Tag: Central Texas

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Field Trip: Museo Benini and Middleton Ranch Hike, Saturday, April 27, 2024

[4/14 directions updated. Left on FM 2147; 4/12, option to park inside Middleton Ranch gate added]

image of museum entrance

— by Cindy Chrisler

  • What:   Museo Benini and Middleton Ranch Field Trip
  • When:  Saturday, April 27, 2024
    • 10:30 AM-11:30AM – Museo Benini
    • (optional) 11:30 AM – Middleton Ranch hike
  • Where: 
    • Museo Benini, 3440 FM2147, Marble Falls, TX 78654.
      • Directions: From FM 1431, take 281 south for about 2.5 miles to FM 2147.  Turn left on FM 2147 and proceed 3.2 miles to Museo Benini.
    • Middleton Ranch directions will be provided at the field trip
  • Our field trip is free and open to the public. Reservations are not required.

Meet at Museo Benini at 10:30 AM to tour the site and view their wildflowers.  Optionally you may enter the museum and visit the artwork (free admission).

At 11:30, those who wish to continue to the Middleton Ranch will be given directions and a waiver to sign.  It takes about 20 minutes to get from the museum to the Middleton Ranch.  The ranch roads are one-way gravel, and there are some ruts and steep hills, but you do not need high clearance. (My husband’s MG can handle the road!)  You are invited to bring a picnic lunch and eat in the shade of live oak trees.  Bring lawn chairs and your picnic lunch.  The chapter will provide a dessert and water.  Bathrooms are available.  After lunch, Cindy Chrisler will lead a guided hike around the property, and you may wander after that until 5:00 p.m., although you may leave earlier if you like.

If you are uncomfortable driving your vehicle on the ranch roads, you may park inside the gate and we will transport you to the property and back to the gate.

Wear clothing appropriate for the weather, including closed toed shoes and long pants if you plan to go on the guided hike at the Middleton Ranch.  Participants may also want to use insect repellent. 

The Middleton Ranch is a working cattle ranch and cattle roam freely.  Some terrain is uneven, steep, and rocky in places. The guided hike will mostly be on flat areas, but there are some spots that are steep and rocky and we will cross a shallow creek twice.

image of milkweed
image of blooming wildflower
image of blooming wildflower

Above: flowers at the Middleton Ranch

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See photos from other field trips ==>

Field Trip Photo Album
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Wildflower Wanders at Balcones Canyonlands

Wildflower Wanders are hikes in Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge planned by the Friends of BCNWR. Wildflower Wanders help people learn about identifying plants and the importance of native plants.  The hikes below are coming up soon, planned as a balance of walks that are easy, combined with some that are harder. Register at the links. (Though these hikes are not NPSOT events, the particular hikes below are led by NPSOT-Wilco members Gary Bowers and Cindy Chrisler.)

See the Friends of BCNWR’s events calendar here.

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2024 Ashe Juniper Symposium

News from Biodiversity Works:

Early registration is open now for Biodiversity Works’ 2024 Ashe Juniper Symposium on May 8-9, 2024, in Austin, Texas.  The goal of the symposium is “to advance the collective understanding of the science of Ashe juniper and facilitate applications of this understanding into management and conservation of sustainable, resilient and ecologically-appropriate ecosystems.” 

Biodiversity Works, a non-profit organization based in Austin, Texas, provides technical and financial assistance to private landowners for the purposes of designing, implementing and monitoring habitat restoration and enhancement projects for rare, threatened and endangered species in Texas.

Click on this link for more information about the symposium or to register.

Ashe Juniper sign
Ashe Juniper with NPSOT-Williamson County Interpretive Plant Sign. Brushy Creek Regional Trail.