Forest Ridge
Back when trail riding was still pretty new, there were world-class trails to ride right here in our Austin City Limits. Forest Ridge stands out as one of the greatest. The entire length of old Spicewood Spgs. Rd. was bordered by cedar woods. These woods were laced with jeep track that was cut by the one-time residents of that area: the Jollyville Cedar Choppers. It was commonplace to enter the trail on the South side and be able to ride for hours and/or miles without retracing your path. You could make it to 3M, veer over to Jester, up to Great Hills, or just stay in the woods on highly technical, rocky paths. The water tower was the most common destination which reminds me of one of the greatest losses that has been incurred due to the zealousness of the nature conservationists.
Let's say your were heading for the water tower, once past it, there was a nice hill that had several highly technical paths to its summit. Once there, the landscape opened up to a beautiful open field about 1/2 acre in size. Who knows when or how it got started but in this open field, there were literally hundreds of rock sculptures, more like found object assemblies, scattered across the landscape. Some of these were random piles of rock yet some were amazingly artistic. They either resembled an intentional figure or had an abstract balance that conveyed beauty. In any case, this glade was one of those "secrets" that insiders enjoyed and the majority of the population had no concept of its existence. That is until the Balcones Canyonlands Conservation folks got involved.
First, fences were erected to deny access to the hill top (hikers, bikers, all denied). Artificially introduced plants were brought it to try to shield/hide previous trails. Weekly work teams spent time on the hill covering, hiding and generally trying to "naturalize" the area. I support conservation efforts and although I don't agree with some of their tactics, saving land as natural vs. developing it all is a good thing.
So... I mostly lived by the rules, staying on the approved trails but my mind kept going back to what was behind those fences. More than once, I crossed the fence just to get at some of that technical hill-climb. I knew I was a scofflaw but I figured that I must be GrandFather'ed into access if I respected the area. On one of these trips into no-man's land, I made my way to the open glade. I was shocked to see that each and every piece of rock sculpture had been methodically and systematically destroyed. The nature police had roared through there "naturalizing" each instance of human touch. I was deeply saddened.
I know very well the wilderness adage that "trash begets trash" so at one level, I can see justification of destroying an expression of Austin art. This was no Umlauf Garden but it was a beautiful place. However, I don't believe that the warblers care one way or the other and by now, the fences would have isolated that area enough that nature would have cloaked it anyway.
I'm still mad about this yet due to it's secret nature, there's no one that even knows vaguely what I'm talking about should I bring it up. Oh well, like the other good memories that I hold close, it matters most that I remember.