HHH had a great walk in Eagle Lake!  Charles Abel was the trailmaster and he received many compliments on the choice of start/finish and the walk itself.  The Prairie Edge Museum is indeed an interesting collection of artifacts.  We all enjoyed browsing.  85 walkers participated in the walk route that took us by the lake and through historic neighborhoods.

Thanks to all of the volunteers that helped out! Pat Powers, Daryl and Diane Troyer, John and Cindy Brahm, and Mary Wheat manned Start/Finish.  Yvonne Mattingly manned the checkpoint.  In addition to being the trailmaster, Charles Abel was our greeter and trail sweeper.

2006 - February - Buffalo Bayou   contributed by Daralynn and Ken Schubert

Thanks to all of the 71 walkers who braved the wind and low temperatures to participate in the Buffalo Bayou walk on Saturday!  The sun was bright, the rain staying away.  Many walkers commented that they enjoy this trail.  Houston does have some nice paths for walking.  A few walkers said that they heard the bats at the Waugh Street bridge.  We appreciate Hickory Hollow for letting us use their facility as our start/finish point.  We enjoyed their delicious barbeque for lunch.  Next time, I think I'll try the chicken fried steak.  It looks great!

Mike Shay did an excellent job as our trail master for this walk:  checking out the trail, correcting directions, confirming the start/finish, and marking the route.  Thanks to our other volunteers:  Ruth Milburn, Linda Risinger, Mary Wheat, Lydia Blagg, Martha Youngblood, Karen Cormier, and Debbie Doyle.

All of the workers in Houston Happy Hikers are volunteers, please consider helping us out on a walk in the future.  It's fun!  You get to meet new people and give a bit back to the club for sponsoring the walks.  Mark your calendars for March 18th when we travel to High Island to walk a new trail planned by Mary Wheat.  It will go through at least two different bird sanctuaries.  See you on the trail!

Did you know that one of the prime birding locations in the world is near Houston, in Galveston County?  The bird sanctuaries in High Island provided us with a wonderful place to walk, but they offered so much more.  We saw Roseate Spoonbills, Snowy Egrets, herons, cormorants, redwing blackbirds, and more. In great numbers!  And, the best is yet to come during late March, April, and early May.  That is when the migrating birds may land in the sanctuaries.  You may want to visit High Island again to see the birds... I do!

In addition to the birds, the sanctuaries offer shaded trails to walk, many wildflowers, and other animals such as turtles and alligators.  As Ken and I stood at the edge of a pond watching birds, an alligator popped his eyes out of the water just feet from us.  He just eyed us until we decided to move on.

We had 53 walkers participate on Saturday.  Mary Wheat was our trailmaster.  She did a great job of planning this new walk for HHH.  I think it should be a repeater.  The weather was a bit threatening, but we didn't have more than a sprinkle of rain.  The wind kept the mosquitoes away, and the sun peeked through the clouds at times.  Catherine Kellner and Mary marked the trail.  Start/Finish was manned by Pat Powers, Doris Hanneman, and Linda Risinger. LaDora and Eric Jernigan and Yvonne Mattingly staffed the checkpoint.  Linda Risinger and Margaret Stevens helped Mary to sweep the trail.  Thanks to all of these volunteers!

Several volunteers have already signed up for the April 1st walk at Bear Creek.  We'll be sending out a schedule with a request later this week.  See you on April Fools Day!

Andy and Tina Howard did a wonderful job as trailmasters for our walk at Bear Creek Pioneers Park on April 1st.  They checked out the route, made the reservations for the pavilion, wrote the directions, marked the map, and marked the trail.  They even provided cupcakes for the walkers!  What more could we ask for? Thank you, Andy and Tina!

56 walkers enjoyed the park, walk, and cupcakes.  A few of us brought picnic lunches also.  The trail wound through the picnic grounds, across a creek, and by sports fields where kids of all ages were playing soccer, baseball, or softball.  The trail then passed a zoo, a duck pond, and a war memorial.  Bear Creek is a large park with a variety of things to offer.

On the way back to the pavilion for the finish, we saw a dog trainer working with pets and their owners.  Very interesting!  Especially when he came over to the pavilion and demonstrated some training tips with Lyn Clark's dog.

Our Start/Finish was staffed by Pat Powers, Keith & Lynn Clark, Eric & LaDora Jernigan, and Linda Risinger.  The Checkpoint was manned by Rob Yannescone and Yvonne Mattingly.  Thanks to all of these volunteers!

Put May 6th on your calendar for our walk at Brazos Bend State Park. This is a repeat of a trail that many of us thoroughly enjoy.

We got a late start on Saturday with the walk at Brazos Bend State Park due to the bad weather, but the 25 walkers who came on out were rewarded with another great event.  Ken and I started out at about 9:30 am.  It was still a bit drizzly, but not too bad.  The wildlife behaved as if it were sunrise:  birds started to sing, deer were out grazing, and a rabbit hopped by the trail.  When we walked, the alligators were mostly in the water and pretty much lying still.  Later walkers reported more activity from the alligators.  As we headed back by Elm Lake, Ken and I stopped at one of the observation decks to look and listen.  We heard a chorus of alligators and bull frogs along with the bird calls.  We watched as two bull frogs rolled around in the mud.  One small alligator lay in the water just beside the deck.  As we moved to look more closely (still up on the deck), he quickly moved out into the water.  The alligators can move quickly when they decide to!  For those of you who don't enjoy being close to alligators:  the park ranger, David, told us that in the 14 years he has been at Brazos Bend, not one person or pet has been harmed by the alligators.

Delores Bentke did a great job as trailmaster for this walk.  Charles Pfieffer and Catherine Kellner helped her out.  They were able to route the trail along the Pilant Slough this year.  In years past, that trail has been too muddy to use.  Lack of rain this year made that trail useable.  John and Cindy Brahm arrived at the walk early and helped set up the start/finish as well as worked the table for a shift.  Other volunteers included Pat Powers and Eric & LaDora Jernigan. Yvonne Mattingly and Rob Yannescone offered to man checkpoints, but we did not have them sit out in the rain to do that.  Thanks for the offer, though!

Our next event is June 3rd at Terry Hershey Park.  This event will be in conjunction with National Trails Day.  Notice that the start/finish times are different. Start will be 8:00 to 10:00 with finish by 1:00.  This is intended to get everyone out of the heat before too late in the afternoon.  See you on the trail!

Our walk at Terry Hershey Park was well attended today.  The weather turned out clear and warm (warm enough to make us appreciate the past efforts of tree planting along the trail!).  This year the tree planting project in conjunction with National Trails Day took place farther out Hwy 6 than our walk route takes us.

A total of 78 walkers participated in the event.  The walk provided a community service in that about 30 children and chaperones from Houston Community Centers participated.  One group of 7 completed the entire 10K.

Frank Forestier was our trailmaster for this event, marking the route and sweeping the trail after the walk.  We had some new volunteers helping out.  We appreciate all of our volunteers:  Pat Powers, Delores Bentke, Val Stuart, and Susan Doyle at Start/Finish; Kathy Sanders, Kevin Sanders, and Yvonne Mattingly at the Checkpoint.  Ken Schubert manned the extra checkpoint at the reservoir.

NOTE:  Houston Happy Hikers will not be having scheduled events in July or August.  The YREs that start at the Holiday Inn, Medical Center are up and running again. You may choose to do one of these (Rice University, Herman Park, or Medical Center) this summer.  You are allowed to get credit for the same YRE once in the first six months of the year and once in the last six months.  So, for credit, you can do the walks in June, then again in July or later in the year. Of course, you can complete the YREs as often as you like for distance credit or just for exercise.  Remember to use precautions for heat:  hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, and lots of water.  Since the start for the medical center walks is a hotel, the walk box is available for you to walk early in the morning or late in the evening.  Don't forget about our Huntsville YRE and San Jacinto YRE also!

Have a great summer!  We'll see you again on September 30th at Lake Houston State Park.  See you on the trail!  Ken & Daralyn

Janice Hatten was the trailmaster for the Houston Happy Hikers walk at Jack Brooks Park on Saturday. It was a beautiful day to walk in a great Galveston County park. Most of the hiking trails were too wet and muddy to use, so we had to walk on roads more than we had planned, but this was still an enjoyable walk. Some of you may want to visit the park again when the weather is drier. Thanks to Janice for her suggestion of the location and for helping to plan the walk.  Other volunteers include Pat Powers, Ruth Milburn, Mary Wheat, and Rob Yannescone. Thank you for your help!   Ken & Daralyn

Wow!  112 participants!  Yep, you read that correctly.  112 participants at our January event that started at the Mosquito Cafe in Galveston.  We were happy to have members from the Houston Singles Source [almost 20 people] join us as one of their events.  Hope to see them again. It couldn't have been the weather.  Rainy and overcast in the early morning, on the way to the Start.  However, rain had stopped by arrival and sun broke out later in the day.  Did I tell you there were 112 participants? 

The Mosquito Cafe is on 14th Street, between G and F Streets.   The route went down to and around UTMB and back up Ferry Road.  Onto the seawall at 1st and Broadway.  With all the fog and overcast, pretty eerie.  You could hear the beach waves but not see them.  Buildings loomed out of the distance.  Turning north at 21st Street, we wound our way through the fringe of the Silk Stocking district and past the Bishop's Palace.  A very nice route, nicely laid out and easy to follow through instructions and a map [although rumor had it that a few people did get a bit confused and added some "bonus" distance to their walk].

We had lots of fun learning, walking and socializing at Richmond. Richmond has many historical sites. We learned about the ferry that crossed the Brazos River from Betsy Vaughan, a lady who now owns the house where the workers stayed to take care of the ferry. We saw the graves of Jane Long, and Lamar, the jail museum, countless old homes, the Moore museum, the Ft. Bend Courthouse , US Indian Building and churches. We listened to the bells ring the hours either from the churches or the courthouse. An additional surprise of the walk was the meeting of the Gulf Coast Wood Turners and their showings were fascinating. Many shops and restaurants welcomed us. I did forget to point out the watering trough to my group.

Hope to see you at Brenham on April 21. It should be an interesting town. The same week-end Burton, a nearby community, is also having a festival. Mark your calendars!

2007 - May - Huntsville State Park   contributed by Catherine Kellner

Bill Joyce and Dean Isaac planned a very nice walk for the club and vistors last Saturday, May 19, at the Huntsville State Park. Bill and Dean did a wonderful job of marking the trail, coordinating the water stations and sweeping the trail. There were others that helped with the walk including Pat Powers, Mary Wheat, Ken & Daralyn Schubert, Leslie Penton and myself. Several of us got together and tried the Huntsville food on Friday and Saturday. It is really a neat feeling after you are really tired to sit around and talk. Anytime anybody wants to socialize, just speak up, most of us are willing and ready for a nice visit.

We had an early walk through Terry Hershey Park system. Terry Hershey park is really unique. You start walking near Memorial Drive and go down to Eldridge, then to Hwy 6. This is all done either along Buffalo Bayou or along the trail system. Most of the way was covered by overhanging trees. We walked up the stairs at the dam and saw all of the water. The dam protects the the city from flooding. It was all so pleasant and beautiful. We did have a few bikes to walk around, but everyone seemed to get along just fine.  We always find something unique and different at each walk.

Walk for the fun of it and walk for your health. Walking is so good for each of us whether we are young or have many years. I personally am walking because of the scenery , for my bones and to socialize. What are you going to walk for? Think about it and lets all pitch in as a group to help each other accomplish our goals. Hope to see each one of you in September or October. Any special requests can be sent directly to me . We thank each member for taking the time to support our Houston Happy Hikers walking club. It is so wonderful for the people that organize the walks to see so many of you come and support the club . We value each member.

We also want to thank the volunteers for giving several hours of their day to make this walk at Terry Hershey Park possible. You, the volunteer is what makes the walks happen.  Thanks to: Susan Doyle, Frank Forester, Ken Schubert, Patrick Powers, Leslie Penton, John & Pat Deibel, and Catherine Kelllner.  Thanks and have a wonderful week. We'll see you at the 2007 Convention in Sacramento, California.

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