Change is Beautiful

This weekend we went to Lost Maples State Natural Area to see the changing colors of the Maple Trees. This state natural area near Vanderpool pays tribute to this tenacious hardwood whose colorful fall foliage draws tens of thousands of leaf-peepers each fall. Patches of the bigtooth maple (Acer grandidentatum Nutt) are also found in western Oklahoma, northern Mexico and the mountains of the western U.S., with the largest concentration of bigtooths covering large swaths of mountain forests east of Salt Lake City, Utah. After visiting family in San Antonio Saturday we drove to River Bend on the Frio River and spent the night. The next morning we took part of the Texas Highway Hillcountry Trail--FM 377 from Leakey to Vanderpool to Lost Maples then continued home through Medina and Bandera. If you've never done this you should definitely pack up the family and go. It's not too late to go even this year. Texas Highways published a story about the fall colors around the state with Lost Maples included in the write up. When we were there they said only 50 percent of the trees had turned. It was spectacular. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. The first picture is at River Bend on the Frio. The rest were taken at Lost Maples.