Since it has been so hot, I arrived at Incarnate Word super early in the morning. It was still a little dark when I hiked up to the Blue Hole, Grotto, and Villa. The moon was bright in the sky.

I walked the trails in reverse so that it would be lighter by the time I got to the Circle of the Springs. This is the Great Oak Trail going towards the Miller Springs Trailhead.

This is on the Miller Springs Trail. It is blocking what some visitors might mistake for the trail. The volunteers clearing this section cut some paths while working that will eventually grow over.

At one point, you reach this blockade on the Miller Springs Trail. They are working in the area beyond it, and don't want to risk harming anyone.

This is a sunny spot on the Miller Springs Trail. Even before they cleared parts of the area, this little space was lighter than the rest of the trail. Notice how the trail ahead is dark and looks like you are entering a tunnel.

Fast forward to St. Brigid's Path. This is an interesting short trail that runs behind the football stadium. There is a creek bed down to the left and a steep hill on the right. It is usually the coolest part of my trail duty. However, if it is muggy and still, it can be less comfortable. Today it was nice.

This is just a large patch of poison ivy on the side of St. Brigid's Path. If you have been viewing my blog for long, you know I am kind of obsessed with poison ivy. I think it is a beautiful plant.

St. Brigid's Oak stands guard near the end of the path. There is a little opening in the trunk near the ground that people treat like a shrine.

This shows the view when returning back to the start of St. Bridgid's Path. It ends at the road.

You cross the road and get on this walkway which takes you to St. Bridgid's Trail. You can tell it is still a little on the dark side because the lights are still on.

St. Brigid's Trail and the Great Oak Trail have a lot of these spider nests. They are another thing I am obsessed with and show up on my blog a lot.

This is just one of the mighty oaks along the Sanctuary trails.

This shows the end of St. Brigid's Trail. Where the bench is you can either turn right onto the Great Oak Trail or keep going straight. When you go straight, you are also on the Great Oak Trail.

The Great Oak Trail is pretty dramatic. There are several giant felled oaks growing moss on their trunks. Birds chatter constantly, but are really hard to see here. Plus, on the left, behind the trees, 281 passes by with its heavy, and sometimes noisy traffic.

I love the way the trail has narrow dark passages and wide light ones.

This is another stretch of the Great Oak Trail.

In some spaces the ground is littered with old trunks of long gone trees that are nearly covered and hidden by vines.

You can see the brighter light shining through an area in the distance that has been cleared and restored by volunteers. A lot of work goes into making a natural preserve "natural" again after decades of neglect.

This is what the woods should look like. There is enough light for the ground to have some grasses and other plants. Where the trees are too thick, nothing grows below them.

The twists and turns of the trails lead you from one beautiful sight to another.

The sun shining through is magical.

This is another beautiful tree on the Great Oak Trail.

While I was taking this shot, an older gentleman met me coming from the other direction. He told me that the holes in the ground where from cicadas and explained how they started life underground. I politely told him that I had seen some cicada holes, but these were doodlebug holes. I told him about doodlebugs, which is what I grew up calling antlion larva. He was skeptical until I picked up a tiny piece of a twig and dropped it on one of the holes. Look them up online, if you didn't grow up playing with them. I have never seen so many of them on a trail before.

This is the Olmos Dam Trail just after turning on to it from the intersection near the Circle of the Springs.

This is another part of the Olmos Dam Trail.

This is one last view of the Olmos Dam Trail.

This is the Heritage Loop Trail.