At the footstep of Camp Bullis, in the outskirts of San Antonio sits Eisenhower park. Reportedly one of the nicer places to visit and hike around but it happens to be on the opposite side of town from me. The easiest way to get there is by taking the 1604 loop but the construction around those parts is kinda crazy so I avoid it at all costs. I happen to have the week off and my niece was in town so I thought it would be a good idea to kill a little time with her this evening and exhaust the dog a bit before I split town tomorrow.
I can confirm that the park is indeed very nice. We didn’t explore much outside of the paved paths because I’m not sure how my niece will do on hikes yet. She young and full of energy, but she isn’t a fan of walking. I’d like to get back out there and check out some of the non-paved paths but i’ll check it out when I’m on my own with Canelo. Hopefully the stars will align again and we can knock it out on a random weekday morning I have off so that I can avoid some of the traffic that builds up on 1604.
Ya know, if there’s one thing I like about hiking with someone it’s the random conversations that can kinda organically occur. My niece was surprisingly quiet on this little venture, I tasked her with holding Canelo tightly on a leash and took the responsibility pretty seriously. I didn’t tell her about the Tower at the park so that was a little surprise. Her only observation was that “I can see where I get my eyebrows done from here”.
Lost Maples
Celebrated a birthday in solitude over the weekend…. It’s still kinda hard to articulate why I push everyone away in the last part of the year. Thanksgiving, my Birthday, the Holidays and New Year are very difficult to push through in recent years. It has a lot to do with people who are no longer here to celebrate these events with and there’s a lot of resentment in not getting to spend it with people I really wanted to invest time and energy into. Truth be told, getting to just be by myself makes everything a lot easier to process. Its like I’m able to process a lot of the pain and murkiness I’m feeling inside at my own time and in my own space.
I originally planned to be in Las Vegas this weekend so that I could take in U2 at the Sphere. I was going to purchase some tickets earlier in the year just before video got released of what the Sphere performances looked like. Said tickets I had intended to purchase went up by 500 and flights into Vegas spiked so I opted to hit up the hill country and hiked Lost Maples on December 8th.
The park was kinda empty and the Maple Leaves had mostly fallen by early December, but the hike and trails were still rewarding. I got a chance to see the famed monkey rock and took some time to meditate at the grotto. The park has roughly 10 miles to hike and there’s sections i didn’t check out so i may go out again during the winter months to finish off the park with my Niece.
Crescent Bend Nature Reserve (Smiley Face Killer?)
This may come as a surprise to many who have known me for a while, but I recently discovered the joys of “hiking”. It became a much needed outlet when Covid-19 hit…. I used to spend a good part of my free time attending live shows/concerts, so when all that came to an abrupt halt - I found myself completely enamored with re-engaging with the city of San Antonio, thru its greenbelt.
I’ve had the pleasure of walking/biking almost all of the greenbelt and have also explored all of the missions at the heart of the city. I’ve even found some time to fit in some State/National parks… but my favorite retreat of all are the “Nature Preserves”. I’ve found two kinda near me… one is on the Deep South by Poteet Texas and there’s another one that is kinda tucked away in the city of Cibolo called Crescent Bend Nature Park.
I’m told that the area used to have homes but some repeated flooding in the late 90s caused the city to relocate all the citizens who lived there. A decision was made to allow nature to reclaim the area naturally, so it’s a little sanctuary for birds and deers. On any given morning, you can get there at dawn and you will already find dedicated birdwatchers with long lens cameras or binoculars.
I take Canelo with me and we quickly hike the trails and attempt to be as quiet as possible. The park itself used to be pretty vacant… in recent visits I’ve noticed photographers taking people to the area for portraits. Which is cool I guess, I’m glad the park is getting visits. I recently noticed a “smiley face” near the entrance of the park and have privately wondered if the Smiley Face Killers may have left a clue.
Something I don’t recommend doing is listening to true crime podcasts while hiking…. the surroundings literally sound like the backdrops of almost 60% of the shit you listen to. That being said - it’s a rewarding activity and I’m going to do my best to document some of the places I visit going forward.
My hiking co-pilot - Canelo