4/6-14/02 Fort Davis National Historic Site Trip Report

April 6-14, 2002
Fort Davis National Historic Site, TX - by Dave DeGroot
This year's trip to the Fort Davis area was an aggressive undertaking involving four segments and coordination of local and Austin based volunteers. The trip leader, Dave DeGroot, traveled to Fort Davis on Friday to conduct a training class for representatives from local agencies on Saturday. Meanwhile, CTTT volunteers traveled from Austin. On Sunday, Trail Tamers and local volunteers teamed up to start working on the construction of a rock retaining wall at the Fort Davis National Historic Site. When completed on Tuesday, the 8ft. long by 6 ft. high wall fixed a nasty section of trail that had eroded, leaving a potentially dangerous situation for users. For our efforts, the crew was treated to lunch at Pop's Grill--home of the best burger west of the Pecos.

On Tuesday evening, the group was joined by two more Trail Tamers and relocated to The Nature Conservancy's Davis Mountains Preserve on Wednesday morning. Three Trail Tamers climbed Mount Livermore that afternoon (it's the seventh highest peak in Texas!) while the rest investigated the flora and fauna nearby where many deer and wild turkey were sighted.

Thursday, a trail design training class was held and included Trail Tamers and members from The Nature Conservancy. Construction of a new trail flagged the previous day began on Friday, emanating from the site of the future interpretive center due to be built next year. By Saturday afternoon, the first leg of the trail was complete and the crew was treated to dinner at the new pizza place in Fort Davis (no one lost weight on this trip).

The Davis Mountains Preserve, owned by The Nature Conservancy, is a unique place unlike any other in Texas. Besides having Texas' 7th highest mountain on it, there are three distinct bio-regions that converge on these 20,000 acres. This is why you'll find rolling grasslands toward the front with mixed riparian habitat including Madrone, oaks, elm, several species of pine (and a few pockets of aspen on Mt. Livermore) near the center and Chihuahuan desert toward the back. It's not hard to imagine oneself in the mountains of Arizona or New Mexico. So...if you missed this one, keep your eyes open for future trips. There is much more trail to be built and CTTT has been asked to help with the effort.