Lost Maples State Natural Area GTG - Day 2 Trails

After we returned to the park, we quickly got ready to head out on the trails again.  Diana left a little earlier as she was going to do a lengthier harder trail.  She is very experienced at this as you know if you read her blog at Cool Clear Water.  We hiked down to the day use area.

There was a group of 4 or 5 year-olds playing "Red Rover" and a big yellow bus with a group of high school kids.  I heard one of the adults asking the teenager what he saw--"leaves and rocks".  Well, yes but....  Anyway, we got out of there quickly.

The scenery shows up so much better with sun and blue sky.

The reflection on this little pond was so beautiful.

We met a man taking a picture of his wife in front of this tree but he seemed to be having a lot of problems.  Nancy offered to take a picture of them together which they jumped at.  She also gave him some pointers on how to get the best pictures out of his camera and he had quite a few questions and was very pleased when he left.  His wife said they would take a picture of us so Nancy handed him her camera and I handed the wife mine.  After protesting that she didn't know how to take pictures, she shot this photo below.  My camera is small and easy to carry so I usually have it with me.  I don't think the pictures it takes are too bad either.

We saw a number of butterflies but it was difficult to catch them as they moved around quickly.  Can you see the orange one here?

There were a lot of people out enjoying the day but we tried to snap photos when they weren't around.  There was a hiking group from Austin with 15 people.

Sometimes hill country trees have it rough.  The tree on the left was growing right out of the rock which looked like a root bundle.

Some of the trees were just starting to turn while others were winding down so I think visitors will still have beautiful views for another week or so.  The cold nights Wednesday and Thursday moved things right along.

We met Diana back at the campsites and pulled up some chairs to visit for a while.  As we were sitting there watching the birds, we heard some scratching and rustling noises.  It was a nine banded armadillo about 12 feet away from us.  He was completely oblivious to our presence so we got to watch him for a while.  Unfortunately, I ran my camera battery down with all the pictures yesterday and this morning.  

A few minutes later, we saw Ali and Ron pull in to a campsite down the road.  Once they hooked up their motorhome, they came down to visit.  After a few minutes, Ron was anxious to head out for a ride in their jeep.  Ali stayed to visit and later gave us a tour of the remodeling they have done in their motorhome and showed us the beautiful quilt she made.  She painted the bathroom and Ron built a storage cupboard over the driver and passenger seat area.  They next plan to take out the dinette and replace it with a dresser with drawers.

We sat around visiting until the sun started going down.  It was beautiful and warm during the day.  Once the sun dipped behind the cliff,  the temperature starting dropping quickly and we all headed back to our RVs.    

Ron and Ali were over again right after breakfast so we had another visit.  One of the trees between our two RVs was dropping leaves like snowflakes.  It started out pretty warm but cooled off some when the wind came up.  Diana, Nancy, and I headed out about 10:30 AM.  Ali and Ron were staying until later in the day as check-out time is 2:30PM.  The scenery was absolutely beautiful and spending time with old friends and meeting new friends was great.