Lost Maples ... Finding Beauty

"[The park] is a combination of steep, rugged limestone canyons; springs; plateau grasslands; wooded slopes; and clear streams.  It features a large, isolated stand of uncommon Uvalde bigtooth maple, whose fall foliage can be spectacular."

-Lost Maples State Natural Area website

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This past weekend, JT and Katie graciously invited me to join them on their trip out to Lost Maples.  The mention of backpacking and fall foliage was a no-brainer decision!   Being from Georgia and Tennessee, I've been absolutely spoiled when it comes to beautiful landscape.  The promise of leaves changing colors and getting to spend the long weekend with Katie and JT had me pretty excited.    Both JT and Katie were leaders for the GT Alumni Network here in Austin, and have been wonderful friends ever since I met them last fall :)

Because the park is so popular in the fall, they had made reservations long ago for 2 primitive camping sites.  We camped at Campsite A, which was a little over a mile in from the parking lot.  The primitive campsites are first come/first serve, and we got there midday Friday to stake out a good spot to set up our tent and tent hammock.  The leaves had started to change, but they weren't in full color yet.  And, we came to realize that, even at peak color, we shouldn't have expected to see a full hillside of orange, red, and yellow like we'd seen back in the north Georgia mountains.  The Lost Maples landscape did have a lot of Maples, but has cedar trees mixed in preventing a full fledged explosion of color.  We took in the scenery around us Friday afternoon and set out to explore the 5.7 mile loop around our campsite (map).  Saturday we 'conquered' Lost Maples and hiked every trail in the park -  11 miles in total.  JT used his handy watch GPS to track our hike, which I was able to import into a MapMyHike map :)

We enjoyed great weather and had lots of time to chat and share stories as we hiked up and down rocky trails, crossed running streams, and took in gorgeous views.  Turns out Katie and JT have done a lot of awesome traveling and have been to a ton of parks around the country.  My bucket list grew by a mile after hearing about all of their adventures.

I was happy I could introduce them to the joys of a water filter.  The first backpacking trip I made earlier this summer to Pedernales Falls presented almost no opportunity to use the filter as most of the streams were completely dry.  The water in the streams at Lost Maples was unbelievably clear and cool.  Oftentimes we would see schools of fish swimming in the water.  At the ponds near campsite C, people were fishing for bass (where they would catch them and release the fish back into the water).

At night, the sky was FULL of stars.  It's amazing what getting 3 hours from Austin can do to the sky.  Saturday night threw us a curveball... a several dark clouds and a few sprinkles rolled in right around dinner time.  Thankfully, we had time to put up our rain flys.  Around 1am, the thunder and lightening woke us up with a pretty impressive thunderstorm that featured a couple of 'less than 1-Mississippi's between the lightening and thunder'.  Happily, my tent-hammock held up great and I didn't have to retreat to Katie and JT's tent during the storm.

When planning out the meals, I got a little creative after doing a quick search for yummy backpacking recipes.  Getting back to the campsite and cooking dinner is always a highlight, so I figured.. why not try some new meal ideas? :)  Good weather, great scenery, wonderful company, and yummy food definitely made for a great weekend.  See below for recipes and meal ideas:)

Driving back on Sunday, we took a different route back that followed the Guadalupe River with multiple river crossings.  The scenery along the way was gorgeous!  This one particular crossing was so pretty, we pulled off the road and took some pictures :)

We treated ourselves to a German lunch in Fredericksburg.  It was so nice to sit in a real chair and have a big, yummy, civilized meal!! :D   We went to Auslander - their food was great and I'd highly recommend it.  After walking through the quaint downtown, we drove to an awesome Nature Trail JT and Katie had been to before, the Lady Bird Johnson Park Nature Trail.  We bird-watched,  saw turtles, sidestepped around yucca plants, crossed an awesome little bridge, and saw a variety of vegetation.  Then we continued the carbo reloading by sharing a Sweet German Pretzel I'd picked up in one of the bakeries in Fredericksburg :D

Slideshow from the trip! :)

Oatmeal Breakfast
1 to 2 packs of instant oatmeal /person/per morning
chopped walnuts or pecans
dried fruit.. we enjoyed pineapple and blueberries
raisins
mini (and many) chocolate chips  :)

Homemade Granola Bars
My friend Ann's inspiration was the final straw to trying to make my own granola bars.  I used this recipe from www.thekitchn.com and tried the 'Tropical Fruits' version.  They turned out well! After reading several blogs and recipe sites, and consulting Ann on her experiments, it seems like the key ingredient is the Brown Rice Syrup - it holds everything together very well and isn't too sticky once cooked/cooled.

All of the following recipes were inspired/adapted from Seattle Backpackers Magazine.com.  Enjoy! :)

Swiss, Ham, Apple Bagel Sandwich

Feeds 1:

3-4 slices of ham (I got honey-baked ham J)

1 or 2 slices of Swiss Cheese

1 bagel Sandwich

3 apple slices or enough to fit on sandwich

At Home:

On a stovetop cook apple slices until light brown.  Add the ham and Swiss on both sides of the bagel and put in toaster oven face up until the cheese is melted.  Then, put the warmed apple slices on the sandwich, using the melted cheese to kind of hold everything together.  Place in fridge until you’re ready to hit the trail! J

Mediterranean Delight

1 cup of Powdered Hummus (OR prepackaged hummus kept cold in a cooler and eaten at one of the first meals)

2 medium size zip locks of fresh veggies (baby carrots, cut celery, cut bell peppers, zucchini, cucumber)

1-2 packages of Pita Bread

At home:

Pre-wash, dry, and pre-cut the veggies. Measure and pack the hummus (adjust portion for party size) in its own zip lock (large enough to add water to later) and write down how much water to add on the zip lock.

On the Trail:

Follow instructions for dehydrated humus. Add the correct amount of cold PURIFIED water to the zip lock, close, and mix well. Let sit for 5-10 minutes and it’s ready to eat with pita and veggies.

Cashew Chicken Noodles

Serves 3:

3 packs of Raman Noodles:)

¼ cup Jerky or 9 oz. of packaged chicken

¼ cup dehydrated mixed veggies (can be omitted and/or replaced with canned veggies)

1 Tbs. curry

3/4 tsp of cumin

3/4 tsp. ground ginger

3 1/4 Tbs. coconut powder

Salt and pepper to taste

4.5 tablespoons of cashews

3 tablespoons of pre-chopped cilantro (optional)

At Home:

Combine all the seasonings and coconut powder in a baggie.  Bring cashews and cilantro in separate baggies.

On Trail:

Cook Raman Noodles in large group cooking pot (1 ½ to 2 cups of water per package).  Once cooked, divvy up noodles and soup into individual bowls.  Let everyone add their own amount of spice from the baggie, cashews, and cilantro! J