Fall in Blanco county....

 Went out today to see if the fall colors have arrived at the land and boy did they arrive! It'll probably peak this weekend.

Happy Trails in the Blanco Hill Country...

One day, I was watching a Texas Parks and Wildlife television show about an 80-year-old retired math teacher, who was voluntarily creating biking and hiking trails in the Guadalupe Mountains for the park system. I noticed that he wasn't using a regular rake. Instead, he was using a rake hoe, which is specifically designed for raking rocks. So you want to guess what I wanted for my birthday? Yep, a rock rake! I wish I would have known about this years ago but better late than never.

This is the rake that I purchased from a company called Rogue. 

These pictures were taken before the work. 

This was one I just started working on.

I decided to rake the rocks in rows to make it easier to load up in the bucket and haul off. Of course, there were a few that didn't fit that I had to pick up and move.

When doing trail work on the land, I'm always thinking of creative ways to keep the rain water from running off the property and the soil from eroding away. So what am I doing with the rocks? Building berms! This slows the water down and allows it to percolate into the aquifer, helping restore life to our beautiful pristine Hill Country springs. This is just one picture of a few so far that I've built. It goes for quite aways. More to come for sure...

Here is a sample of what the trails look like after raking in 100-plus-degree temperature ... Labor of love.

In the picture below, you can see a line of rocks sticking out of the ground. These are deep and will stay.

On the bottom of the picture below is another huge rock that will stay. 

Since these pictures were taken, I have done a lot more work, especially in the woods down below the hill. Besides utilizing the land for star gazing, fossil and artifact hunting, hiking, bird watching, kite flying, caving (future expedition), studying native vegetation and picnicking, I can now add trail biking! The saga continues....

Peace and quiet in the Texas Hill Country on our land in Blanco county, Texas.

 

Love our Hill Country trails in the spring time in Blanco County!

                       An abundance of shade throughout the trail system.

                      View from the side of the hill, looking down.

                 This is another seating area, looking down the hill.

                                                         Spot for a future bench.

This seating area is surrounded by Spanish oaks, redbuds, cedars, and many escarpment black cherry trees. Super shaded! 

                                        Foot bridge. Watch out for the troll...

Texas Hill Country fossils in Blanco County

In Blanco County, anyone looking for fossils that are millions of years old will have no problem finding them. On our 11 acres, they are abundant. Just imagine that at one time this part of Texas was an ancient shallow sea.

I found these two shells still intact. Millions of years ago, both sides formed a living animal. Then I found them both still together!

 

Fossilized mud and shells mixed together.