Dirt road to oil well site in Barker Reservoir in winter

The Tim Miles Trail in Barker Reservoir

This is a side trail branching off from Noble Road Trail inside Barker Reservoir, running first south on the edge of the wetlands restoration area that was devastated by a wild fire in 2011, then turns West and ends at a fenced oil well site with a number of large tanks. This dirt road does not have a name; so I am identifying it by the name of the Oil Lease (Tim Miles) to which it leads. Unlike Noble Road Trail, which crosses the park and links up with the Barker-Clodine Road bike-hike trial, the Tim Miles Trail is a cul-de-sac that does not get much foot or bicycle traffic. The West Houston sunsets from the North-South section of the trail can be pretty awesome, though, rivaling the scenic sunsets on the lake right behind the Dam. While there is no water here most of the year, and thus no reflection of the setting sun, the charred tree trunks limbs make for a ghastly silhouette against the blue and orange evening sky. The wildfire raged here in the Fall of 2012 and effects are very much still present, especially in the winter when the greenery is gone.   

Drought at the Lake

Comeback of George Bush Park Wilderness after the 2011 Wildfire

Miles Lease gravel road inside George Bush Park

Wetlands Restoration Area inside the Barker Reservoir

South of Noble Road Trail behind Barker Dam

This trail runs along the perimeter of the US Army Corps of Engineers officially designated Wetlands Restoration Area inside George Bush Park. It is essentially a cul-de-sac and even less traveled by humans than Noble Road Trail, from which it branches off at a right angle near the edges of the a lake to the North and the better known one to the South, which is visible from the top of the dam, has a number of benches and open meadow area along its shores. 

The lake to the South of Noble Road is better known and more popular. No doubt because it is a great place for romantic sunsets, or just a place to watch great sunset without any romance, period.


There are some signs posted where the Tim Miles access trail branches off from Noble Road, but they are not all readily visible over the summer because of the more ample vegetation, except for the one that bans dogs (and their poop) from the grounds. (It’s all going down to Buffalo Bayou and on to the Bay via the Ship Channel).

Initially Tim Miles trail runs straight South and may have connected in the past all the way down to Westheimer Parkway. Not sure. I would not want to venture down there, lest I end up in the shooting range. 

Warning Sign elsewhere in George Bush Park

As of today, the gravel road makes a sharp right turn at a 90 degree angle and continues westward until it reaches the Tim Miles lease parcel, which is fenced off and has a number of oil tanks in it, with metal rods sticking into the sky on which birds occasionally roost. 

Tim Miles Lease well site with oil tank

In theory, you could continue to the West, but if there ever was a road or trail there, it is now covered in chest-high vegetation – at least during the warmer part of the year – and cannot really be called a trail. I have not ventured beyond.

The trail is lined almost throughout its entire length by a trench running North-South on the Eastern side, and one running West-East after the turn (North of the trail).

These ditches fill with water after a good rain and are totally dry at other times. The segments of the Miles Lease Trail runs alongside what is designated a wetlands restoration area. This whole area was devastated by a large-scale bushfire in 2011. 

All of the young trees on the open land are dead. Most still remain as charred skeletons. They create an eerie, yet inspiring, vista as the prairie grass and undergrowth is back is if nothing happened and furnishes a bed of green from which the charred trunks and branches jot up into the sky.

On a pretty day, this makes for a landscape in green, black, and blue … and white … if there are some clouds too to complete the composition. Gradually, the black deadwood is coming down during storms, and a few tree limbs have fallen on the trail here and there.  

When wet but not flooded, there will be puddles on the gravel road and snakes may hang out near them, which is true of Noble Road trail too. Watch your step. There are plenty of insects along the way. Of greatest aesthetic appeal are the butterflies. The most common one seems to be the Gulf Frittilary, which has different color and patterns on the upside and bottom sides of its wings. The top side is almost solidly orange with a few specks, the bottom side is white with more of a pattern. 

Depending on the season, there may also be Monarchs, Admirals, Buckeyes, and even Swallowtails. 

Additionally, there are dragonflies here too, as elsewhere in the area, but probably not as numerous as around the lakes and waterholes unless the road-side ditch are flooded after heavy rain.  They like to hunt above the surface and lay their eggs in shallow water. 

Reddish (roseate) skimmer dragonfly

Vegetation alongside the trail in Fall

 

Overgrown access road to Tim Miles Lease oil well site inside Barker Reservoir

Wildfire Aftermath - George Bush Park a year after the fire raged inside Barker Reservoir

A wildfire devastated large swaths of George Bush Park in West Houston a year ago, leaving a wasteland in its wake. 

But nature is showing its resilience and has been re-greening the area from the bottom up, aided by much more frequent and abundant precipitation starting in January and through the remainder of the current year, causing the low-lying areas in the reservoir to fill with run-off several times already after heavy rain, including this week.

The grassland and bushes are back as if nothing had happened. The trees that were lost, however, will not be replaced as quickly. What's left of them -- charred skeletons sticking up into the sky -- provide an eerie reminder of the impact of last year's record-setting drought followed by large-scale fires.

Regreening of the meadow in the wetlands restoration area, but the trees singed by the wildfire
in September 2011 are beyond recuperation

Fungus growing on a charred tree trunk

Landscape along Noble Road Trail inside Barker Reservoir

Fungi at work helping decompose charred tree trunk

Silhouette against evening sky of a burnt tree that remained leafless
all summer and will eventually come down in a storm

Orange-colored sunset glow behind a web of branches bare of leaves provides reminder of the bush fire that laid waste
to this wooded area of Barker Reservoir a year ago

When the wetlands aren't wet: Drought in the Reservoir

Gallery of nature pics taken in Barker Reservoir in hot & dry conditions in mid and late Summer. Compared to the extreme drought last year (2011), which also saw large swaths of grassland and trees in Bush Park turned to ashes by wildfire, there is still a lot of greenery this year. The areas shown were under water several times already this year. Look at the last picture from mid-July for comparison.

Reservoir grounds that are periodically inundated, but totally dry
in this picture taken in September 2012

Dry creekbed turns into a trail

Mud tower

Wetlands area with a few green grass stalks

Snail digging in as the bottom of the reservoir dries up

Debris that prior floodings and water movement left in their wake

Soil at low elevation spot in the reservoir shows cracks after drying up

And this is how this part of the reservoir looked only a couple of months ago:

George Bush Park partially submerged in waters retained by Barker Dam after heavy rain (June 16, 2012)