Fort Worth Nature Center & Preserve

Sunday - Feb. 22nd we planned another 10 miler and decided to go to the Forth Worth Nature Center and Preserve. It is located near Fort Worth. It was predicted to be a cold morning, so we decided to get started after lunch. We got the the trail head at about 1:30 pm.
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Alex & Oliver at the trail head
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We took the Canyon Ridge trail that has quite a few changes in elevation. The Trail is 3.25 miles and it took us about 1.5 hours to finish. The scenery was nice and changed quite often from a wooded forest to a grassy plain. It was interesting to see all of the prickly pear cactus along the trail. The picture below is of one of the several steep parts to the trail. At least they had stairs for us.
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Stairway to ???
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The Nature Center was built by the CCC. There we several remnants of their stone work in some of the roadside bridge edges, some latrines some benches and the ramada that the boys are standing on below.
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Remnants of CCC Structure

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After the Canyon Ridge trail we hiked for a bit on the Riverbottom trail. We made a bit faster progress because it was mostly flat, but still quite wooded.
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The Nature Center closes at 5 pm and there were signs all over indicating to watch your time because they close the gates and you can get locked in. So, we hiked back to the car along the curving road to make sure we made it to the car in time. When we got back to the car we had 30 minutes, so we hiked out to Greer Island. There is a neat little road leading across the water to the Island that is wooded and had nice wide trails. There were several people walking, bird watching and alligator seeking (I guess there have been several spotted in Lake Worth lately).
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Our time was up, and so were we, so we headed back home. Taking your boots off never felt so good.
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Oliver and Alex, ready for the ride home.
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This was a nice place, and I wouldn't mind doing again, but with a bit more time and my walking poles (which of course I had forgotten).

10 mile hike

The boys and I took a 10 mile hike around the area. Most of it was on a concrete trail, but we had a bit throgh the woods and the Outdoor Learning Center. My boots are really starting to feel good. I didn't have any pain, and really no bad hot spots. We averaged 3 miles per hour (a bit slower than my normal pace), but the boys each had some hurts. One with his knee, not much to do except advil, one with his feet, we need to get better inserts with arch support.

You can see some of the scenery we saw on our trip.

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At my work we are having a team contest to see who can walk the most. This past week, I have made it a point to do between 3 and 5 miles per day (vs. last week of 1.5-2 miles). I feel so much better after the 10 mile walk today than the 6 mile walk last weekend. I think that I am getting the hang of this.

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Next weekend we will do a backpacking trip with 1 overnight to the Dinosaur National Park. We woll get another 10 miles in. The boys are getting some good work in towards their hiking merit badge.

Explored Oak Point Park Trail

While driving on Parker near Spring Creek Parkway I have noticed they have put in cement trails leading from the south side of Parker to the north side of Parker and to behind the balloon festival field. They are finally working on the trails of Oak Point Park. I needed to get some more miles on my boots, so I decided to explore. It also gave me an opportunity to play with my new GPS device :-)

I started from my Garage and walked towards Merriman. I walked down Merriman to the path through Bob Wodruff park. I walked north on the trail, but could not find where it connected to the trail that leads under Parker. I continued N/W on the trail which leads under Shiloh bridge. I hit the sidewalk along Shiloh and came to the intersection of Spring Creek Parkway and Parker. I carefully crossed to the NE corner and went to the field with all of the Pecans. I found the cement trail that leads under the Parker bridge and followed it until it stopped just short of the creek. I could see across the creek to all of the other trails that were built. It is just a matter of time until they complete the bridge over the creek, and then this will be a great biking/hiking trail.

To get the miles on my boots, I walked through the balloon festival field towards the entrance to the outdoor concert center. I turned around and walked back towards the waypoint I set at the path as it goes under Parker. Even though I could see where I needed to go, it was fun to see how this function worked on the GPS. I found the waypoint and then contiued on the trail under the bridge until it stopped again at the creek. They have already started on the anchors for the bridge, so it shouldn't be long until this one is done. The creek was low and had some good points to cross, and had a not so difficult way to get down and up the banks (trees, bushes, etc.) so I decided to go across. I felt a great accomplishment at this. I actually could test the waterproofness of my boots, and my climbing ability. On the other side, I could see the original trail through Bob Woodruff park I walked on.

I took the trail back S/E and when I got to the trails to the Outdoor leaning center I had only hiked a little over 4 miles, so I decided to take some of these trails. It was a nice change, since there are birds and a bit more nature than the cement trails. After a bit more than a mile I headed back home. I used the GPS again to lead to my "home" waypoint.

I customized the GPS a bit so that I could see on one screen the trip results. When I got home this is what I had recorded:

• Trip Odometer = 6.1 miles
• Moving Time = 1:46 minutes
• Moving Average = 3.5 miles/hour

Not a bad outing. I can't wait for a month or so and try this trail out again. Either hiking or even biking.