Hiking Arlington's Sherwood Forest With Wildflowers, Dangerous Ravines & Sword Fights

You are looking at the Sherwood Forest of Veterans Park in Arlington. I used to hike the back trail in Veterans Park, frequently, but have not done so in a long, long time. Until today.

A short distance from the location in the picture there used to be a thick log bridge that the trail used to cross over a ravine. A treacherous crossing for the acrophobic. It appeared a flash flood had flushed the thick log bridge downstream about 50 feet.

The thick log bridge has been replaced by a very narrow log. My balancing skills are not sufficiently evolved that I felt like risking crossing the ravine on that skinny log.

Eventually I found another path to the other side. An adventurous crossing that required some minor gymnastic ability, along with being willing to take a leap of faith and grab a branch on the other side.

It all worked out. The backwoods of Veterans Park is a fairly convoluted maze of trails. I've long wondered how these came to be. Some are like trenches. At one point in time the Dallas Off Road Bicycle Association (DORBA-mountain bike trails) tried to build trails, but that effort did not last long.

I have been troubled for weeks due to the absence of my favorite Texas Wildflower, it being possibly the most prolific of the wildflowers. Previous years it had long made its appearance by this point in time.

It is a hardy little devil. Usually showing up early and lasting well into May. In fact, it was the first Texas Wildflower I ever saw, coming towards Dallas/Fort Worth, via Highway 287, though Amarillo, these pink flowers were soon lining the sides of the highway.

Eventually I had to stop for a close up look. This would have been early May of 1998, an exploratory trip to see if the move to Texas was something I might consider. If adequately bribed.

Yesterday on the way to the Tandy Hills I saw my first cluster of the formerly missing wildflower. Today, at Veterans Park I saw more, and took the picture you see here. Last year I learned the name, but my age-related memory shortcoming is preventing me from remembering, except I do think I correctly remember that Primrose is part of the name.

The other interesting thing I saw today was once more there seemed to be some organized gang fighting going on. It appears that a group of nerds get together, some in costumes, to have sword-like battles, only the swords are like padded baseball bats. It is quite a strange spectacle.

It appears the bigger guy on the right is being a bit of a bully to the littler guy on the left. But, the little guy on the left seemed to be enjoying himself, so I felt no real need to intervene to stop a bully.

I'm big on being a Bully Stopper these days.

So, that's part of my exciting Saturday in Texas. Two bouts in the pool, bailing on going to the Fort Worth Main Street Arts Festival, Catfish viewing at Cho Saigon Market, treacherous ravine crossings, padded sword fights, wildflower viewing and a stop at ALDI Food Market.