Essays
Moseying: Exploring the Natural World
This weekend – daytrip in the dunes and hear about the Comanche War Trail
September 13, 2006
“We have to take a daytrip to the dunes tomorrow! The wildflowers are incredible. ” I had called Deborah as I sped along S H 1801 south of Penwell, excited about the results of the August rains. I was returning from the Fort Stockton living history event “Pioneer Days,” where I had portrayed Charles Wright, a pioneer botanist who had walked from San Antonio to El Paso and back in 1849. Despite having talked about plants for two days, I still wanted to stay in “botanist mode” – I love our West Texas Plants!
I had been talking botanical history, not doing the botanizing myself. I had talked about how topographic engineers Lieutenants W.H.C. Whiting and William Smith had refused to let Wright ride the army wagons, but did allow him to keep his specimens in a wagon. To the east of the Pecos River friendly Lipan Apaches led by Castellito and Magoosh had aided the march, but west of the Pecos unfriendly Mescalero Apaches led by Espejo had shadowed the wagon train almost all the way to El Paso.
For my stint at Pioneer Days I created a display of mounted specimens from the Midland County herbarium housed at the Sibley Nature Center, along with a number of collected plant parts. I told visitors a short history of the expedition, and then asked them if they knew any of the plants, or how the plants were used by Indians, or Mexican or Anglo settlers to the region.
A number of the Fort Stockton seventh graders that attended knew several of the plants. An herbalist grandmother had treated one young man with a creosote bush wash the night before for a badly scraped knee. A girl had used Texas (or purple) sage to bring down a fever. An old rancher of the region and I had discussed Comanches visiting Comanche Spring – he was surprised to learn that the expedition had not run into Comanches.
I told him that I believed that was the time period that several Comanche bands under Tave Tuk, Bajo del Sol, Cordero, and a young Mow-way roamed northern Mexico and had not returned up the Comanche War Trail to the winter camps along the breaks every fall. This Saturday, September 16th, at 7:00 p.m at the Sibley Nature Center, I will have a chance to ask an expert on the Comanche War Trail. Mr. John Yates, who has studied the Comanche War Trail for 25 years, is an engaging speaker according to Sammy Hunnicut of Big Spring who has seen Mr. Yates's program four times.
Deborah and I took that daytrip the next day. During eight hours of wandering the dunes we identified 75 species of wildflowers in bloom, along with 22 species of grass and sedge. When late summer rains come, west Texans enjoy “the fifth season” – a second incredible bloom that can even outshine the glories of spring. (See related photoessay.)
About 10 miles south of Penwell over two square miles of sunflowers (mixed with white heliotrope) provided an incredible knockout scene. We stopped and botanized, finding some smaller and more unusual plants hidden among the glory. We then wandered west on S H 1233 to Monahans. West of the bare dune area (with a few 4 wheelers zooming about) we found a series of dunes covered with a stand of annual buckwheat – a white lacy mist arranged in layers of ruffles.
Different areas were dominated by different species. In some places the white heliotrope dominated – especially on the south faces of partially vegetated dunes. Again we noticed that Bull Nettle was common south of I-20, but rare to the north. South of I-20 we found dunes covered with Giant Dropseed, but along Ranch Road 874 and up SH 115 the dunes were covered with Big Bluestem instead. North of I-20 the intensely pink Rayed Palafox became a major addition to the landscape, while south of I-20 we only found it in a few isolated patches. Only the white heliotrope and the yellow camphor daisy were evenly distributed throughout all the dune areas we visited.
After lunch in Monahans and a cruise through the neighborhoods of the town we zipped north through Kermit and headed northeast on FM 115 towards Andrews, but soon turned off on County Road 301. It took us over an hour to travel the few miles to Ranch Road 874 and down it back to FM 115. Those few miles were the most incredible wildflower garden I had ever seen in the dunes.
Several times during August I had noticed the flash flood warnings for the Kermit area. I never heard what their total rainfall had been, but it must have been well over 10 inches. Even though almost a week had passed since the last rain, the area where a roadside park had been at the junction of 874 and 115 still had big puddles of water.
Along FM 181, as we headed home, and just to the south of a band of dunes, we stopped at Bum Lake (named for Bum Cowden), just past the county road named Sheep Pasture Road that leads out to the region of the original Cowden homestead. I had never seen Bum Lake so full of rainwater before (and I have traveled that road several times a year for -- and early migrating Phalaropes were spinning in the water. Thousands of toad tadpoles dimpled the water as they came to the surface for air – which means by the end of the week millions of tiny toads will be hopping away.
Get out and go daytripping this weekend! When our arid landscape explodes with the results of rain, we should celebrate! Get a picnic lunch and a camera – take your kids and grandkids and dogs, and get out in the dunes! If you have a four-wheeler, go to the four-wheeler park just north of the junction of Ranch Road 874 and SH 115 northeast of Kermit. Get out there! Be overwhelmed with the joy that unexpected beauty can bring! (And save a baby toad from getting run over at Bum Lake!)
Related: What glories August rains bring (Photoessay)