Lost Maples State Natural Area
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Lost Maples State Natural Area | |
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| Location: | Bandera County, Texas Real County, Texas |
| Nearest city: | Vanderpool |
| Coordinates: | |
| Area: | 2,174 acres (8.8 km²) |
| Established: | 1979 |
| Governing body: | Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
 
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Lost Maples State Natural Area is a state park in the Edwards Plateau of Texas, United States.
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[edit] Location
Lost Maples State Natural Area is located at 29.6833 North, 99.5861 West; this is about 5 miles (8 km) north of Vanderpool, Texas and 71 miles (114 km) west of San Antonio. The park sits along the Sabinal River in western Bandera County and far eastern Real County.
[edit] History
The land for Lost Maples State Natural Area was acquired by the state of Texas in 1973 and 1974, and the park was opened to the public in 1979. In 1980, the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service made the park a national natural landmark.
This area along the upper Sabinal River was inhabited in prehistoric times. The recorded history of the area, beginning with Spanish explorations in the 17th century, identified a number of Indian groups, including the Apache, Lipan Apache and Comanche.
[edit] Bedrock, Soils and Vegetation
Much of the park's limestone bedrock is exposed on elevated terrain, which has a shallow, discontinuous cover of dark gray stony clay (Eckrant series). Most valley bottoms have deep, dark brown silty clay (Krum series) or clay loam (Pratley series). Deposits of gravel, sand, and loam (Orif-Boerne association) lie within a few hundred feet of the Sabinal River. All of these soils are well drained, have free calcium carbonate throughout their profiles, and are moderately alkaline. Among the trees are American Sycamore, Black Walnut, Lacey Oak, Texas Red Oak, Juniper, and Bigtooth Maple (the latter of which was discovered far removed from any maple forest, and thus gave the area the name "lost maples"). The maple colors well in some autumns; the Texas red oak gives an impressive autumn display almost every year. This park is most crowded when the fall colors peak in November.
[edit] Recreation
Lost Maples has been developed only enough to protect its resources while providing access to visitors. The 2,174 acre park contains 11 miles of hiking trails, 30 campsites, and 8 primitive camping areas, some of which have outhouses. In the center of the park are the ponds, two small lakes along Can Creek.
[edit] References
- Lost Maples State Natural Area -- Texas Parks & Wildlife site
- Lost Maples Fall Foliage Report
- Web Soil Survey (select Bandera County, Texas)
- Lost Maples State Natural Area from the Handbook of Texas Online
[edit] External links
- Maps and aerial photos
- WikiSatellite view at WikiMapia
- Street map from MapQuest or Google Local
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
- Satellite image from Google Maps or Microsoft Virtual Earth
