The Ride: Day 10 -- Looking along the edges....

On the trail this morning under an hour. No matter the direction I took, the wind pushed against me; as if to say, "Go back, the other way!" So I followed the wind until it turned on me again beneath the Holliday Street bridge...

The shadowy underside of bridges can be scary, right? We all remember that nasty business with the three goats and a troll!

Several bridges cross over the Holliday Creek stretch of the H&B Trail, and beneath those bridges are some of the edgiest places of the entire trail system.

Both my Naturalist side and my little kid self find edgy places fascinating and well worth exploring. A word of fair warning; there is a price for playing down here!

Edges are where two or more communities meet. They can be as small and seemingly insignificant as a trickle of water through a lawn or as breathtaking as the Rock Mountains tumbling to greet the Great Plains. Naturalists have prized edges since early hunter-gatherer days, because along the edges is where the action is. It's along the edges that treasure may be found....

...as well as the trash.

A significant share of River City's storm drainage system empties into Holliday Creek. During periods of drought like the one we're in now, water runoff from city streets is the only water feeding the creek making even trace amounts of rain on the city important. Of course, with the runoff comes chemical wastes (oil-based products) and all manner of man-made debris.

The real troll lurking beneath the bridge is trash, human waste. The price for exploring here is picking up, bagging and hauling out the junk to maintain Holliday Creek and the trail system that follows it River City's finest jewels.

And some of the graffiti artwork could stand some upgrading as well. This guy here isn't too bad; kinda cute, really, in a trollish sort of sense. And while The Cave would never advocate any illegal activity like tagging city property, if you must tag, please use some creativity and class!

See ya on the trail!

The Ride: Day 9 -- Feeling the burn

Took some sun this morning at the top of spillway at Lake Wichita. This is about an hour from The Cave, pedaling a geezerly pace in granny gear and provided we're not getting that stiff southern wind.

Not much of interest going on in the shot above taken from the rest area at the top of the spillway. What appears to be dry ground, however, is actually mud and a few pools of standing water from last night's rain teaser. The showers amounted to less than a tenth of an inch as far as keeping records, yet it was mildly amazing how much the trail responded to that little dab of rain. I took this pic primarily as a marker for future reference of what the lake level was like on this date, because it is only gonna get worse, children.

Cliff swallows, scores of 'em, were making the most of this fleeting windfall to scoop mud for their digs on the underside of bridges down creek and no doubt across the lake and into Archer County. Clouds of them seemed to arrive from all directions, descend on the mud and then disperse as quickly and as noisily as they had come. Meanwhile, an entire daycare of juvenile swallows lined the top strand of fence, waiting for their keepers to bring them snacks.

This puddling of mallards seemed to be relishing the pickings just below the main body of the lake. A solitary snowy egret likewise searched these shallows just out of this shot to the right.

All told this rest area netted something over 100 swallows, a dozen ducks, a couple of scissor-tailed flycatchers, some red-winged blackbirds and a snowy egret for my eBird list. Yes, Virginia, I'm that kind of nerd, too; more kinds of nerd than are dreamt of in your philosophies. May have to add the spillway to my 'Hot List' of birding spots.

LOOK what I can DO!