2013-03-20 Stephen F Austin SP
Testing to see how this works. Can I use it for my own purposes? Monday, 20 March 2017. I drove to Stephen F Austin SP to scout out the trails for the Half this Saturday 25 March 2017. Also, I wanted to take photos of the flora and fauna so that i would not feel compelled to do so during the race/hike. The park has been closed since the floods in April 2016 and just reopened this month. The trails are in good condition. They have a lot of coverage by the trees so direct sun should not be a factor. It is heavily wooded so there was not an over abundance of flowers as there would be in a more open area. But there were flowers. Namely, Texas bay blue eyes (Nemophila phacelioides). They were all over and in big, beautiful colonies. Quite something to see under all the trees. Also present in tremendous numbers were wild onions. And right next to them were Crows poison, as if to display the similarities and the differences. Lots of a yellow, five petal star flower that I have not identified as yet. Some of the flowers had six, seven or eight petals but five was the norm. Philadelphia fleabane and of course Dewberry's in bloom and the bright green fruit. Also saw a good deal of deer vetch. There was what looked to be ten petal anemone gone to seed as well. The real surprise however was the cotton mouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus) on the path. Not very big, perhaps 12 inches but he was fat. I say "he", no way I was going to pick him up to confirm that. He did not like me and gave me his wide open grin. After a bit he turned tail and slithered away. He had trouble gaining traction and flopped around like a fish out of water until he gain purchase and then he was gone. All in all it was a very successful little walk in the woods. edit test
