Endangered Species and the San Antonio Team!!

What do these two things have in common? We saw both on our hike this morning at Bastrop State Park in the Lost Pines region of Bastrop County. What a cool experience to see a tiny Houston Toad in the first ten minutes of our hike! This thing is about the size of your thumb and was hanging out on a bridge we crossed. I've never seen one, and never expected to see one given how small they are and the fact, oh yeah, they're endangered! Tasted just like chicken too! (Just kidding!!)



A little further down the trail we ran into the San Antonio Hike Team! Totally random, wish we could have coordinated so we could have hiked with them, but its alright, we'll have time to bond in Big Bend and hopefully on some hikes before!



This was by far our hottest hike and also turned in to our longest at 11 miles due to a hole in the space time continuum that somehow had us end up south of where we started when we were walking north the whole time (or it may have been a missed intersection and an unmapped trail, but I'm going with the wormhole theory). Anyway, the shade made all the difference in the world so everyone made it through and did great!



The team is rocking it! Fundraising is going well, fitness is improving, things are going well. We are looking forward to more great hikes and paddles in the weeks ahead!

First out of City Hike, and man was it cool!

Well, we had our first hike outside of the City today at Pedernales Falls State Park, and boy did we get off to a cool start. What's in that pic is a 5 foot rattlesnake the Ranger had caught right before we got to the park. Yeah, a bit of a wake up call for our team about what we can run in to out in the woods. Very cool to see, and when they laid it in the grass, it nearly disappeared.

We went about 8 miles on the Wolf Mountain Trail, got in some good climbs and descents, saw some great views, and a dung beetle pushing a ball of poop. Rick told us that the dung beetle uses the balls of poop to help attract mates. Who knew, its not just human guys that use BS to woo women...

Needless to say, it was very, very hot so we got a good lesson in the importance of hydration. At least a liter of water per hour is key to staying hydrated and well on the trail. Can't stress that enough!! Ed and Carl are showing how to do it!

So, there it is! The team is doing great, working on their fitness and having a great time experiencing a Central Texas summer on the trails!