Texas Bluebonnets

Saturday, we flew to Dallas for a week of wildflowers in Texas and Oklahoma.  Our flight was very early and we arrived at DFW just after 7.  After getting our rental car, we stopped for breakfast at Snooze AM in Fort Worth then headed to Airfield Falls Conservation Park.  Built next to an air base, there was a partial replica of a McDonnell Douglas C-19 airplane right at the trailhead.

The paved trail crossed Kings Branch by a cool tree and then followed Farmers Branch.

There was another footbridge over Farmers Branch shortly before the waterfall.

Some meadow garlic was flowering along the trail.

In just over a quarter-mile, we reached Airfield Falls.

The area hadn't gotten much rain recently so the water level was way down, but it was still pretty nice and I got a waterfall in Texas.

Conveniently, a cloud rolled in to give good lighting for some pictures.

I climbed around on the rocks until the sun came back out and then we headed back.

From here, we made the short drive to Marion Sansom Park.  Starting off on the orange hiking trail, there was an open area near the trailhead with a tremendous amount of wildflowers.

The colors of the flowers were beautiful.  Poppymallow was a beautiful purple.

I also spotted some enormous thistle.

Indian blanket had pretty red and yellow flowers.

And Dakota mock vervain were beautiful lavender.

Meadow garlic had white flowers.

And the prairie celestials had sky blue flowers.

The butterflies were enjoying the wildflowers too.

We saw an American painted lady and clouded sulphur among others.

After getting some pictures, we took the surprisingly steep trail down towards the river.

There are a several intersecting bike trails and countless social trails, so it was a little confusing.  When we got down, we initially went right and hiked up to below the dam.  There was a little drop here, but it wasn't the waterfall.  

Heading back downstream, we soon came around to bluffs along the river.

The waterfall was upstream, I don't think it has a name.

About 15 feet, it was pretty big even in low water, though the lighting wasn't ideal.  

I crossed the little tributary to get next to the waterfall for a profile view and to get to the top.

There was a nice view of West Fork Trinity River from here.

  Then we made the steep climb back up to the parking area.

After getting the Fort Worth waterfalls, we headed southeast towards Ennis and parked at Meadow View Nature Area at Bardwell Lake.

Part of the Ennis Bluebonnet Trail, there was a beautiful open meadow with a ton of Texas Bluebonnets in bloom.

There was a lot of Indian paintbrush blooming as well, coloring the meadow in red and blue.

A few pink evening primrose were flowering as well.

It was fairly crowded but we didn't have trouble finding a parking spot.

Then we wandered around the field viewing the beautiful flowers.

We walked down to the lakeshore for a view of Bardwell Lake.

Lots of flowers booming along the lake shore as well.

Some ragwort added some yellow color to the scene.

It was a really beautiful spot and the wildflowers were really in peak.

I spotted some milkvetch before we took off.

We hiked back to the car and took off.

We continued driving along the Ennis Bluebonnet Trail north away from town.

The farms and fields were just beautiful with all the flowers.

This is all private property, though, so we had to settle for pictures from the car.

After finishing up the loop, we were getting hungry and stopped at Bluebonnet BBQ for an early dinner.  After dinner, we headed into Waxahachie and checked into the Super 8 after a very long day.