[ARDF] Bastrop State Park

[Kenneth E. Harker]

ARDF friends,

     The 2008 USA ARDF Championships were held in Bastrop State Park in 
central Texas.  For those of you who attended, you will remember that 
the park was predominantly a loblolly pine forest.  The "lost pines" are 
unique in that they are an isolated pine forest separated from the rest of 
the loblolly pines that cover the southeastern USA by over 100 miles. 
The park was used annually for classic orienteering meets as well as our 
ARDF events.
 
     In September, 2011, the worst wildfire in the history of Texas 
started when power lines along a highway on the northern border of the 
park were knocked down into drought-dry grasses along the road during 
heavy winds.  96% of the park burned.  The park is 5296 acres, and less 
than 100 acres of the pine forest in the park survived.  Around the park, 
over 34,356 acres acres burned, 1673 homes were destroyed or damaged, 
and 2 people died.

    We drove through the park today.  It will be decades before we can 
hold orienteering or ARDF events in the park again.  I took a few photos.  
The photos do not really convey the experience.  You do not need to have a 
Facebook account to see these photos using this link:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.817892661571517.1073741838.100000523731017&type=1&l=50c820ea3b

-- 
Kenneth E. Harker WM5R
kenharker at kenharker.com
http://www.kenharker.com/