Getting Stuck With Goatheads Sends Me To Tandy Falls

I did not intend to go to the Tandy Hills when I left here today. Instead I went to Oakland Lake Park to ride my bike.
That did not go well.

I figured I could pedal across the grass to get around where the sidewalk was being worked on. The first instance of getting around the sidewalk workers took me way out in the grass.

Soon I saw brown things stuck to my front tire. I slammed the brakes, fearing the brown things were dreaded goatheads.

I pulled a brown thing out of the tire. It was a dreaded goathead. I pulled 15 to 20 of the dreaded goatheads out of the front and back tires. I carried the bike about 100 feet to hopefully goathead-free cement and street pedaled til I could access the paved Oakland Lake Park trail without crossing goathead infested grass.

After a little over 2 miles of pedaling I was over it. Since the top of Mount Tandy was just a short distance away I decided to go take a picture from the top of Mount Tandy of the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth, free of those angry dark Hurricane Hermine clouds.

I assumed I would only be able to walk to where I could take a picture, with beyond that being real muddy. I was wrong. I heard noises like the Fort Worth Water Boys were back, noises like engines revving, air brakes popping and walkie talkies. I thought there was no way trucks could be driving the Tandy Highway dirt road.

I took the downhill option to the right that leads to Tandy Falls. Figuring eventually mud would put a stop to my hiking. I was wrong. Again.

As you can see, water is roaring over Tandy Falls today in copious amounts. There was plenty of evidence that during the Wednesday tropical downpour a huge amount of water was roaring over Tandy Falls. I kept hearing truck noises and people talking on walkie talkies. I decided to see if I could walk on Tandy Highway without growing taller due to mud sticking to me.

I kept expecting to see trucks. I got to the first creek that the Water Boys had plugged during their recent operations. The flooding had done a good job of eroding the plug. And for some reason crime scene tape had been added.


I continued on past the crime scene to the next creek crossing. There was no crime scene tape there. The creek was running nicely through the hole left where the culvert pipe had been yanked out. After successfully fording that stream, and not finding myself mired in mud, I decided to take a right and head up to the top of a Tandy Hill, still drawn by hearing voices on walkie talkies and engine noises.

I got to the top of that hill and decided to hike no further, due to it being a bit muddy in either direction. That and I'd already gotten more exercise than I had intended.

Turning around and heading back down the trail I'd just hiked up, I saw the orchid-like flower you see in the picture. 10 days in to September, 2 days after torrential rains and the Tandy Hills is still sprouting colorful wildflowers.

I never did figure out where the walkie talkies and engine noises were coming from.