial sites, the spirit of the person buried can leave the underworld through an opening in the ground. So I dug a small opening that goes from underneath the offering table and  the mound connecting the two creating  a portal to both worlds of the living and the dead. Remember, it's symbolic.

The ends face north and south and the center west and east with this view facing west, where the sunset is perfectly aligned with the mound in the summer.

Finished...

Drone footage of the land in December 2023 by Carl Homeier

This is the top of the hill elevation at 1,997 feet. 

Pictured above on the lower center is my celestial circle. Perfect for stargazing. It's connected to parking. The four tiny dots along the edge are directional markers of NSEW. The center in the celestial ring is the light ring. I don't like to use fire due to the windy conditions. So lanterns are preferred for illumination. If you like flying kites, the winds are a perfect way to soar them without a problem.

Here you can see the effigy of the Thunderbird from way above and trails, too. Lots of trails! 

I know for sure now that when planes fly over, pilots and passengers can see this effigy.

The woods are a reprieve from the summer heat. 

No city here, folks!

Perfect trails for hiking and biking.

Peace and quiet...

Wonderful place to reconnect with nature...

Plenty of picnic tables and benches...

Plenty of places to string up a hammock or pitch a tent...

The trails also are beneficial in helping the control of soil erosion and keeping the rain water on the land to penetrate into our aquifer.

Golden-cheeked warblers nest here, too! Check out my blog for my nest pictures that were published in the Petersons Guide to Bird Nests of North America .

And more trails. Great for kids of any age...

After a rain, it is so relaxing to just walk and take in the aroma of the woods...

It should really pop when the grasses come back this spring. This area I call Sunset Ridge. Hidden to the left of the Thunderbird is a bench underneath a super shaded oak tree. Breathtaking evening sunsets! Glass of wine, anyone?

There we are! Debbie Homeier and I waiting for her husband, Carl Homeier, to land the drone. You can tell all the clearing I did by looking at the neighbor's place on the other side of the rock wall. I did selective cutting to allow for the native grasses to return to the top of the hill and the wooded area to be concentrated on the lower portion of the land. Incredible diversity. However, I do wish I would have kept some older growth ashe junipers. Why developers moonscape the land (remove all trees except oaks) is beyond me. New research has shown oak wilt is suppressed when oak roots are intertwined with the root systems of ashe juniper (mountain cedar) and other tree root systems. It's the symbiotic relationship of the fungi covering the roots that helps. Next time you see stands of oaks infested with oak wilt, look and see if they're the only tree species there.

 

Thank you, Carl and Debbie, for taking the time out of your busy schedule to come out and do this for me. Y'all are amazing!

 The end or maybe not! Stay tuned...