By Brandt Mannchen
In February, I went with several friends to hike the 25-acre Peckinpaugh Preserve and the 2,100-acre Spring Trails Preserve in Montgomery County, Texas. I hadn’t been to these preserves in about 15 years. It was a treat to see them again and walk their wild woods and enjoy the beauty of Spring Creek.
One of the best things to happen to northern Harris County and southern Montgomery County is the Spring Creek Greenway. This stretch of “greenbelt” goes about 40 miles from the West Fork of the San Jacinto River to past SH 249 near Tomball, Texas.
Alhough additional lands are being sought to protect this major tributary of the West Fork of the San Jacinto River and the greenway isn’t complete or continuous, the progress made is breathtaking and both counties should be given “kudos” for this urban wild land and riverscape.
In addition to wild woods, there is a wonderful Nature Center at Peckinpaugh Preserve that is the best I have seen in our area. It contains many terrariums, aquariums, and large cages with insects, snakes, toad, frogs, salamanders, fish, and birds. There are also many displays of skeletons and skulls of different creatures. You can easily get a great biological education just by reading and observing all that the Nature Center presents.
I enjoyed seeing Bluegill Pond, which is on the north side of the Preserve and just east of the Nature Center. It had Turkey Vultures soaring overhead and Pied-billed Grebes and Ring-necked Ducks splashing and diving in the pond, between rafts of Spatterdock floating plants with yellow blooms and heart-shaped leaves that provide homes for Red-eared Sliders and frogs.
The woods that surround the Nature Center and lead you to Spring Creek have many swales, sand hummocks, and other stream features and are important floodplain landscapes that store, evaporate, and soak up floodwaters and rainfall. Some of the vegetation that I saw in these Preserves included:
Loblolly Pine, Water Oak, Southern Red Oak, Cherrybark Oak, Dwarf Palmetto, Hackberry, American Elm, American Holly, Sweetgum, American Hornbeam, Water Hickory, Eastern Hop Hornbeam, Resurrection Fern, greenbrier, grape vine, Yaupon Holly, American Sycamore, River Birch, Red Bay, Cherry Laurel, Gum Bumelia, Common Persimmon, Green Ash, Canadian Black Snakeroot, Southern Magnolia, Shumard Oak, Bitternut Hickory, Elephant-foot, Crow Poison, and wood sorrel.
American Crow, American Robin, Bluejay, and other birds were seen and heard throughout the forest. Some early insects included Monarch Butterflies, Gulf Fritillary Butterflies, and skippers.
It’s sad that the noise is loud near the Nature Center because the Grand Parkway and Riley Fuzzell Road are on the border of the Preserves. However, the farther you hike into the forest and away from the roads the quieter it gets where you can enjoy solitude, natural sounds, and silence.
Truly the Peckinpaugh and Spring Trails Preserves are great places to visit and enjoy decompressing from our everyday hustle and bustle. It’s worth it to find yourself back in the woods, along Spring Creek, with no worries or cares. To slow down, to enjoy life, is truly a rare and beautiful thing.