South Shore Playground parking area to Armadillo Ridge Figure 8
San Angelo State Park
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6/23/2018
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Rating: 
Difficulty:
Distance: 10.80 Miles
Duration: 4 hours, 15 minutes
Leg 1 - Playground parking area > Tasajilla Flats > Nature Loop > Lanky Lackey > Suzanne's Trail > Burkett park 4.0 miles
Leg 2 - Burkett park > Burkett Trail > East Potts Creek > Armadillo (W) > West Potts Creek > Roller Coaster > Lankey Lackey (10m) > Suzanne's Trail > Burkett park 3.8 miles
Leg 3 - Burkett park > Winding Snake > Chaparral > Playground parking area 3.0 miles
Temps start at 79, end at 99. Cloudy at first then sunny. Somewhat steady southerly wind.
Long, hot and dry hike today. Whether it was the heat or the wind, there were few birds out and no wildlife at all. The trails have been groomed for the most part with the exception of West Potts Creek (Leg 2). The areas at both ends of the trail need attention. At the southern end, there is a large tree branch just waiting to snag a speeding bicyclist off his bike as he rounds a curve. At the northern end, the trail has serious erosion problems that could easily cause a hiker to twist his/her ankle if they're not careful. All the other trails were easy to see and relatively smooth. The cactus blooms as well as most of the wild flowers, are gone but at a few points on the hike, I caught whiffs of vanilla which means the bee brush is ready to bloom again.
NOTES
Water, shade, info kiosk and toilets available at Playground parking area.
Water, shade, info kiosk and dry toilets available at Burkett park.
South Shore Playground parking area to Burkett Park and Back
San Angelo State Park
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6/17/2018
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Rating:
Difficulty: 
Distance: 6.50 Miles
Duration: 2 hours, 30 minutes
Out Playground Parking Area > Tasajilla Flats > Horny Toad > Nature Loop > Lanky Lackey > Suzanne's Trail > Burkett park 3.5 miles
Return Burkett Park > Winding Snake > Chaparral > Playground Parking Area 3.0 miles
Temps started in low 80's and ended in low 90's. Cloudy then sunny, light Southerly breeze.
Quiet day for a hike. Park personnel have groomed all, or at least major portions, of the mentioned trails. This caused increased ant activity as the leaf cutter/red ants were working overtime to removed the cut grasses off "their" trail. Saw two fairly large white tail deer, a tarantula (first in quite awhile), no snakes and the usual birds. When the wind died down, the gnat activity markedly increased - no fun!
NOTES
Water, shade, info kiosk and toilets available at Playground parking area.
Water, shade, info kiosk and dry toilets available at Burkett Park.
South Shore Playground Parking Area to Burkett Park Loop
San Angelo State Park
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6/8/2018
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Rating:
Difficulty:
Distance: 7.90 Miles
Duration: 3 hours, 15 minutes
Out Playground parking area > Tasajilla Flats > Nature Loop > Lanky Lackey > Suzanne's Trail > Burkett Park 4.2 miles
Return Burkett park > Winding Snake > Chaparral > Red Dam Loop > Chaparral > Playground parking area 3.7 miles
Temp started at 72, ended at 85. Partly cloudy, intermittent southerly breeze.
Due to the low wind, the gnats were pretty bad today. The trails are visible but are becoming overgrown with vegetation in many places - this is a concern because of the increased possibility of unintentionally stepping on small lizards, horned toads or snakes. The birds were out but not too active and there were no rare or unusual ones observed. Most of the cactus blooms are gone although the few remaining blooms had numerous insects working to get the pollen.
NOTES
Water, shade, info kiosk and toilets available at Playground parking area.
Water, shade, info kiosk and dry toilets available at Burkett park.
North Shore Bell's Trailhead to Cougar Outlook
San Angelo State Park
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5/31/2018
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Rating:
Difficulty:
Distance: 10.00 Miles
Duration: 4 hours, 15 minutes
Out Bell's Trailhead > service road (S) > Dinosaur Trail > Dinosaur Tracks Viewing Area > Dinosaur > Upper Big Hill > Badlands > River Bend > service road (NE) > Cougar Outlook 6.1 miles
Return Cougar Outlook > Javalina > service road (NE) > Lower Ghost Camp > River Bend Ghost Camp > Lower Ghost Camp >South Slick Rock > service road (N) > Scenic Loop > service road (NE) > Shady Trail > Bell's Trailhead 3.9 miles
Temp started at 80, ended at 98. Sunny with a steady breeze.
There were quite a few bees buzzing about with all the flowers and shrubs blooming. All trails were dry and easy to see HOWEVER with the somewhat recent rains, vegetation covered the trails in places. This is significant because today was "Reptile Day". I spotted numerous lizards, two Horned Toads, three rattlesnakes and three coachwhip snakes. All were on, or very close to, the trail; the rattlers and the Horned Toads were sitting/laying directly on the trail.
Consequently, I was not watching much besides where I placed my feet so didn't really see much of the other wildlife at the park.
NOTES
Water is available at the campground by Bell's Trailhead.
Water, shade and info kiosk are available at the Dinosaur Tracks Viewing Area.
Shade, info kiosk and bicycle repair station are available at Cougar Outlook.
Water, shade, info kiosk and dry toilets are available at the River Bend Ghost Camp. Use caution if you use the toilets due to insects and snakes.
South Shore Playground parking area to Burkett park
San Angelo State Park
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5/23/2018
[View Log Page]
Rating:
Difficulty:
Distance: 7.90 Miles
Duration: 3 hours, 30 minutes
Out Playground parking area > Tasajilla Flats > Nature Loop > park road to Isabel Harte > service road (NW) > Lanky Lackey > Suzanne's Trail > Winding Snake (N 20 meters) > Burkett park 4.8 miles
Return Burkett park > Winding Snake > Chaparral > Playground parking area 3.1 miles
Temp started at 70, ended at 82. Sunny, light breeze.
Easy hike along dry, easy to traverse, familiar trails as well as a walk along an old service road. Lots of birds out today - saw four nighthawks hunting, three Vermillion Flycatchers and a Yellow Billed Cuckoo (first I've seen in a year or more) in addition to all the other usual birds. Also saw a couple of cottontail rabbits and some small lizards - no snakes spotted this time!
The heavy rainfall we experienced last week helped "green up" the park and got a few more cactus flowers to bloom. Don't know why but the first wave of cactus blooms were almost all a solid yellow color; today, there were numerous blooms that were orange-ish with distinct red highlights. Saw quite a few yellow flowers and some patches of Mexican Hat flowers. The bee brush is blooming in numerous spots and their vanilla scent was present for most of the hike.
NOTES
Water, shade, info kiosk and toilets available at Playground parking area.
Water, shade, info kiosk and dry toilets available at Burkett park.