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Inspired by the following Houston Press Article and the Tolkien's novels, I've started urban hiking. In The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogy, the characters walk almost their entire journies. The pace of the novel describes the lush scenery created by Tolkein's imagination.

Today I walked from Castle Court, a street one block north of I-59 aka the Southwest Freeway to the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center. I've ridden my bike, taken the bus and driven to this center, but never walked. HANC is located on the south side of Memorial Park. It's named Memorial because of the veterans of WWI. An Army training base once trained soldiers for that same war. Afterwards, the land was donated to the city and at the time was one of the largest parks in a major metropolitian city. Though it's filled with tall pines, these have grown since the twenties when the clear cut land was let return to nature.

A friend once called Houston the land of small wonders because for all of the concrete, strip malls, and glass buildings, Houston has small special niches. Along the way, I documented a few of these special minutiae.

Along the way, I stop by Meredith Gardens, one of Houston's many community gardens. Unbeknownst to many, Houston ranks in the top ten for number of community gardens in North America. Because of the mild winters, gardners can grow almost year round. Once this area was going to serve as the foundation for the Montrose Library. A nearby church was donated to the city and this lot became a dumping ground until the Castle Court Civic Association turned it into a park and community garden. Only last year did the city recognize it as an offical park.

Next I walked by what used to be the Houston Community College building. They sold it to Houston Independent School District as a teacher training center. They found asbestos in it and sold it to someone who demolished it. For about a year, it looked like a post-apocalyptical scene. Now, in the apparent efforts to make underground parking, the developers now have a pond. They had a sump pump to continue the excavation work. Unfortunately, anything below ground in Houston will eventually suffer this fate. During Tropical Storm Allison, homeless people camped out in the underground parking drowned. Houston Grand Opera lost sets and costumes in their underground storage rooms. Generally, it's a bad idea to put things below ground in a city nicknamed, The Bayou City.

Next to the lagoon, Eren Chew Park has sets of playground equipment, pool, basket ball goals, soccer field, baseball diamond and dog park. Neighbors congregate here to have their dogs run and do their doggy business. Amazingly enough, it smells mostly like mulch rather than dog piles.

A quick trip through the neighborhood reveals some cactus tunas that I've sampled before as well as an apartment with pomegrante trees just inside the white wrought iron fence. After passing by Richmond Ave and La Tapatia, I'm home. I grab my backpack and change the batteries in my camera and am out the door.

Two blocks away to Shepherd Dr one of Houston's major thoroughfares. Shops along the way with some more notable ones.

I stop by the cemetery on West Dallas. It was once over-grown and neglected. Some of the tombstones were broken while others were fairly clear and distinct. With the trees overhead and sunlight streaming down, the scene is peaceful. Even though the cemetery is surrounded by new townhouses and office buildings, it's as though time stopped for a moment capturing the resting place of these people who time momentarily forgot.

Finally to Buffalo Bayou. The HANC is upstream down Memorial Drive. Memorial Dr. used to be surrounded by funky, patchwork quilt of neighborhoods, but it's steadily been gentrified over the last decade.

I took a long-cut through mountain bike trails that parallel the street.

Here the forest dims the light even during the brightest parts of the day. On heat maps of Houston, Memorial park is always blue and green shades while the rest of the city bakes in red and oranges.

The soil changes closer to the water becoming more sandy. Small grasses such as Inland Sea Oats grow ocassionally anchoring the banks in place. Large washouts signal where the water flows during Houston's fierce thunderstorms. The water etches steep banks through the pine forests. Sometimes, the water washes away the surrounding soil creating ephemeral pools that stand for a few days before sinking into the clay soil. The palmettos that had been so plentiful in the cemetary are less so here. This area is a large habitat that includes marsh hares and rabbits. They nibble at the new palmetto shoots keeping them from spreading. Since the cemetary is so small, it probably lacks the same rabbit population and the flourishes as a result.

Along the way, I find a couple of interesting plants. Sea Oats grows against on the banks as well as a bamboo like plant. Some conservationists tell me that Texas has a small native bamboo, but it's also easy to get it mixed up with Seaoats. They both have long leaves and sticklike trunks.

Several colorful fungi mark the way as well.

When I leave the woods, I see the last remainents of a meadow of Mexican Hat flowers. At the end of the trip, when passing underneath Loop 610, I see two stacked hats. That's Houston, a city of perplexing contrasts that somehow seem to flow together.

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