Lost Maples SNA Revisited

As you may recall, I visited Lost Maples a couple of weeks ago. While it was a great trip, I was a bit disappointed that the color was not yet changing much and that my camera crashed half way through the trip. So, when I heard a story on the news last night indicating now was the time to visit, I decided to head over there this morning.

Since it is only about a 30 minute drive from Bandera, I left my backpack sitting next to my nice comfortable bed and went with just my camera and a couple of bottles of water, along with some Ritz crackers and my EasyCheese canned cheese for lunch.

I went first to the Maple/East trail famous for fall colors. It was beautiful, although a bit crowded. Here are a few pictures from this trail.

After an hour or two I decided to try the West Trail. To my surprise, it was almost deserted and was just as beautiful. In fact, in many ways it was nicer since it was more peaceful. I think in the future I may try taking the West Loop Trail, which extends 2.5 miles further west from the far end of the West Trail. There are some walk-in camp areas up there and last time I was there I met another backpacker who was heading to that area.

One thing has struck me funny… I think of backpacking as primarily a male activity, but I think there are just as many, if not more, female backpackers than male. I have noticed numerous groups of women/girls backpacking, hiking and camping on their own. I’ve noticed this many times from Yellowstone to Texas, but particularly at Lost Maples. I’m happy to see that not all women consider “roughing it” a visit to the Holiday Inn, as most of the women I know seem to think. Anyway… here are a few pictures from the West Trail.

Finally, on the way home I went through the town of Medina and crossed the Medina river. It looked so striking with its blue/green water and lined with cypress trees, as are most of the creeks and rivers here. I stopped the car and took this picture from the road. The more I see of this area, the more beautiful is seems.