Hiking At Fort Worth's Best Place To Stand & Camp

Today was my first time at the Tandy Hills Natural Area in awhile. The Hills needed to dry out from our recent deluges.

All that wet from Mama Nature has brought about little bursts of green where a wildfire had turned the prairie black a few weeks ago.

I saw only one other human standing on Fort Worth's best place to stand today.

Earlier today I was lamenting about all the places I used to stand on in Washington. As much as I like the Tandy Hills and as much as I think they are a rather unique location in an urban zone, it really is due to a shortage of great places to stand that this is the best place to stand in Fort Worth.

Today I came upon something I'd never seen at the Tandy Hills before. Someone had set up a tent. Maybe the person figured if this was the best place to stand it must also be the best place to camp. I don't know. The conditions are rather primitive.

There is running water, in the form of creeks, but this campsite was not near any of the creeks. I did not look in the tent to see if there were campers inside.

Tabletop Mountain Is Not In Texas

It is past 10 in the morning. If I don't blog something soon I'll start getting emails and phone calls asking what is wrong with me. Well, there is plenty wrong with me, but I don't care to talk about it.

That picture you're looking at is my all time favorite photo. But, it vexes me because I can not find the originals of that photo. Those boys are my nephews, Jeremy and his big brother, Christopher. They are sitting on top of Tabletop Mountain. Behind them is Mount Shuksan. Christopher is looking south at Mount Baker. Mount Baker is a volcano.

You get to the top of Tabletop Mountain via a fun trail that gets to the top via a series of switchbacks. I think I'll make a separate blogging with other pics from that day.

Lately it has crossed my mind a time or two that I think I'd like to move back to the Northwest. I miss the mountains. I miss the saltwater. I miss the seafood. And fresh fruit and vegetables. Right now I could be picking all the blackberries I wanted to pick. For free.

When I moved to Texas there was a house waiting for me. My house in Washington was sold in 2002. So, there is no house waiting for me, right now, in Washington. So, moving back is not quite as easy as moving here. It's vexing.

That's me laying on top of Hidden Lake Peak, looking down at Hidden Lake, deep in the North Cascades. Mount Baker and Tabletop Mountain are about 30 miles to the north.

Scenery like this was only a few miles east of where I lived in Washington. I am several hundred miles from any scenery that comes remotely close to this at my current location.

Today I'll try to cheer myself up by going to the "Best Place to Stand in Fort Worth." That being the Tandy Hills. Hiking on the Tandy Hills is a pretty pale substitute for the type of hiking I regularly did in Washington.

New Proof That Natural Gas Is Not Clean

The above video shows what looks like billowing smoke and fire coming from a natural gas well in the Barnett Shale. What you are actually seeing is plumes of invisible hydrocarbon emission through the filter of a high-tech video camera, making the invisible visible.

Seeing this video makes it easier to understand how it is that these operations belch around 200 tons of smog into the North Texas air every day. This is the dirty stuff that Al Armendariz, a Southern Methodist University chemical engineer, first brought to public attention, initially to scorn, from some, eventually validated as accurate by part of the state government of Texas.

The video was brought to you by TXsharon and FWCanDo! for BS Guinea Pig Productions.

Please visit their websites and The Daily Kos for more information.

Tandy Hills Natural Area Picked Best Place To Stand In North Texas

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, some time back, solicited for entries in a contest to pick the "Best Places to Stand in North Texas."

I've stood on all the Top 10 places to stand. I have stood at or by the Japanese Garden at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden, the steps of the Amon Carter Museum, the Rusty sculpture at the Modern Museum, Cowboys Stadium, the Fort Worth Zoo, the Trinity Bridge on North Main, the Stockyards and the local lakes.

I've been to the Runner-up Editor's pick, that being Randol Mill Park. And I've stood on, looked at, hiked on and marveled at the Grand-prize winner, Tandy Hills Natural Area, submitted by Don Young.

The Star-Telegram heavily edited Don Young's essay, making the case why the Tandy Hills were the best place to stand in North Texas. I'll copy the entire essay below...

Tandy Hills Natural Area is a special place simply because it is still here.

Over 99.5% of all native prairie, in the USA, is gone - even more in the Metroplex. The parkland is adjacent to I-30 and surrounded by a neighborhood in the heart of Fort Worth, a place crawling with developers and gas drillers. For this oasis to have survived is more than remarkable, it’s a precious gift.

The 160-acre natural area is a living, postage stamp sized snapshot of what the entire region once looked like before settlers arrived. The number of wildflower and grass species that cover the hilly terrain at THNA is wildly more than anyplace else in north Texas, except maybe another prairie remnant.

In 1880 when the population was less than 1% of the current 700,000, people still remembered the natural beauty of the land they settled and nicknamed Fort Worth, "Queen City of the Prairie." Those days would soon end, taking with them the very thing that drew settlers here, namely, the blackland prairie and its rich cornucopia of life.

The good news is, we still have Tandy Hills. The Spring wildflowers are more breathtaking here than anyplace else in the Metroplex, attracting lovers, families and butterflies. In the Fall, tall native grasses sway mysteriously in the wind, inspiring poets, painters and philosophers. The sunsets and moonrises seen from the tops of the many hills are often jaw dropping. The sky above THNA is filled with birds and swarms of migrating, Monarch butterflies. If you're lucky, you can even catch a glimpse of a rabbit, fox, lizard, wild turkey, roadrunner or bobcat scampering across the landscape.

All this and its only 5 minutes from downtown Cowtown.
The price? Free.

Tandy Hills Natural Area was donated to the people of Fort Worth in 1960. 2010 is the 50th anniversary of this public parkland.

Keep it like it was.

Don Young
July 1, 2009

Texas Turtles In A Green Lake With Tootsie Tonasket & Fleeting Homesickness

It is in the 90s and humid here today. Which had a bunch of turtles seeking refuge on a log in green Oakland Lake, around noon today. Where do all the turtles go in winter? Someone must know.

Tootsie Tonasket took the walk with me today. Tootsie lives up near the Canadian border in Eastern Washington, where she has been sizzling with much higher temperatures than relatively cool Texas.

Relatively cool Texas. I do not recollect using that phrase before.

After I was done walking and talking to Tootsie I called my sister who lives in Kent, Washington. I'd not spoken to her since the first week of January when she called while my mom and dad were here and we were trying to get out of the car to go to the Dallas Farmers Market. When I called my mom and dad on the day Seattle broke the century mark for the first time, my dad told me my Kent sister had to work that day. Usually she takes a day off for just about any reason. She is a UPS delivery girl.

My sister survived that day, and the HOT ones prior and since, by having with her 6 liters of icy water, packed in ice, plus Gatorade, plus a towel dipped in icy water that she wraps around her neck while driving. She said it wasn't all that bad.

But, coming home to a HOT house was bad. So, on Monday she is having central A/C installed. This likely means that tomorrow the temperatures will plummet back to normal.

Usually the majority of my immediate family members are not in Washington, usually it's just my sister in Kent and my sister in Tacoma who are up there. But right now my mom and dad and my brother are in the Northwest, all of them convening at my sister's in Kent for the second day in a row of BBQing. Almost makes me homesick. Then I remember my last two visits home and that feeling fades.

So, that's been my mundane Sunday in Texas. Swimming early, walking and talking at noon, with a slight tinge of homesickness that quickly passed.

On The Road With Rachel

My favorite TV Star sent me a rather inspiring video this morning. It's basically about an 89 year old youngster named Rachel and her special love affair. With her Comet Caliente, which she bought new, 45 years ago, that she has driven over 540,000 miles.

Including driving solo to her 70th class reunion, which was an over 3,000 mile road trip.

Rachel is one sharp lady. I wish I paid as much attention to vehicle maintenance as Rachel does. She buys all replacement parts with a lifetime guarantee. Rachel has gotten 16 free battery replacements from Penneys, even after Penneys shut down their Auto Centers, passing off the guarantees to Firestone.

Below is a YouTube version of the video my favorite TV Star sent me this morning....

Looking At Little Sassy Cassie Instead Of A Weenie Tonight In Texas

In the years since I moved to Texas, from Washington, the state, I have been asked countless times. Why? I've never had a really good answer to that question. And the actual story of how moving here came about is a painful, long story for me to tell. Which I avoid telling.

Just this Saturday night in Texas, well, Fort Worth, is instructive as to why this place has such a hold on me. Now, tonight, if I were in Washington, I might be at a beach, enjoying a fire and roasting hot dogs. Then watching the sun set over the Olympic Mountains, while listening to the waves lap up against the shore, all the while smelling flowers and evergreen trees scenting the air.

Contrast that boring Washington Saturday night with Saturday night in Fort Worth, Texas. Here we have attractions and things to do that you just don't have in boring ol' Washington. Like tonight I'm thinking of going to Jaguars to see Little Sassie Cassie, she being the World's Smallest Stripper, at a diminutive 2 feet 10 inches. I have seen a stripper, or two, during my time on the planet. I have never seen a really little one.

Today, being August 1, it is my last chance to see Little Sassy Cassie. At least for now. She'll probably be back.

However, a new issue has arisen. One that is another reason Saturday night weenie roasts in Texas can be a bit dicey. I hear thunder booming in the distance. It appears to be building to a storm out there. Which is why it is so nice to have venues, like Jaguars, that one can retreat to on a Saturday night, to see wholesome entertainment one can not see in the boring ol' Pacific Northwest.

So. I'm outta here. See y'all tomorrow.