Discuss: Lost Maples State Natural Area - Page 2 - Wild Texas Forums: Parks, Travel & Recreation

Shannon · 07-27-2005, 03:36 PM

There are trails, but they're open only to hikers. There is no horseback riding that I am aware of. Check out Hill Country State Natural Area in Bandera -- most of the 35+ miles of trails there are open to equestrians.

11-03-2005, 02:20 PM

Hows the foliage in early December when visitors die down?

Shannon · 11-07-2005, 09:16 PM

Foliage will be off the trees by then (December).

audreyhtx1 · 11-09-2005, 03:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kai

I was out at lost maples, hiking with my sister-in-law last february. it was beautiful - started out 50 degrees and misty, ended up about 75 degrees and sunny. we really enjoyed the varied terrain. at one point, we thought we heard something that sounded like a pig snort off to our left, on a hillside. any thoughts on what that might have been? (neither one of us knows anything about the wildlife down here).

I suppose feral hogs are possible? There are also a couple of species of wild non-native (i.e. introduced) sheep there. We saw one of them crashing in a gully - kind of looked like a beige goat. I think it was an Auodad sheep?

Audrey

bluetiger · 11-08-2006, 01:16 AM

We went there last Sunday . Leaves were turning, but most of them were still green. Here are some photos taken a long 4.5 miles of the east trail

http://www.pbase.com/bluetiger/maple

toejam · 11-08-2006, 07:30 AM

Nice pictures. That's a lot more color than when I was there the previous week.

A pretty little park. Crowded though.

PaulR · 11-08-2006, 01:08 PM

Definitely one of my favorite places in Texas. But hit it during the week if at all possible.

bluetiger · 11-08-2006, 11:40 PM

This weekend will be crowded because of holiday

leighjackson · 11-21-2006, 10:16 AM

Hi All!

I have been reading your posts as my husband and I are going to Lost Maples to camp for Thanksgiving weekend. (Leaving tomorrow morning) We booked our campsite last December. I am a little nervous about the "openness" of the campsites. We kind of like our privacy - BUT, we are willing to give it a try!!

I'll let you know how everything turns out. I'm sure it's beautiful right now and we are SO looking forward to that!

leighjackson · 11-28-2006, 02:56 PM

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Our trip to Lost Maples was better than I expected. There is definitely no

privacy at the camp sites, though. We tent camp - so unless you are sitting in your tent, you are visible to everyone. And everyone pretty much sits and watches everyone else. Of course in the evening, it is so black out that no one can see anyone else. One good thing about being in the open is you meet your neighbors. We had a family with 6 kids entertaining our dogs the whole week - that was nice. We also met another family that we will probably go camping with in the future.

What a beautiful park!! There isn't really anything else to do besides hike, and good shoes are a necessity. It's also very rocky... The sky at night was breathtaking. Some other campers had telescopes - that would have been really cool.

Like I said, it was better than expected. (I think I had myself really worked up about all the openess

) I think next time we will camp at another park and drive over. It's work a day trip!!

rockhill · 11-28-2006, 03:26 PM

Glad you had a good trip. If your camping neighbors are good, then close proximity is not bad. If not, then it could turn into the trip from haites. You tend to forget how many stars are up them when you are in the city and can not see them.

PaulR · 11-28-2006, 07:16 PM

Did you do the primitive/hike in camping? Those sites are fairly spread out with some trees around, unlike the bare fields by the parking area.

riverrat · 11-28-2006, 09:28 PM

I'm not at all surprised that you enjoyed Lost Maples. We have been going now on average once a year (Thanksgiving or Spring Break) for about 11 years. I hope you were able to enjoy some of the longer hikes. The West Trail through Mystic Canyon ending up at the Ponds is our all time favorite. If you're lucky enough to get one, the campsites at the end of the cul de sac are the best. But the two or three that back up to the river (sort of) are nice because the kids can go play and skip stones all the while I can hear them even if I can't see them. If it gets quiet I know they have moved too far away. (BTW I didn't let them go off alone like that until they were 10 and 12 or so.)

This is a pic of the Ponds this past Thanksgiving week.

leighjackson · 11-29-2006, 08:01 AM

Paul - No, we didn't do the primitave camping, although we did see those campsites while we were out hiking. We usually bring WAY too much stuff to primitive camp! I suggested to my husband we try it once for a night, and he didn't go for that too much. Actually, he hated to camp before he met me

, so I feel lucky for what I get!

We did see the campsites in the back - #16 would be the best... but it's first come first serve and of course someone had already taken it. We were pretty much in the parking lot.

Riverrat - We didn't make it to the ponds; by the picture, I sure wish we had! We did get to do a couple of the trails - one of them twice, we just went farther. We never started early enough and always ran out of time. (didn't want to get stuck in the dark!)

We also didn't hardly see any wildlife!! I saw one doe and we came across a tarantula on a hike... That was about it. I've read that there is supposed to be SO MUCH wildlife there. But, there were so many people I'm sure all the wildlife were in hiding. One of the best things, though, is almost everyone brought their dogs. We have 3, (one being a foster doggie), and we always take them camping. It was nice to be around others who loved their 4 legged children as well.

riverrat · 11-29-2006, 08:21 PM

LOL Your hubbie sounds like mine! But once I introduced him to the Hill Country he changed his mind...but only when it's cool. He will not do summer camping, even with an AC popup. Oh well. We started with an 8x8 tent and the four of us. That did not work at all. We upgraded to a 2 room tent 9x15 which was some better but then his brother bought the popup, which was open to our usage and we haven't been in a tent since. Sometimes I miss it. We have often talked of spending one primitive overnight but talk is all we've done about it. We love our fire too much and you can't do that out there.

As far as wildlife goes, we've had deer amble right through our campsite (the last one on the culdesac that is higher that the others) early in the morning. The kids' faces that morning when they peered through the screen and saw the deer RIGHT THERE were priceless! Then there was the buck that scared the **** out of me around midnight as I sat by the fire waiting for the full moon to show over the hills. Actually I think we scared each other pretty bad! He was ambling along and I thought it was a raccoon or something like that and when I turned with my flashlight to check out the source, he was only about 12 feet from me! He snorted and reared up and all I could do was stand there in shock! I guess I'm lucky he wasn't any closer. He could have hurt me. I believe he found another way to get down to the river that night!

We've seen turkey near Mystic canyon but the absolute coolest thing we've heard, but not seen, are the barking frogs! They live in the limestone cliffs along the river and they sure do make a commotion in the springtime mating season! And yes...they sound exactly like a pack of dogs barking! I thought the Ranger was pulling my leg when I asked him where all the dogs were that carried on so and he told me what it really was. So if you're there in the springtime, be sure to listen for the barking frogs!