Here’s another in the series from our friend Bill Holston. On this adventure, he hikes the Post Oak Savannah.
Law Man Walking
By Bill Holston
I recently visited the Post Oak Preserve in Seagoville. This is one of the last remaining patches of the Post Oak Savannah in North Texas. This is another of the parcels of Dallas County Open Spaces, and it’s a bit of a drive although well worth the effort. It is about a 20-minute drive down 175 from I-20. The center is located across the street from DISD’s Environmental Center. The preserve is just past the Federal Prison on 175. As I drove by I thought about how much the people in that prison would enjoy a walk in the woods. I seem to remember Cool Hand Luke really enjoying his run through the woods. As I remember, he even brought his bloodhounds with him.
The Post Oak Savannah is an area characterized by — yes, you’re getting good at this — Post Oaks. They are islands of oaks in what used to be seas of grasses. The early settlers would call this Cross Timbers, because these were wooded areas that they would cross as they rolled their wagons across endless seas of grass. The areas to the East of Dallas are transition areas between the Pineywoods of East Texas and the Blackland Prairie. The Post Oak Savannahs were historically shaped by two primary sources: fire and bison. Of course neither is present any longer, and this has resulted in the establishment of other species like yaupon holly and eastern red cedar in the understory. The area is still quite beautiful.
Texas has a number of ecological regions. Depending on who you ask to draw the map, they include the Trans-Pecos (Big Bend), The High Plains (Panhandle), Edwards Plateau (Hill Country), South Texas Plains, Gulf Prairies and Marshes, Pineywoods (East Texas) , Blackland Prairies, Post Oak Savanna, the Llano Uplift, and The Rolling Plains Region. Dallas is primarily in the Blackland Prairie Region, although precious little of this remains. The prairie has given way to farming in the 19th Century and development in the 20th and 21st Centuries. There is a small remnant prairie located adjacent to the Bathhouse Cultural Center at White Rock Lake. Prairies are an area that seem to give life to Joni Mitchell’s words, “Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone/We pave paradise and put up a parking lot.”
I was meeting Master Naturalist Jim Varnum to see trout lilies and coral root orchids (spring coral root orchid, Corallorhiza Wisteriana). There were about 7 or 8 of us on this hike, including my good buddy Scott. Scott and I have been hiking together since the late 1970s. We’ve backpacked everywhere from the Wind River Range in Wyoming to the Sierra Del Carmen’s in Mexico. As we walked into the Post Oak woodland, we laughed to reminisce about how we used to carry our 3-year-olds on our backpacks on hikes. Those boys are now in their 20s. It’s possible we’ve aged as well. Scott and I usually walk together on Saturday mornings, and it’s really great to have a friend with the longevity of our friendship. As we take an amble-paced walk in gentle North Texas woodlands, it’s fun to remember carrying 25 pounds of water on our backs, as we climbed into the Bowl in the Guadalupe Mountains. We have great talks on these walks. I think male friendship gets a bad rap generally. The fact is we have very honest conversations as we sit and take a break, overlooking some stream. I hope I’m doing this for another 25 years.
I arrived a couple hours early and walked every trail in the Preserve. There are three main trails. A very clear dirt path leads from the small parking area to a 20-acre lake. I walked down to the lake and was sad to see fishermen had left about 50 empty beer cans along the shore. As I usually carry a trash bag, I bagged up all the bottles and cans. I then walked up to a bluff and sat and opened up the Psalms and my journal. I drank the water I packed in and had an oatmeal Clif Bar, as I sat watching turkey vultures catch the wind, soaring above the lake. I read the ancient words of the Psalmist. This had been a pretty stressful week, with a particularly contentious court battle, so it was nice to rest up on that bluff, listening to the wind in the trees on the other side of the lake. I finished reading and started walking back to the parking area, where I would meet Jim and the others for the guided hike. The trail is easy to follow and is entirely shaded by the Post Oaks, Blackjack Oaks, and Elms. Occasional fields are filled with grasses, such as little bluestem and grease grass. Spring is now evident with the blooms of redbud and Mexican Plum coloring the woods. Here and there, wildflower was in bloom.
I got back to the parking area and Jim and I talked while we waited for the others to arrive. Jim is a friendly and very helpful guide to our area. He’s been a Master Naturalist since 1999, in one of the earliest classes in North Texas. Be sure to catch one of the many guided walks he leads in the area. I was delighted to hear Jim’s story of the privilege of leading a walk at Cedar Ridge Preserve, which was one of Ned Fritz’s final nature walks. He said Ned in his 80s asked more questions than anyone else on the hike. I can’t tell you how inspiring that is to me.
The others arrived and we walked into the area where the trout lilies carpeted the forest floor. There were literally hundreds of thousands of these plants stretching under the forest canopy as far as we could see. Most had already bloomed but the carpet of green was really lovely. We walked around and found a few of the lilies still blooming. Their lovely white flowers were still quite pretty. Then we started looking for the coral root orchids. These are extraordinary pretty flowers. “This species is red because it does not produce chlorophyll.” We found several of these delicate blooms. We sat on the ground and looked at them closely. I remarked on just how pretty it was to see something so small and subtle. Of course, like a true Texan, I love the showy displays of Bluebonnets, Indian Paintbrush and Primrose. But kneeling on the forest floor seeing a single tiny bloom, I was actually more struck with the flower’s beauty. I also liked the fact that it requires time and effort to even find the plant. It would be possible to walk right past it and not know it was there. Honestly, it’s one of the things I really enjoyed about hiking here. Sure, everyone is awed by the beauty of a huge majestic peak, towering Redwood, or booming waterfall. But, it takes time, patience and care to experience the subtle beauty of a orchid, which lies almost buried in the leaves covering a woodland floor. I really love that experience.
We returned to our cars, watching trees filled with birds. We saw Downy Woodpeckers, Eastern Bluebirds, Carolina Chickadees, and Dark Eyed Juncos. For those of you interested in these walks, there is a lot of information on the very well done website for the North Texas Master Naturalist Program. There’s a link to Jim Varnum’s newsletter, “Jim’s This and That,” which has a wealth of information on local nature. Almost all of these hikes are free and open to the public. People for every age group participate and most are not that strenuous. I hope to see you on one of them. As a reminder, the Buckeye tours will be happening this weekend. This is a terrific introduction to our Great Trinity Forest.
