Chihuahua Woods Preserve

Prickly Poppy blossoms

Early this afternoon, we took a short walk along the nature trail at the Chihuahua Woods Preserve; located just a couple miles from our trailer park. It was a cold damp day, but the light was perfect for flower photography.

At 349 acres this is a comparatively small park, but other than a well-defined trail, it has no facilities, which means it gets little traffic. Even on a nice day I think there would have been few visitors. Today there were only the four of us.

We saw Javelina and coyote tracks, along with old evidence of illegal immigrants who had crossed the nearby Rio Grande River and left clothing and backpacks lying on the ground near the trail.

Spring is beginning to break and fresh blossoms are abundant, although the Prickly Pear Cactus tunas are just beginning to sprout. Mesquite trees are drooping with fresh, brilliant green leaves that I look forward to seeing every year.

The Rio Grande Valley has gotten an unusual amount of rain this winter and prognosticators are predicting a spectacular season for spring wildflowers.