Have you seen my maples anywhere?

Why do they call it Lost Maples if you can find it? We drove to Lost Maples today to go hiking and it was absolutely beautiful. Not all the leaves have changed but enough to make for a beautiful picture. The weather was awesome if not a little cold for me but it was perfect weather for hiking with an overwhelming abundance of sunshine.

Here I am at the trail head of our 5 mile hike obviously feeling a little camera shy and timid.

Someone got over herself real quick and really loved this trail, it was like something out of a movie. I was so happy at the beginning of the trail, look how I'm smiling and full of energy until...

See this picture I like to call it foreshadowing, because while I was totally kidding when we came upon the sign, it all came full circle once we started the stairway to Satan's penthouse. This sign states 1.5 miles of steep trail ahead and what you don't know about me is I have instant karma. Today was no exception and karma almost killed me on the 1.5 miles of UPHILL trail. This pose was one I had to repeat many times on the way up - I believe we had to stop and rest at least 4 times, along with many other hikers we encountered in the "resting" position as well, because it was a 5 mile hike.

My husband was showing me what a stud he was by sprinting up Satan's stairs but at a couple of points he had to actually pull me up over rocks. Every time we thought we had reached the top there were more steep hills and bigger rocks ahead but we forged on.

The view was breathtaking until we realized that trail we saw was the one we needed to get down to in order to get out of here. Holy Hell we're only half way?! It's 5 miles! By now I'm thinking they should have donkey rentals up here to carry me down.

This was a long and rocky path downhill and by the time we got to the bottom I had passed out on a sunning rock. 5 miles can do that to a person. I kept thinking I was going to slip down this hell, oops I meant hill, and pick up so much speed that by the time I got to the bottom my clothes would have just been shredded all to pieces and I'd be a naked quivering mass of blood and bone.

Apparently, only the top of my head made it down to the water. Big Red and the rest of me caught up in time to snap this picture of us smiling because we were almost at the end of our 5 mile hike.

This hike was so beautiful and we need to take more drives to the Hill Country. All I kept thinking on the drive out there was why would anyone want to live in such a remote area? I get that it is gorgeous but damn! I complain all the time on how crowded S.A. is. How much traffic and new homes there are here, but give me an H.E.B. , Chinese food and Starbucks right down the street and all is forgiven.

We ended up stopping in Medina at the apple store to snack on apple turnovers, apple ice cream, apple butter...you get the picture. They're famous for apples! By the time we got to Bandera we were starving and stopped at the OST for some real food. The thing I love about Bandera is the old fashioned western ambiance of it. All these people just riding horses down main street.

While neither my husband and I are native Texans and have been here for almost 9 years, we just love going out and discovering parts of Texas that we really do love.

Did I mention it was a 5 mile hike?

K