Piedmont Ridge & Comanche Storytelling Place Walk

Saturday, November 4, 2018 2:00 – 5:00 PM

Grover C. Keeton Gold Course, 2323 N. Jim Miller

The educational walk will begin at the field to the north of Grover C. Keeton Golf Course. Park in golf course lot furthest north and look for Master Naturalist who will be clearly identifiable. Leaders will have left one car at Devon Anderson Park to take four drivers back to cars at the golf course lot and shuttle remaining hikers back to their cars.

Timing:
Plan on a three hour rugged ridge hike, approximately 2.8 miles, plus education breaks along the ridge of the great forest which will end at the sacred Comanche Storytelling place.

Difficulty:
Moderate with brief strenuous stretches.  Poison ivy will be in the beginning stages of growth. The landscape offers a rocky ridge, open fields/prairies and open to thick woods.

Attire/Items to bring:
Wear closed toe shoes, pants, long sleeves, bandana, bring insect repellant, 16 ounces of water, snacks and a trash sack. Plan on bathing after hike if allergic to poison ivy.

Suggested age limit is 12 and up, with parental discretion respected as to child’s interest and physical stamina. Parents are required to accompany kids ages 12-18.  While dogs are allowed on this public trail, we do not suggest bringing as some of the houses bordering trail allow their dogs to be loose.

Description:
Prepare for an adventure with anthropologist and educator, Linda Pelon and Texas Master Naturalist and nature explorer, Kristi Kerr Leonard on Piedmont Ridge Trail. This special trail is one of the two historical “Gateway Trails” – the beginning of The Great Trinity Forest, 6000 acres of the largest urban hardwood forest in America located in the Blackland Prairie ecoregion with habitats within that include bottomland hardwood forest, riparian zones, wetlands, open water ponds, prairie remnants, and the Trinity River itself.

Our breaks will cover history, some native American and pioneer cultural aspects, two native prairie remnants, plants, trees, creeks and spring wildflowers.

This soft surface trail provides one of the highest points in the county and great vistas.  It is in a relatively undisturbed section of Dallas’ Trinity River Valley near the confluence of White Rock Creek and the Trinity River is one of the rare and special places where evidence of thousands of years of human occupation is preserved.  Cultural resources present here range from sites of early Native Peoples, through historic Indian tribes, to the land grants of Dallas’ first pioneers.  Sites associated with Freedmen’s farming communities and some of Dallas’ earliest African American urban neighborhood were/are also located here[1] and can be generally seen from the ridge trail.

The Comanche Storytelling Place at Devon Anderson Park has been identified by the Comanche Nation as a sacred holy ground and has been identified as a candidate for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. The natural limestone shaped amphitheater was believed to have been used by Native Americans in the area prior to European settlement.

Walk Leaders:
Kristi Kerr Leonard – https://public.ntmn.org/kristi-kerr-leonard

Linda Pelon – https://public.ntmn.org/linda-pelon

wbw 10/18/18