What do you call a group of people who love to hike, make silly puns,
sing a few bars of whatever song happens to pop into their heads, and
play pranks on each other? Hiking fools (AKA San Antonio Hill Country
Hikers).

Sunday morning I dragged myself out of bed to
make the 8:45 a.m. start time at O.P. Schnabel Park Trailhead in
northwest San Antonio. The park is part of the Leon Creek Greenway.

Meanwhile, Bob did a ten-mile run on the Riverwalk from our RV park into downtown San Antonio and back.

Once
again our hike leader, Paul, took us on a mostly shaded hike. Did he
stick to paved trails? Nooooo. He must know the park like a truck driver
knows interstates. He had us traipsing through the woods on deer
trails, gravel and rocky paths, over the “river” and through the mud.
But we didn’t end up at grandmother’s house. We ended up right back
where we started 5.7 miles later. Thankfully in the description of the
hike, Paul told us to wear hiking boots or sturdy shoes. Especially nice
to have on my boots for the steep rocky section of trail and for the
mucky mud.

The heavy rain we had last week created more
than mud. Wildflowers bloomed, grasses sprouted seeds, and the trees
were vibrant green.

The hike wasn’t the breakneck pace
of last Friday evening’s Tobin Park walk. Today we took time to smell
the blooming sage, look at deer who were looking back at us, and take
pictures. In honor of Cinco de Mayo, one guy broke out singing “La
Cucaracha.”

I am amazed by the variety of scenery in
San Antonio and that we keep learning about new places to be out in
nature. The locals on the hike talked about how much they like San
Antonio’s greenspace initiatives and vote for them whenever they are on
the ballot. The greenspaces are well used by animals, birds, and people
in the region. We saw many deer on our hike. The mud revealed tracks of
deer, raccoons, people and dogs.

Runners with marathon
numbers were on some of the paved trails. We were told they were running
a half marathon. It must have been very popular because when we
finished our hike the runners were leaving. Police had to direct
traffic; the start/finish of the half marathon was across the main
highway from the park we were in.

Surprise, surprise: I have photos from the hike today. Don’t I always? Here they are…

Wooded glen.

Most times there is no water here.

Rain lilies.

One of the many deer checking us out.

This huge rock wall reminded me of a hike we took at the Ledges area in Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio.

Our hike leader, Paul, said there usually isn’t water here. All of us were impressed by this pretty, seasonal “lake.”

Instant lake, just add water.

Wildflowers on the rocks.

Isn’t this inviting?

Check out those roots!

Egyptian goose.

Paul talking to Kim, Carmen and Eduardo.

Paul capturing a moment.

Can you say “spring cleaning?” That’s what we did all
afternoon. It was way past time to clean our 5th wheel carpets so we
rented The Rug Doctor machine from WalMart and Bob, bless his heart,
made many passes of the carpet cleaner over all the interior carpet.
When he had done enough, I took over and made a couple more sweeps of
the living room carpet. It looks so much better!

Sunday night TV is 60 Minutes and Amazing Race.
We finally sat down and relaxed with dinner, then later with a bowl of
ice cream and cookies. Well deserved. Thank you, honey, for being the
“heavy lifter/ muscle” in the carpet cleaning. It’s so nice to walk on
the carpet now.

So ended our second busy weekend day in a row. Even the cats are exhausted!

“I wanna hold your hand paw.”

We love each other.

The end.