January’s park is Bastrop State Park. When I talked to
park employees at the front office, one of the first thing I heard about was
the “Lost Pines” that are found in the park. They’re actually Loblolly Pines,
the same type of trees found over 100 miles east of Bastrop Texas. These trees
grow very well, despite adapting to about 30 percent less rainfall in the
Bastrop area. A wildfire destroyed much of the plant life at this park in 2011.
There are still dead trees and partially fire damaged ones in the park. Not
only was there loss of wildlife and plants, but two people who lived in the
area lost their lives. According to the park employees, one lady died when
going back to rescue her horse and a man died attempting to go back for a tool
box.
This Administration building is near the cabins. The signs are in front of both dying and new growth.
I expected to see a sad sight with just grass
remaining since I was aware of the fire that raged through the area despite
firefighters fighting the blaze. Instead, I saw healthy trees remaining and
newly planted pines along with trees just growing on their own–as they do in
any forest. These new trees, along with those not destroyed by the fire,
convinced me that they will thrive and make the area even more beautiful for
those who love walking or driving through forest lands.
Bastrop State Park had a ten acre lake–Bastrop Lake–that
disappeared after a dam failure last Memorial Day weekend. The water all
escaped the area, much of it ending up in the Colorado River. Eight inches of
rain fell in one hour and flooded the lake to the point that it destroyed the
dam and caused the water to drain within days of the dam breaking. During my
visit to Bastrop, I observed engineers working in the dry area where the lake
once was, studying how to bring this lake back again.
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Danger signs are above the site of the former Bastrop Lake and Lake Mina in the photo below.
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Lake Mina was the second small lake at Bastrop and now
is the only lake. I was informed that it’s a good fishing spot.
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed many
buildings at Bastrop State Park. Cabins built by these CCC workers are still
available for rent at the park. Cabins 1-5 and thirteen are built of stone
while 6-12 and fourteen are log cabins. All were constructed of native
materials. I stayed in cabin one: just viewing the exterior and interior stone
and carving around the fireplace was worth the modest price charged for the
rental property.
Cabin one with our park transportation in front of the beautiful scene.
I found little trash when looking for items to pick up
during this usual part of my park visit. Although I picked up trash, I failed
to take a picture of it.
While on the subject of trash, it’s worth mentioning
the recycling efforts. Bastrop has the best recycling program I’ve run into at
any of the Texas parks I visited. Plastic bags are available at the front desk
and park visitors are encouraged to take one to dispose of recyclable items
(such as cans, paper, plastics and glass) while enjoying the park. There was a
separate trash can in the cabin for recycling purposes also. I applaud the park
employees who adopted this program and hope to see the idea spreading to all
Texas parks.
As usual, I loved this Texas park and was sad to be
leaving so soon.
