Hooker Palafoxia
Hooker Palafoxia, a lovely fall wildflower in the Lost Pines
Purple Pleat-leaf Iris
You've gotta love pleat-leaf season in the Lost Pines!!!
Ocotillo
Backlit Ocotillo at Big Bend National Park
Pollinator at work
A bee collecting pollen on a garden flower
Pipevine Swallowtail and Bluebonnets
Pipeline swallowtail nectaring on Bluebonnets at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Gulf Fritillary
Gulf Fritillary butterfly on milkweed in Central Texas
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Thankfully, the historic Refectory and most other CCC structures in the park were saved from the fire. It took a heroic effort on the part of the fire crews to save most of these structures.
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Today Park Rd 1A (the loop) is still closed near the refectory because of on-going timbering of hazard trees in the area. Note the huge pile of chipped wood, which will be used as mulch and erosion control.
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And one of the first plants returning is the non-native, invasive Chinaberry. Managing invasive plants will be a real challenge as the park is restored.
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View from Piney Hill campground. You can see, much more than before the burn, the steep ravines beside the camp site.
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Virginia Creeper sprouts. This will be good to prevent erosion.
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A view through part of the Piney Hill RV campground. A few trees survived in the background.
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This is the re-opened Piney Hill Spur ("yellow") trail. Note the many totally burned pines and oaks, but also new growth sprouting from the base of the oaks.
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Everything east of the loop road remains closed. How did the Toad sign survive?
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The Overlook shelter burned, but is restorable.
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From near the Overlook, one can see some nice clusters of live trees among the burned.
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Here the Parks Department has chipped some of the burned trees and spread the mulch as a habitat amendment.
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Built of stone and concrete, these CCC picnic tables easily survived the fire.
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Numerous oaks have sprouted from their roots.
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This chert nodule was fractured by the heat of the fire--much like Sue's arrowhead collection.
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Yet another bridge burned here.
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Peppervine
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This ravine was badly charred, but some pines on the horizon survive. After the fire, the Park's topography is much more obvious.
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Eastern Red Cedar logs, stockpiled to replace water breaks on the white trail.
