Plants of Palmetto State Park

I know little about flowers and such, so I won't even attempt to identify the plants I saw on my hikes at Palmetto State Park. Keep in mind the time was late March, so these flowers will probably not be in bloom at other times.

Enjoy.

This plant was prevalent throughout the park.

Really pretty shade of blue with some yellow showing.

Primroses?

A mix of colors

Even weedy looking plants can be pretty.

Although the same color more or less as the previous picture, the shape of the petals is different

Note the black bug above the flower. Nature at work.

Palmetto SP: Hike Report - Day 2

For my second day of hiking at Palmetto SP, I went solo. Donna wanted to stay at the trailer and do some cleaning and cooking. My goal today was to hike the trails in the park that I did not see yesterday.

I began by hiking past the Refectory and down across the low-water crossing of the San Marcos River (for pictures and details, see "Palmetto SP: Hike Report - Day 1"). Once on the other side, I followed the park road through the tent camping area. At the restrooms, I found the trail head for the three-quarter mile Oxbow Lake Trail. (see map)

Trailhead for the Oxbow Lake Trail is next to the restrooms in the day use area.

This trail loops around the lake, crossing the highway as it does so.

View of Oxbow Lake from where trail crosses highway.

Parts of this trail have denser shrub and brush than the other trails I’ve been on. Gnats and other small, annoying flying insects hovered about my face throughout the section of the trail north of the highway. At the northern part of the lake, water gives way to reeds, making any view of the lake from the trail difficult at best. At the northern tip of the lake, I turned back south and walked along the western shore of the lake. The trail eventually broke out into a clearing occupied by the Litte Hill Baptist Church, then ducked under the highway bridge.

Trail cuts through dense woodland and brush along the northern part of the lake.

Extreme northern tip of Oxbow Lake

Litte Hill Baptist Church in a clearing on the west side of Oxbow Lake just north of the highway.

It was a Saturday morning in the park, and the day use area was teeming with people, especially young folks. It’s good to see young people getting outside and playing. They were kicking soccer balls, throwing Frisbees, playing on play ground equipment, fishing, and just running around having a good time.

I retraced my steps back across the low-water crossing. At the Refectory, I took the Ottine Swamp Trail, which I had followed yesterday in its entirety. At the park road crossing, though, I turned left for a short walk to the entrance to the Palmetto Interpretive Trail, a short looping trail of one-third mile. A water tower is just off the trail head, and is an interesting stop. Also along the trail are several interpretive signs. This is the best trail to see palmettos, for which the park is named.

Trail head for Palmetto Interpretive Trail. Note water tower in background and sign warning about snakes. I did not see a single snake on my hikes in the park.

Closer view of the water tower.

The water tower is an interesting stop. It includes a ram-jet pump which uses no electrical power. Instead, it uses the force of a rising column of water from the artesian well to pump water to a cistern atop the tower. The pump and tower are used today to maintain a constant water level at the swamp to help the palmettos thrive. It was built by the CCC between 1933 and 1936.

You never know what you'll come across on a hike.

One of the many swampy areas along this trail

The trail eventually loops back to the park road. I turned right for another sort walk to the entrance to the San Marco River Trail, a one and one-quarter mile trail. For the first 100 feet or so, I could see trailers in the nearby trailer camping area, but the trail then veers away from the campground.

I am not a scientist, so I looked up mud boils. Wikipedia states mud boils are sometimes called frost boils. For more info, click here.

Several trails intersect with the San Marcos River Trail: Mesquite Flats Trail (which I hiked yesterday), Canebreak Spur (which I hiked yesterday), and the Mossycup Spur.

Foot bridge with moss hanging overhead near Mossycup Spur Trail.

Just beyond the Mossycup Spur trail, the bluffs of the opposite bank of the San Marcos River became visible on my right. Palmettos give way to lush woodland. Few views of the river are available from the river until near the end of the trail, though some footpaths do wend through the thick grass to the bluffs above the river.

One of the few clear views of the San Marcos River from the San Marcos River Trail.

Birds were active throughout this section of the trail I saw cardinals and heard woodpeckers. Wildflowers grew thicker and thicker, and butterflies and bees were working the flowers. Eventually the trail comes into sight of the trailer camping area, then emerges near the restrooms.

Except for the folks around the day use area near the beginning of the hike, the only folks I actually saw on the trails was a lone hiker on the Ottine Swamp Trail and a nature photographer near the end of my hike. The length of my entire hike was probably just over 3 miles.

Palmetto SP: Hike Report - Day 1

While at Palmetto State Park, we decided to hike some of the trails. I was nursing some blisters, so I did not want to walk too far, so we kept our hike to under 3 miles.

We began at the Canebreak Spur trail located between sites 9 and 11 in our campground (see map). This one-eighth mile trail soon connected us with the longer San Marcos River Trail; however, we only stayed on this trail for a brief distance before we veered off on the 1 mile Mesquite Flats Trail.

The Canebreak Spur Trail is typical of all trails in the park. All have crushed stone surface.

All trails have good signs at junctions.

This trail varies from woodland/swamp terrain to open prairie with mesquite trees; thus the name, Mesquite Flats. It should have been called Doodle Bug Flats because of the thousands of doodle bugs that were on the trail.

Wildflowers line the trail through the mesquite flats on the Mesquite Flats trail.

The open prairie of the mesquite flats quickly gives way to dense woodland.

After leaving the first stretch of open prairie, or mesquite flats, the trail plunges back into the woodlands to follow a creek, which it finally crosses on a sturdy metal bridge. All bridges we crossed were in good repair and very sound.

Metal bridge over creek that feeds into the San Marcos River. Most foot bridges in the park are wooden.

Rustic bench along the trail.

Nice wooden foot bridge. The interesting thing in this picture as far as I'm concerned is the open pasture on private property in the background. If not for this land being donated to the park service, the palmettos and other elements of this unique environment would have been cleared away.

At the end of one mile, the trail intersected with the Ottine Swamp Trail, another 1 mile long trail. This trail wound through more swampy terrain, although some of the area has dried up, a result of the prolonged drought, I suppose.

Immediately upon entering the Ottine Swamp Trail, we crossed a section of the swamp on this boardwalk.

Good example of the swamp. Notice the wooden fence post and wire near the center of the picture. I would not like to have been the person who put this fence line through here.

Near the end of this trail, it appears to lead onto a park road near a gate. However, veer sharply right and stay on the trail, which parallels the park road. It will eventually cross the road about a fourth mile farther on. When it does cross, you can see the San Marcos River and the low water crossing.

View of the San Marcos River from the place where the Ottine Swamp Trail crosses the paved park road. If you look closely, you may be able to see the low-water crossing near the top part of the river in the picture.

After about one-eighth mile, the trail comes out at the Refectory. A short 100 foot walk down a paved water runoff ramp leads to the low water crossing.

The Refectory

Low-water crossing on the San Marcos River. Only foot traffic may cross here. This crossing connects the two parts of the park.

Looking upstream from the crossing.

Looking downstream from the crossing. In the bare area where the river curves right, you can see buzzards roosting along the bank. There were buzzard roosts throughout the park.

After viewing the low-water crossing, we returned to camp. Our hike today, including walking from and to our campsite, probably totaled little more than 2½ miles. It is a good, easy hike, with no ups and downs. It would be a good trail system to ride a bicycle. We did encounter 2 lone hikers on the trail as well as a couple who were riding their bikes. Otherwise, it was peaceful and quiet.

Palmetto State Park

We arrived at Palmetto State Park on Thursday, March 21, 2012, for a 3 day visit. We had previously made a brief tour of the park about a month earlier; for more info on that visit, please see “A Tale of Two Parks”. This was our first time to actually stay in the park.

The park provides 19 camping spaces in the trailer camping area (see map). Actually, there are only 18, for a park host occupies site # 18, the only site in this area with full hookups. All other sites in this area have only water and electricity, including 50 amp service. We stayed in site #6, which is one of the longer sites. It was long enough to accommodate both our trailer and our truck, though we had to use 2 boards to level our trailer. Some sites were considerably shorter, and some sites are very uneven. And some sites are difficult to back into because of the sharp angle and the trees. The restroom facilities show their age. I would avoid using the shower facilities if possible.

Our site, #6. Very shady campground.

All sites are shaded. Each site has a rather new table on concrete foundation, and all sites have a fire ring and a grill. All sites are paved, as are interior roads. The dump station is located next to the restrooms. You actually stay on the road as you pull up to empty your tanks.

Day use area in the park. Note swings in center and restroom at end of road. Oxbow Lake is to the left. Lots of shade trees for hot, sunny days

Even though we visited in March, some folks were actually playing in the river. Fishing is available in the Oxbow Lake, though you’ll have to contend with a strong sulphur smell from the nearby artesian wells. Warm Springs, a former polio treatment center, is located next to the park, and the wells were part of the patient treatment program.

Donna on the fishing pier at the Oxbow Lake

Boats for rent at Oxbow Lake

Artesian well at former Warm Springs Polio Treatment Center next to park

Various hiking trails wind throughout the park and circle the Oxbow Lake. They are well maintained. All that we hiked were crushed stone. In fact, one morning we met a park ATV with a rake attached that was grading the trails. If you enjoy bike riding but don’t like to work too hard, these trails are mostly level and easy to ride. Please note that signs warning of snakes are prevalent along the trails.

If you like old style Texas BBQ, you can venture up the road to Luling to try the fare at City Market. Don’t ask for forks or BBQ sauce, though; they don’t have any. Gonzales to the south played an important role in the quest for Texas independence; if you like history, you might want to venture there.

Good Eats: Isaack's Restaurant, Junction, Texas

We’ve been visiting Junction for more than 20 years. During that time, we’ve eaten at most of the restaurants located there: Lum’s (BBQ), Milky Way (burgers), La Familia (Mexican), and Cooper’s (Cooper's is a chain with locations around the Hill Country; I recently reviewed the Cooper's in Llano, but I've not reviewed the location in Junction.). Surprisingly, though, we had never eaten at Isaack’s Restaurant until our most recent trip there.

Isaack’s is probably the longest running of all the eateries currently operating in Junction. In December 2008, Texas Monthly listed it as one of the top 40 small town cafes in Texas. It is located on the main highway through town. It is an old-style restaurant, offering daily specials. I enjoyed the small-town service and friendliness of the wait staff.

The menu offers most of the standard items you would expect in a small town cafe. About half the menu is devoted to breakfast items, so I’m sure they do a lively breakfast business. The special on the day of our visit was a hamburger steak, which included fried squash, mashed potatoes, desert, and soup or salad, all for $6.95.

The salad bar was limited, and salad bowls were quite small. However, all items were fresh and good quality. The hamburger steak was a good size and covered with brown gravy. It had a good char-broiled taste. Donna enjoyed her fried squash; I’m not a big squash eater, so she ended up eating most of mine. The mashed potatoes were good. The desert for the day was a fudge square. It was rich with pecans and a hint of mint.

The food was decent, and the portions fit the price. Isaack's is a good option when in Junction.