Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Foggy Tandy Hills Hiking With Disappearing Trees

Fog Shrouded Downtown Fort Worth
When I exited my abode, intending to drive to the Tandy Hills, I was a bit surprised to discover that the ongoing foggy drizzle had rendered the ground at my location very damp.

As I drove west I decided to change my hill hike plan to a walk plan and go to Oakland Lake Park instead.

And then the further west I drove the drier the outer world became. So, I reverted back to the Tandy Hills hike plan.

I parked on top of Mount Tandy and began my foggy hike. As you can see in the above picture, the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth is barely visible through the fog shroud.

I was soon pleased to discover that the trails of the Tandy Hills were totally dry, no mud anywhere.

The picture below shows some of today's dry Tandy trails. And the fogginess.


That hill you see in the background, with a trail leading up it, well, when I hiked up that trail I was a bit startled to see that the big shade tree I've always seen there had disappeared. And then when I got to the top of the trail I was even more surprised to find the area pretty much stripped of all un-natural vegetation.



I had discovered the location, well, at least one of the locations, of last Saturday's Brush Bashing, that being the systematic removal of non-native plants from part of the Tandy Hills prairie.

The Brush Bashing left this area rather bare, as you can see in the above picture. In the heat of summer this used to be a location where I would stand for a bit under the shade of the aforementioned tree.

In the picture, in the center background, you might be able to make out the 8 benches that were recently installed on the Tandy Hills, creating the Tandy Hills Amphitheater, now with a lot more open space.

Today was my first time back on the Tandy Hills in quite some time. I rather enjoyed it. I was not alone in enjoying the Tandy Hills today. I saw several other people doing some salubrious hill hiking.

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