Lost Maples (Canyon, Spur: school, shop, vehicle)

[rd2007]

The full thing is something like 8 miles isn't it? I would imagine a young adult would do just fine, unless they're seriously out of shape and a smoker. I was SO glad I quit smoking while I was going up the steep incline and was amazed to find a bunch of butts on the trail. Smoking was the last thing in the world I was thinking about while trying to catch my breath

[NurseDana]

I jsut heard about Lost Maples today from a patient! Thanks for the additional info and the pictures!

[Rottnboys]

Originally Posted by darkernights

i'm going monday, hope the weather turns out alright.

how are the trails? I haven't hiked for while and wondering if a young adult could make both trails?

HAVE FUN! I'll ditto those who assured you that you should be fine I'm knocking on the door marked 50 - and my dog and I did the full west loop, and part of the east loop last Friday. Some of the inclines (and related descents) on both trails are rocky and can be a bit demanding for any age folks with knee or hip issues. The trails range from flat, with easy smooth dirt, to hilly, with loose medium to large size rocks to navigate. The varying terrain of the trails makes this park even more enjoyable!

We both were ready for more - but the crowds waiting to get in helped us decide to call it early and head for home.

Here's the dog - and the view from the top of the West Trail - through my eyes

[rd2007]

The cool temperatures of this weekend would make it ideal, but I think most of the leaves will be gone by now. There were a lot of them on the ground and blowing in the wind last Saturday.

[luckygreeniii]

We didn't make it up there last weekend, kind of glad since we are not "crowd" people. It does sound like this weekend would be a good time to go, if it isn't too windy maybe those leaves can hang on for a couple more days?

[sapphire]

This is from their website:

11/12/08 Report: The strong winds and rain Sunday and Monday knocked a lot of Maple leaves to the ground. We still have some good color on the East Trail, but the Maple leaves will not last much longer. The Red Oaks are starting to turn in big numbers; they should look good in two weeks. The weather looks good for the coming week, with lots of sunshine. We could get some cold nights, this weekend. They are calling for our first light freeze on Sunday. This will help the Red and Lacy Oaks turn. It has been very busy on weekends with waits of up to three hours to get in park, so come on a week day if you can.

I think it would still be nice.

[darkernights]

Thanks everyone.

Sounds good to me! I kinda like the leaves on the ground stuff too. Hope to throw down some sweet photography.

[rd2007]

It would be a good thing if they got rain because they seriously needed it. Our shoes, clothes, hair, pretty much everything on our body was very dusty by the time we were done. I could shake it out of my hair it was so bad. The pictures from the 12th look like there is still plenty of color and I would recommend getting there around 8ish and if there's a line on 187, have someone get out and buy the tickets. That will save a lot of time.

[sapphire]

It's getting pretty again:

TPWD: Lost Maples State Natural Area Fall Foliage Report

[rd2007]

I was just wondering about this today.. thanks