Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Not Getting Stuck In The Mud In Fort Worth On The Tandy Hills

I had not been to my regular Salubrious Sanatorium, the Tandy Hills, since last Thursday, due to Friday's rain, and followup rain, likely turning prairie dirt to mud.

Even though it did rain a little yesterday I figured the Tandy Hills would be dry enough, today, to be walked on without accumulating mud.

I was mostly correct in that assumption.

I parked at the top of Mount Tandy, near the tower known, by some, as the Fort Worth Needle. It was immediately clear to me, via the ruts you see in the picture, that a vehicle had accessed the Tandy Hills from this location. I figured it had to be the Fort Worth Water Boys.

When I reached the first fork in the trail I went north, then I took the newly graded Tandy Dirt Highway and headed south. This quickly became an obvious bad choice, due to mud. I slogged on through the mud. I did not gain too many height inches due to the sticking mud.

I came to the first of the dirt fill bridges that the Fort Worth Water Boys made across Tandy Hills Creeks about a month ago.

Applying my novice forensic ability it appeared that a heavy truck had crossed the dirt dam bridge you see in the picture and sunk down in the mud, tipping to the west.

I wondered if the heavy truck got stuck and that is why a vehicle came in from the top of Tandy Mountain, in order to yank a stuck truck out of the mud.

The second dirt bridge, this one with the culvert installed after initially being a solid dirt dam, was damaged too, with the top of the bridge squished almost down to the culvert.

It's a mess. And here I was almost not minding what the Fort Worth Water Boys had done to the sacred Tandy Hills Sanatorium Natural Area.

The current prediction is for SEVERE STORMS for tomorrow, with possible tornadoes. I am almost certain I will not be hiking the Tandy Hills tomorrow.

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