Sunday, March 20th was a perfect day to hike Bright Leaf Preserve, a private property located in northwest Austin just off 2222. This 216 acres was a gift made by Georgia Lucas to TPWD.
Eight of us (AnnaE, CarrieL, GailP-C, Joy and Chris Stone [friends of Jacque’s], JacqueA, JudyA, and MarilynF) met at Bright Leaf for a 3.21 mile hike. The outing ran from 9 am until noon, which included 1 hour and 46 minutes of walking. What do you imagine the TOWNies were doing for 1 hour and 14 minutes? Think standing and talking and taking photos!
We examined and discussed:
Bushes – yaupon holly, Lindheimer silktassel, button bushes, inland sea oats, and sumac (evergreen, fragrant, flame leaf)
Trees – escarpment cherry, ash juniper, live oak, Texas red oak, Texas and Mexican buckeyes, and Texas mimosa
Birds – Golden-cheeked warbler, herons, and red-tailed hawks
Flower Blossoms – cedar sage, black-foot daises, and bracted twistflower
Limestone – Glen Rose formation and Balcones formations and granite
Nostoc – an ancient cyan bacterium similar to seaweed, which is nicknamed gorilla snot
The view of Lake Austin
Yuccas – twist leaf, red yuccas, sotols
Texas Prickly Pear – tunas and the cochineal bug
Native and Non-Native Plants
Georgia Lucas’s home and her Kitty Condo for her 40+ cats
Plus – leaves, star moss, berries, fossils, galls, bluegill fish, and snakes, rabbits, and lizards.
Don’t you wish you’d been with us! I will schedule this hike again soon. Thanks to all of you for joining me!
Jacque