29 September 2017 LBJ Grasslands

With my meeting over, I took an early ride to the airport and rented a car. Ali was flying in so we could spend a few days relaxing on the trails in north Texas and southern Oklahoma. Driving in Dallas is an event I would be happy to never experience again, but we were soon on our way north. The weather was grey and threatening all day, but we still had enough dry time to enjoy a walk in this beautiful area. Despite being here late in the season, the area still put on a great show of wildflowers. It was a great place to try out my new camera. :)

False purple thistle was common here and new to us.

Phoebes were common in the open grassland areas.

There are a lot of cows grazing here. We tried to stay clear of them, but they appear to be very comfortable around humans.

We saw multiple examples of these flower clusters. They bloomed in a strange rectangular pattern.

The old watering trough ahead hadn't been used in a long time. We passed it on our way to a multi which hadn't been found in over nine months.

This deep wash was a great illustration of the power of heavy rains in the grasslands.

We had found the multi and were moving on when we spotted an orchid on the trail! This is our first orchid find in Texas. The state boasts over fifty varieties of orchids so we still have a few to find if we are lucky and able to return again.

As we left this area, a look back said our luck with the weather would soon run out. We still hoped to find the second oldest cache in Texas so it was time to move on.