Walkabout Two-fer, Part 1 by Susan Alton

Walkabout Two-fer, Part 1

Susan Alton

What a day I had! I was busy from sun up ’til sundown. Bob made sure I was up and at ’em at 6:00 a.m.

My
first event was a 10K (6.2 mi.) walk for American Volkssporting
Association’s (AVA’s) World Walking Day. The local volkssport club
staffed registration at Crownridge Canyon Natural Area starting at 7:30
a.m. Because of heavy rush hour traffic, I got there at 8:10 a.m.

The
first 5K of today’s walk followed the loop hike through Crownridge
Canyon and the second 5K went through The Heights residential area in
the hills northwest of San Antonio. I love walking through the woods.
You never know what you’re going to see. Today’s prize sighting was a
pair of painted buntings. I also saw four wild hen turkeys. Not bad.

Unusual flowers on this vine. Anyone know what it is?

Rain lily with pale green spider on the lower left petal.

Beautiful red seed pods.

Yes, the volksmarch took us on the Level 4 part of the natural area – the Upper Canyon Trail.

Upper Canyon Trail

I’d like to mention that San Antonio is very focused
on putting in parks and greenways. It’s a good thing they provide
natural areas. You can see in the photo below how the new homes are
coming right up to the edge of the natural area. Many of the hill tops
have active home construction projects.

Painted bunting.

Painted bunting. I had to zoom in to get these shots.

Painted bunting’s back colors.

Fields of firewheels (Indian blankets).

That ended the first 5K of this morning’s walk. From
the natural area, the walk followed city streets up into a very nice
neighborhood (at the top of the hills).