One brisk day during our first Texas autumn, I woke up early, packed up my son and our dog, and drove an hour and a half west to Lost Maples State Natural Area. It was so beautiful and peaceful. We got there very early so there weren’t a lot of people. The leaves smelled amazing, the air was fresh, and we got our exercise in.
Lost Maples is an important wildlife and natural habitat. It “protects a special stand of Uvalde bigtooth maples” and is home to the endangered golden-cheeked warbler.(1) In 1988, a refuge population of Guadalupe bass was established in the Sabinal River in the park to encourage reproduction and try to restore the bass to its former numbers after it was determined that cross-breeding between the Guadalupe bass and smallmouth bass created a hybrid fish and almost eradicated the pure Guadalupe bass.(2)
Scroll down to view more photos from our hike. If you decide to visit, I highly recommend making a day pass reservation so that you have a confirmed parking spot!
To learn more about Lost Maples and explore Texas’s other state park destinations, visit the Texas Parks & Wildlife Lost Maples page.
For more details about the Uvalde bigtooth maple, visit their page on the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center website.
References
- Texas Parks & Wildlife. Accessed 23 July 2020. https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/lost-maples
- Fry Cortez, D. March 2018. Accessed 13 July 2020. https://tpwmagazine.com/archive/2018/mar/ed_3_bass/index.phtml
