Harris Creek Trail

Doug Raasch, who passed away last week,  wrote a trail guide series for the Friends of Hagerman newsletter, Featherless Flyer in 2008, with the first installment published in the  August, 2008 edition; later the trail guides were published independently to hand out to visitors to Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge.  They were last updated in  November, 2013.  We will be publishing one each week for the next four weeks in our blog, honoring his memory and love for the Refuge.    

By Doug Raasch

The Harris Creek Trail sits right at the south entrance to the refuge, literally in the front yard of the Visitor Center.  An information kiosk and wood rail fence defines the small parking area.

The Harris Creek hike has two parts, the lower being the wetland area and the upper consisting of a dryer, more open “Prairie Walk.”  The lower loop is approximately 1¼ miles and the upper loop is 2¼ miles.  The trail can take on a new personality after a heavy rain.  When the lower area floods, the hike becomes a kayak adventure. 

Harris Creek Trail - note - Visitor Center is north of the trailhead.

The new ADA accessible trail begins at the parking lot and completes a 1/2 mile loop back to the trailhead.  As you begin the walk, look up into the large trees along the creek.  A variety of birds is normally evident, busy with their daily search for food.

Never underestimate nature’s capacity for surprise.  Walking Harris Creek twenty years ago with my wife and two young children, we spotted a gathering of about twenty barn owls contentedly perched in these same trees.  Communal roosting is rare for barn owls, but I have never again walked Harris Creek without hope that those owls with the haunting face have returned.

Bring your camera because after about 100 yards there is an observation blind that allows a view of “Duck Pond,” the first of six ponds along the walk.  Wading birds are sometimes available for photo ops.  If you missed the shot from the blind, there is another chance at an overlook 200 feet ahead.  When viewing wildlife, don’t forget to look down as well as up.  

Harris Creek is one of the best spots on the refuge to study tracks.  On a good day with soft ground, the trail surface looks like a stampede from Noah’s Ark.

You will soon notice that the trail is outlined by large, sturdy bluebird houses.  This lengthy bluebird trail has been very successful in increasing the number of bluebirds on the refuge. 

Leave the hard surface trail and take the path that leads to Crawfish Pond. At less than a mile, you will find several benches allowing you to rest and observe.

After leaving the benches, your walk will take you to a three-way intersection where you decide if you will return to the parking lot or hike the “Prairie Walk.” Turn left here for a 1/2 mile walk back.  If you choose to take the upland “Prairie Walk”, you will  sample a different animal habitat.  As you move up the small grade, look right and see the wooded east/west ridgeline, the western end being Crow Hill.  Turkey and deer are common in this area.  As you walk east, you will notice the abundance of dove. Stirred by your presence, they produce a soft, staccato whistle as they leap into the air. 

Your walk takes you to an intersection, where you turn left (north), then after about 200 yards, take the trail to the left  to rejoin the refuge pond system.  You will follow the ponds until reaching Frog Pond and another bench on the right. Rest a bit, then head off to the right for the trailhead.  A unique wetland along the way on the right  side is a great place to look and listen for frogs. Keep bearing right  ahead at the split and you will connect to the hard-surfaced path which leads to the parking area.

Ode to Bois D'Arc

 

Interpretive Sign Along Harris Creek Trail

Twelve interpretive signs were installed along the new loop of Harris Creek Trail at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge  in late April.  Shown above is just one of the signs that add to appreciation and understanding of the habitat and wildlife there.  Several years ago this poem by Don Mathis of Sherman, Texas, was submitted to the Friends, and seems appropriate to publish along with this particular sign:

The Osage Orange is a lowly tree.
French explorers called this wood 'bo dark.'
Natives of the 16th century
used many parts of the wood and bark.

This 'wood of the bow' served well in war.
Bows and war clubs were used on the Plains.
Tannin from bark could help cure leather.
Ropes were twisted for use or exchange.

Dye from the roots yielded a yellow.
It's used to make uniforms khaki.
And it was a creative fellow
who used it for fence in the prairie.

'A hedgerow of bois d'arc was bull-strong,
horse-high, and pig-tight,' old experts said.
Horse Apple fence posts also last long.
The wood is even good for the dead.

Grave markers, gates, and parts for machines,
foundations, wheel rims, and rail-road ties,
were made from the hardest wood ere seen.
It's essence repels mildew and flies.

But like the tree of evil and good,
there's a shady side to the Hedge Ball.
If you try to burn it as fire wood,
wild sparks will fly to directions all!

A tougher, thornier, more tangled
specimen of cantankerousness,
odd grains that grow twisted and angled,
does not exist in the wilderness.

Try to prune bois d'arc limbs if you please,
the branches will bend with your chain saw.
Board Ark lumber splits and cracks with ease.
The toughest wood west of Arkansas.

Thorns adorn this arboreal quirk.
Itchy inch-long spikes will shame barb-wire.
They tried paving streets but it didn't work.
It floats in flood and is fuel for fire.

But like the natives of the Blackland,
the versatile qualities shine through.
Bois d'arc roots grow in clay, loam or sand.
And we're bodacious in all we do!

Don Mathis
Sherman, TX