So the first small area we searched was easily accessible to anyone. In fact it was near a picnic area. No Tiny Tim there. Indeed, it was time to head to another part of the park.
LMWSP is surrounded by Ft. Wolters. In fact,the fort served as an Army camp (WWII) and a German POW camp. Next it became a Special Category Army Personnel With the Air Force (SCARWAF 1951 – 1956). Then it was a United States Army Primary Helicopter School (1956-1973), However, the camp was deactivated in 1973. But wait there is more as the TV game show MC would say. Now it has multiple users. One is a center for the Texas Army National Guard. The state park opened in 1981
Now we were in the northern part of the park. This is accessibly to the public by walking, biking or horse. So it would have be too much of a distance for us in the time we had. However, we had David. 😉
So up the rocky trail we climbed towards a mesa.
David stopped to show us a squarish rock. Sometimes, David explained to us that rocks similar to this are often found at archaeological sites. Rocks with squared edges can be the result of deliberate heating. However because it was on a slope, it was probably not an archaeology burnt rock. These rocks most certainly stopped David in his tracks. So the burnt rocks are also known as fire-cracked rock (FCR) or fire-affected rock (FAR). Of course, Jeanne and I were looking now too.
Indeed, a great old oak!
Near the edge of the trail, someone had tried to give the Lace Cacti some protection.
We found Adder’s-tongue fern (Ophioglossum engelmannii). There were hundreds! Exciting!
David continued to lead the way!
Indeed, this Lace Cactus (Echinocereus reichenbachii) was certainly crazy long!
More tomorrow!
Keep looking!
The more you know, the more you see and the more you see, the more you know
