Autumn Frost and Fog -- A Walk To Joppa And Beyond

Great Blue Herons in fog at Trinity River Wetlands October 30, 2011

Trinity River at dawn in Joppa Preserve

The last weekend in October proved to be a great time to visit the Great Trinity Forest in South Dallas. With the slow change of seasons from summer to fall complete, coupled with some recent rain and a strong cold front, the river bottoms entire complexion changed. Gone are the over summering birds of the tropics that fly from the Amazon to spend their summers here. The calls of the endangered Wood Stork, the Roseate Spoonbill and the Ibis are replaced by birds from the Arctic Circle. The Cormorant, Coot and Northern Shoveler now call it home.


This particular visit marked a number of firsts. The first frost of the season for the Great Trinity Forest. The first time I had visited the area before dawn. The first time I had gone down there sans mountain bike. I have mountain biked down there over 100 times but this marked my first true hike there. Meeting me for the hike was Bill Holston. Bill is a fellow SMU alum, noted Dallas attorney and frequent contributor to The Dallas Observer, D Magazine and KERA. He is also a Texas Master Naturalist and a walking-talking field guide on native flora and fauna here in Texas.

Our hike started at the Trinity River Audubon Center at dawn. Using a portion of the existing Audubon Center trail then hike to Joppa. We crossed the Trinity using the new multi-million dollar Great Trinity Trail and bridge that sits just south and east of the Trinity River Audubon Center.

Ground fog carpeted fields nearby as we entered the forest and crossed the river. On the bridge we spotted a hawk and a Crested Caracara roosting in a nearby dead tree on the south bank of the river. The Crested Caracara, often called the Mexican Eagle, is the national bird of Mexico and is depicted on their national flag. I saw one or two here last winter. Here the largest trees are native pecans. Old as time itself.

Foggy filtered sunrise among the pecans south bank Trinity River

Leaving the fenced confines of the Trinity River Audubon Center you enter a part of Texas few people ever visit. Nestled between the Trinity and a swale lake, the area rarely sees humans. As evidence, the recent rain, the damp and sometimes muddy trail yielded scores of animal tracks. Coyote, bobcat, raccoon, deer and feral pigs.

The fog was really spectacular. Drifting in and out of the trees, Bill would stop and remark on different species of oak and ash trees. The areas closest to the river were never logged or farmed and can be considered old growth. Few pockets actually exist in Dallas and this is one of them. Many of the same trees seen in 2011 can be seen in 1936 aerial photos.

Rising sun burning off distant fog bank on the Lemmon Lake playa

I think Lemmon Lake is one of the most unique settings in Dallas. Every time I go there I see something new. On this morning a fog had developed on the now dried lake bed, what some could even call a playa. We got there as the sun was rising over the trees, quickly burning off the fog bank. In the photo above, the fog bank is about 1/3 of a mile away. The large trees ringing the shoreline kept the fog intact in the shadows till the sun rose high enough to burn it off.

Frost covered freshwater mussel shell at Lemmon Lake

When Lemmon Lake went dry this summer it left many animals high and dry. The alligators and turtles left in exodus to the river beyond. The fish and shell animals stayed behind. Plenty of freshwater mussel shells on the surface of the lake bed. I discussed the drought and the effects on Lemmon Lake in an earlier post.










Lemmon Lake might be one of the oldest lakes in Dallas. Older than White Rock Lake, Bachman Lake, Exall Lake and the now long gone reservoirs that once served as the municipal water supply for Dallas on Turtle Creek. A victim of obscurity and an unreliable water source it can go dry in times of drought. I have seen plans where the Corps of Engineers might try and re-water Lemmon Lake using water diverted from the Wetland Cell project upstream. Just north of Loop 12 is the Trinity River Wetland Project. The chain of lakes get a portion of their water from the wastewater treatment plant just upstream. The water has no smell. You would never know it was treated wastewater. Below is a clip of what the wetland cells looked like at dawn on October 30th. The water slowly flows from one cell to another using a series of gates and shallow aqueducts.

Hidden spring fed pond in the Great Trinity Forest

Collapsed shack in the Great Trinity Forest, Joppa Preserve

The pond above sits directly south of Lemmon Lake. About an acre or two in size it maintained a near constant size all summer. We guessed it must be fed by a spring of some kind since the larger lake to the north went dry months ago. The southwest side of the small pond has a small collection of dilapidated cabins and outbuildings in severe disrepair. The detritus and old trash around the buildings suggest they have not been used in many decades. This structure could have been part of the Floral Farms or Joppa Freedman's Community at one time.

Great Trinity Forest horseback riders near McCommas Bluff

The river always makes for good conversation especially when you come across others on the trail. I always ask others what they have seen and where have they been. This particular morning they had seen five deer. Then warned us about the pigs. One of the men said he once saw 50-70 feral pigs at one time in this area.

Funny, I actually know the dogs better than the guys on horseback. Other than the white dog wearing the chopped down Mexican rode belt for a collar. The rest of the dogs are all related. The rusty red colored dog is the mother, the rest are her still growing puppies. I think they must be 4-5 months old now.



How to get there

Joppa Preserve and the Great Trinity Trail can be accessed from 3 main trailheads with another currently under construction at the Trinity River Audubon Center.

Great Trinity Forest Trail Map

Phase I completed in 2010 can be accessed via trailheads at the Loop 12 Boat Ramp, River Oaks Park and Simpson Stuart Road. I have previously discussed the details of Phase I in an older post:Great Trinity Trail at Joppa Preserve

Phase II which is still under construction on the south side of the Trinity can be accessed from the Trinity River Audubon Center property. I have discussed it previously in older posts: Great Trinity Forest Trail and Bridge . Construction is still ongoing around mile 2 noted on the map above. Open pit excavations and heavy machinery for a bank erosion control project. As a result the area should be avoided until construction is finished. When complete the trail there will rival that of River Legacy in Arlington. Note: The Trinity River Audubon Center closes early 4pm on weekends. They lock the main gates shortly thereafter. If you park at the Audubon Center, make sure you are back by 4ish.

For those more adventurous consider leaving your car behind and make the trip from Downtown Dallas, the Katy Trail or even White Rock Lake. You can even start at Bachman Lake and make a 50 mile roundtrip out of it to I-20 and back. GPS mapping data for that trip is here.

Many people have yet to realize so many of the trails and projects interconnect, if purely by accident. With the construction of the new bridge near the Audubon Center dozens of miles of unused trails are now open.

Coyote Pack On Great Trinity Forest Trail

Family Pack of Trinity River Coyotes near Great Trinity Forest Trail October 15, 2011

I imagine if we could crawl inside Governor Rick Perry's head at night and see his deepest and darkest nightmares it would look something like the photos and video in this post! A pack of coyotes on a bike/jogging/nature trail. His Coyote Special Ruger .380 would find itself winchestered out of ammo in short order on the Trinity Forest Trail.

Urban and suburban coyotes are often feared here in Dallas due to a general misunderstanding about how they behave. The local TV media does not help coyotes much with sensationalized stories of coyotes terrorizing neighborhoods. If a dog or cat goes missing in the far suburban reaches of the 972 area code, a coyote seems to get the rap. And airtime on TV. Almost as much as whatever iphone is coming out next. Or Tony Romo's rib.

Fact is, unless you run across a rare hybrid coydog(half coyote/half dog), your average pet dog will outweigh it by a handsome sum. Coyotes are built for lean, efficent travel. They often range 5-7 miles in a 24 hour period and need a lean build to maximize the calories they consume. Unlike their wolf cousins, coyotes are omnivores meaning that they will eat just about anything.

The coyote pack photographed in this post is comprised of two adult coyotes and their two offspring. For lack of a better term they are mom, dad and two siblings as best I can tell. Coyotes usually mate for life and will usually stick together throughout the year. Juveniles will usually break away from the family pack around November here in Texas and venture out to find a new home range. Mortality of a coyote litter is quite high. Coyotes have an average litter of 6-10 puppies with only two making it through the first year.



VIDEO
Below is some video of the coyote pack taken in the late afternoon/early evening October 15, 2011 near the Joppa Preserve trailhead in the Great Trinity Forest.

There seem to be two varieties of coyote – runners and non-runners. The majority of coyotes run if you even begin to look their way or change your path. I’m not sure if running from humans is a learned trait, but I think every coyote who has ever been shot at or had his mate shot is a runner from that point on. I’m sure running is conducive to longevity. Here in this part of the Great Trinity Forest, the coyotes are non-runners. They casually ramble along keeping you at a distance. If you approach them, they simply leave or get far enough away. They are curious and seem to enjoy watching people as much as you do them.

I know some of you reading this have mountain biked with me down here in the past, where around sunset the woods around Lemmon Lake turn into a coyote symphony in every direction. Usually we only get a glimpse of a coyote through the brush or a brief sighting as it turns tail. To get a good view of the coyote pack in the video above I loosely followed them from the dried bed of Lemmon Lake through the horse trails at Floral Farms. I had an idea that they would probably emerge from the woods where the Great Trinity Trail starts on Simpson Stuart Road near the Eco Park campus. Sure enough, they came across like clockwork. In the video you can see how they are casually moving south into the McCommas Bluff landfill property. They eventually crossed a flood control berm and down into a basin. They came back a few minutes later and just chilled out in the grassy field beyond the fence.

The coyote above was actually hunting grasshoppers (sorry to burst your bubble about the fierce predator lying in wait for Red Riding Hood). It was doing one of those 4 legged pounce acrobatic maneuvers.

This summer when Lemmon Lake dried up, I was able to see through footprints what kinds of animals fed on the decaying fish that perished during the drought. The coyote tracks were only around the carp, buffalo fish and catfish. They did not touch the numerous alligator gars. The feral pigs ate the gar.  So it seems while they may gnaw on whatever they come across, they do have a gag boundary on the distant horizon. One that they even turn their nose up at.

Seems to me that the only way animals like these can become a nuisance is if people feed them or are careless with their pets. Watching them in their natural habitat one can see they are just screwing around and take advantage of opportunities when the world serves them up on a silver platter.

One rare example of life imitating art on this stretch of road is that this is the same area frequented by a Greater Roadrunner.

Just like the coyotes hunting grasshoppers on the edge of the trail in the first clip, the Greater Roadrunner in the clip above is doing the same thing. There is a gentleman who spends quite a bit of time sitting on this closed piece of road in his Jaguar, reading his bible on the weekends. He said he goes down there to keep the roadrunner company. Next time I see him I'll have to ask if he has seen any ACME delivery trucks dropping off any dynamite, anvils or rocket powered roller skates for the coyotes.

New sign on the Trinity Forest Trail, Trinity River Audubon Center

Construction continues on Phase II of the Trinity Trail from the Audubon Center to join the previously completed Phase I. New signage has been installed recently and landscaping is going in. I think that until the 72" Water Main project is completed that the trail will not be finished on the south side of the river. It looks like the stretch from the Audubon Center to the new bridge will be open soon with the rest open months later. The heavy construction to repair the riverbank looks a long time from being finished.

Whitetail Deer of the Trinity River Forest in Dallas

Deer are a common sight in the more remote areas of the Trinity River south of Loop 12. They can be seen usually in the early evening on some of the game trails they frequent.

These photos were taken in the fall of 2010 and winter of 2011 in Dallas south of Loop 12

Six point whitetail buck in Great Trinity Forest near future phase III of Trinity River Trail

Whitetail deer at McCommas Bluff Preserve at the Trinity City Ghost town site

The deer in the video below were inbetween the Trinity River and McCommas Bluff. Two whitetail deer are in the video. They were chasing a doe that had crossed the same stretch of ground a minute prior. Since this is inside the city limits of Dallas and in a park the deer have no natural predators

The deer can be easy to see but quite difficult to photograph. They often move in heavy brush and you usually only get a quick glance.