Two creek crossings, picturesque canyon walls and beautiful plants like the Texas Madrone tree are what you see for the first part of the McKittrick Canyon Trail. The Madrone trees are really beautiful with smooth, red-tinted inner bark seen after the outer bark peels off on branches that spread outward. The leaves are red-rimmed and the flowers are a pretty lantern or upside-down urn shape. Juniper and maple trees dominate this lower canyon landscape. Then pine trees appear a couple of miles in and scent the air. As proof of this transition, we saw a chipmunk hide in a rock crevice; chipmunks are not desert animals. This is a great place for fall colors, but we are here in the spring.

Wallace Pratt was VP of Standard Oil (Kansas connection: geology and engineering degrees from KU). This limestone cabin was a summer escape from the Houston heat for the Pratt family. Wallace Pratt loved this part of Texas; he lobbied for this national park and donated his property of about 5000 acres to preserve it.

This 7.2-mile (out and back) hike was not really challenging in terms of slope, which was gradual, but it had two lovely destinations to see, so that was a treat. Hiking on to the notch gives one the switchbacks in the trail as it gets steeper.