Tips Guides

Mount Bonnell is one of the most historic as well as highest parks in the Austin area, and has been a popular spot for hikers, nature lovers and campers since the mid-1800s. The “mount” for which the park is named is a natural limestone formation and the park is also called Covert Park and is situated alongside and above Lake Austin, and offers panoramic views of the lake and the city from its numerous cliffs overlooking the lake and hills below.

Mount Bonnell has been considered one of Austin’s most well known tourist attractions for years too, and is one of the first place new University of Texas students visit when arriving in Austin, given its notable and historic reputation, frequently by word of mouth from one generation of students to the next.

Mount Bonnell is located in northwest Austin in the Highland Park neighborhood and is accessible from Mount Bonnell Road near its intersection with Ranch Road 2222 and Balcones Drive, and its peak is 780 feet above sea level, the second highest elevated point in Travis County, behind the Jollyville Plateau.

According to legend, the highest point was called Antoinette’s Leap two centuries ago, when a maiden leaped to her death after the capture and killing of her fiance by Native Americans. The name Mount Bonnell came from George Bonnell, who was a prominent Austinite in the mid-1800s and who was active in Travis County affairs. Bonnell was the publisher at the time of a local publication called the Texas Sentinel, now defunct, and was a visitor to the park.

Another interesting feature near Mount Bonnell is the West Austin Antenna Farm, or WAAF, which is a broadcasting facility that can be seen from atop Mount Bonnell and which is comprised of fifteen television and radio towers that broadcast for various local stations, the KXAN tower being the tallest structure in Travis County. The WAAF is located at Loop 360 and Westlake Drive, near Mount Larson, which is directly across Lake Austin from Mount Bonnell and can be seen very clearly form the lookout point atop Mount Bonnell with its sparkling lights. The Antenna Farm includes a very high camera which captures views of the city for various news programs and other media outlets.

Mount Bonnell was dedicated as a park on July 15, 1938, by Frank Covert, and an engraved stone with its name sits atop the pavilion area at the top of Mount Bonnell, with paths leading to and from it through the flora and fauna. There are numerous trails throughout the park, and many are surrounded by cacti, sage, wildflowers and other vegetation.

Many of the trails, especially those that traverse up and down the hills, have natural steps made from exposed rock. There are also a 100 man-made step path that leads from the base of the hill, where the main entrance is located, to the peak and lookout points at the very top of the mount, and is a fairly steep hike, but access to the top can be gained by a less direct but more gentle climb just north of the main entrance.

The park is open from 5:00am to 10:00pm daily and admission is free, but it is important to wear comfortable shoes and beware of insects, ants, and snakes, as they are common in the area. Glorious views of the Austin skyline can be seen, especially at night, and the U.T. Tower looks particularly regal and majestic from the top, so come dressed appropriately, heed the warnings and stay away from the edge of the cliffs, and enjoy Mount Bonnell, one of Austin’s many wonders!

Ki works is a realtor down in Central Texas. He maintains a website about Austin real estate which has a free search for Austin homes along with a frequent market updates on his Austin real estate blog.

Camping - it’s a brute necessity, and one of the most refined and civilized of pleasures. Our remote ancestors would never have survived and evolved without the ability to build strong and protective shelters in the wild - the wiliness and courage to gather or track down their food - and, perhaps most of all, the resourcefulness to entertain themselves and each other in the infinitely long evenings before civilization.

At the same time, we thoroughly civilized, contemporary urban dwellers have the opportunity to appreciate the outdoors in a special way, one that was, perhaps, not available to our faraway forerunners: the way of contrast.
After all, they knew no other way to live. But we have our hyper-busy existences to compare against the unhurried ways of forest and countryside. And serious campers know that their everyday lives enrich their experience of camping, much as the dash of chocolate syrup can just make that dish of vanilla ice cream, or as a glass of good beer or wine enlivens the cigar smoked afterwards.

Camping is one of those timeless American pastimes, like baseball or hiking, that it’s hard to imagine life without. But with government scientists forecasting a continued upswing in extreme weather events - floods, intense storms, droughts, tornadoes, etc. - camping may not always be the easy summer option that it is for most of us today. In an America where, as the Associated Press recently reported, overall summer temperatures are hotter, rainfall more intense and floods more frequent, opportunities for camping may be correspondingly rarer. Which is all the more reason to seize any chance today!

These days, finding a campsite is easy. The National Park Service website maintains a search engine (look for the “Find A Park” service) that enables you to search our country’s vast national park system by name, location, activity and even topic (”American Presidents,” “Caves,” “Civil War,” etc.). Plug in “camping” under the “activity” topic and you can find all sorts of opportunities close to home. And most American localities, even the smallest towns, now have at least one sporting-goods store where you can locate anything from a pup tent to the latest high-tech waterproof tent. (If there’s an army surplus store near you, even better.) Online classified ad sites, many of them free, make it easy to avail yourself of someone else’s lightly-used, high-end camping gear, sometimes for next to nothing - thank goodness for the impulse buys of the affluent.

But though camping gear may be easy to come by, and camping locations too, that doesn’t mean you should approach a weekend in the Great Outdoors as if it were no more challenging or dangerous than a weekend in your TV room, or even a night in your backyard. Here are some things to keep in mind before you go tromping off to the woods:
1) Know basic CPR and First Aid. The Red Cross offers courses in many locations through community-ed programs. Keep a fully stocked and labeled First Aid kit.

2) Wild animals are not your friends. Don’t approach them. Even the small ones. And don’t feed them either - that’s not just a cliche.

3) Hang your food from a tree; don’t keep it in your tent, or you may find yourself feeding wild animals against your will. (And you may be part of the feed.)

4) Be observant. A wilderness area that’s new to you is not the place to go off for one of those absent-minded strolls in which you pay more attention to what’s in your head than what’s on the ground in front of you. You’ll enjoy yourself more if you’re paying attention to the area around you, but you’ll also be more likely to see that rattlesnake while he’s still a relatively safe distance away.

5) Know your own medical history and that of anyone you’re camping with. If anybody in your party has a serious allergy, it’s everyone’s job to keep that person from getting the bee sting that may threaten him or her.

6) Don’t hike by yourself.

7) Do some research beforehand, on the flora and fauna of the area (even if you’re camping close to home), any dangerous animals, and the upcoming weather. The author of this article was once stuck on a camping trip while tornadoes ravaged nearby Minnesota counties. It’s no fun.

Make Smokey the Bear proud. Keep a ring of rocks around your campfire, have a full water bucket on hand as well as a fire extinguisher, build your fire away from flammable items, and “for crying out loud!” don’t ever leave your fire unattended. Make sure it’s extinguished before leaving the grounds, even for a moment.

9) Don’t leave trash.

10) Remember that the camping ground isn’t yours. It was here before you and it’ll be here after you. To put this into practice, here are some “green” camping tips to consider: Avoid using little single-use disposable items or Styrofoam dishes on your trip (you’ll have to do more packing, but it’s worth it). Bring firewood rather than using fallen branches, which contain nutrients that forest soils need. Dump your “gray water” (dish- and shower-water) in the areas designated rather than in the bushes or streams. For those of you who own power generators, consider replacing them with solar panels. Crank-operated flashlights and radios make a lot more sense in the woods than battery-powered ones, too.

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Can genetically modified organisms be defined? Biologists classify every living thing into four basic categories (Plantae, Animalia, Protista and Fungi). Yet, Genetically Modified Organisms could fall under several of those categories and therefore are in a category all their own.

Since Genetically Modified Organisms often contain genes from different kingdoms, they do not fall into any of these categories and cannot technically be considered an animal, a plant, a protist or a fungi. Nor can they simply an animal, vegetable or mineral. They are not even natural (as nature has never combined the DNA of two different Kingdoms, in the history of the planet).

Even when GMOs consist of two species of the plant kingdom or animal kingdom, they are technically a new plant or animal. So, really, what are they?

The GMOs lack of definition is turning out to be a huge blessing for biotech companies and a huge curse for consumers. The fact is, the FDA, EPA and USDA are not even able able to define these GMOs well enough to test and label them properly.

For instance, baccilus thuringiensis (BT) is a bacteria often used as a pesticide. The genes from this bacteria (from the Monera Kingdom) are currently being introduced into food crops (from the Plantae Kingdom) used to create genetically modified food so that the pesticide is no longer outside the plant but part of this new GMO’s DNA.

However, because BT is still considered a pesticide, and our foods are not required to be labeled with any pesticide information, this new GMO food is not required to be labeled to contain the genes of a pesticide within it. This creates a huge safety issue for the consumer, because genetic code cannot be scrubbed or washed off like other pesticides.

In the same vein, many plants we consider food crops are being genetically modified with Glyphosate to create a resistance to pesticides. This means that our food crops can and very well may be sprayed heavier even heavier with pesticides. Which, again, are not required to be labeled.

Issues for consumers even surface when GMO food crops are created from species belonging to the same kingdom.
For instance, when crops of soybeans were combined with genes of a brazil nut, the crop was still allowed to be
referred to as soybeans, creating an issue for those consumers with nut allergies because the brazil nut gene did not have to be legally mentioned in any labeling.

Biotech companies would bear no responsibility, even if a consumer went into anaphylactic shock (a type of allergic reaction which can cause death), because legally they are not required to make these distinctions, due to lack of definition.

So, this brings me to the question, once again… What are GMOs? Maybe, the question we should be asking is - what purpose do they serve?

Many biotech companies would answer this question by telling you that GMOs are going to someday feed the world and end world hunger by producing “new and improved” genetically engineered crops. However, this could not be further from the truth. In fact, hunger is not a food issue but a political and social issue. The hunger problem the world faces is not in the creation of the food but in the systems of delivering the food.

And, in fact, biotech companies are making the world’s food supply less accessible by claiming their food crop seeds to be a “new invention” which is then patented. This means that if you propagate their seed you can actually be sued.

Farmers from all over the world are in fact being sued by huge biotech companies for planting this patented seed. Even if your crop is simply contaminated by their crop and it reproduces their seed by accident, you can be held responsible not only by the biotech companies but by the consumers. Several farmers in the U.S. and Canada have already realized this, thanks to being sued by Monsanto (one of the largest biotech companies in the world) for thousands of dollars.

This issue weighs heavily, on the minds of many farmers. Particularly, it is a question of great importance, to organic farmers. What right does a biotech company have to risk the contamination of other food crops? And, with the questions raised by consumers about GMOs, what will become of the reputation of other farmers (as well as other businesses), if contamination occurs?

In the year 2000, many farmers found the answer, thanks to Aventis and their genetically modified Starlink corn. Starlink corn was banned for human consumption in the U.S. because it could trigger symptoms adverse enough to land people in hospitals. Still, somehow, it found its way into the food supply.

In fact, this genetically modified corn was suspected to have contaminated over 300 products and these products had to be recalled. As a result, farmers and other companies lost enough money to sue for over 10 million dollars. These farmers and other companies did not just lose money, due to Aventis’ GMO corn, they lost their good reputation, as well.

So, again, I ask, what are GMOs, really? We believe it is a question worth asking. Ask yourself, ask the biotech companies and ask the government. Keep asking, until you get an answer you can believe in.

David McKinley: shares his knowledge at Butterfly Garden News. Please visit his website for more info on nature and natural living.

When going for a morning walk, there are many beautiful butterflies in the air and sunning on plants or flowers. Of course, the expectation is that these beautiful creatures will be in your yard, too. Arriving home to a butterfly-free yard can be really disappointing. What can you do to make your backyard a haven for butterflies?

First - Without a doubt, you have to stop using chemical pesticides, fertilizers and herbicides. These are deadly considering that butterflies begin their life as a caterpillar attached to a plant within a cocoon.

Second - once you’ve eliminated this threat, the next important step is to provide ‘host plants’ to support the metamorphosis process. There are specific plants that will attract specific butterflies.

The Black Swallowtail prefers carrots, dill, fennel and parsley where the Great Spangled Fritillary loves violets. The beautiful Monarchs are attracted to milkweed, but the Pearly Crescentspot goes for asters. To attract Pipevine Swallowtails try planting pipevine, of course. Several varieties are Calico Pipe, Dutchman’s Pipe, Rooster Flower and Virginia Snakeroot.

Red-Spotted Purple butterflies are attracted to wild cherry and willow trees. The Spicebush Swallowtail prefers sassafras and spicebush. For the beautiful Viceroy plant cherry, plum, poplar and willow trees.

Third - Once the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into an adult butterfly is completed, they will begin to seek nectar sources. Incorporate into your garden nectar plants that bloom from the start of the season to late summer and fall. Select native nectar plants such as wild columbine; lance leaf coreoposis; rose verbena; swamp and whorled milkweed; New England aster; button bush; butterfly weed; orange, purple Missouri and sweet coneflowers; blue lobelia; cardinal flower; prairie blazing star and Joe Pye weed.

Butterflies will also be attracted to slices of banana, which attract fruit flies. They consume the fruit flies for protein and minerals. Put out a slice of watermelon or overly ripe fruit, and you’ll be amazed at all the butterflies that stop by for a light lunch. There are also a variety of butterfly feeders that hold prepared nectar or fruit.

Fourth - Remember to provide butterflies a place to warm in the sun. One idea is to build a waterless pond. Arrange heat-absorbing rocks on their side in a sunny area. Add sand and salts and keep the rocks moist. Be sure to line the area with plastic to keep salts from leaking into the soil.

Many people enjoy having an attractive butterfly house in their garden. While there is no proof that butterflies use these, it does add a colorful accent.
These colorful houses also make wonderful decorative additions to a porch or sunroom.

The six most common butterfly families you can attract are:

Swallowtails (Papilionidae) - The most noticeable thing about swallowtails is a club-like projection extending from the hind wing. The most common swallowtails include: Easter Tiger, Giant, Spicebush, Eastern Black and Zebra.

Milkweed Butterfly (Daneidae) - These medium to large size butterflies are all power flyers, and all eat various types of milkweed. The most common is the Monarch. The Monarch imitators include: Viceroy, Fritillaries, Mourning Cloaks and Admirals.

Gossamer Wings (Lycaenidae) - Over 100 species of these small butterflies reside in North America. They include the Blues, Coppers and Hairstreaks. The gossamers hold their wings closed over their backs when at rest.

Sulphurs (Pieridae) - The Sulphurs are hard to miss because of their brilliant yellows.

Whites (Pieridae) - Whites are often the first butterflies to be noticed in the spring. Many people assume they are moths due to their lack of color. Male “Whites” and “Sulphurs” are prone to “puddling”, which is gathering in groups near moisture and/or salts.

True Skippers (Hesperiidae) - They are small butterflies that are not particularly attractive, and contain antennae with a telltale fishhook-like curve to the end section. Their flight resembles a stone skipping across the surface of a lake.

Use the tips provided to attract these most beautiful of nature’s creatures so they will become permanent visitors to your garden.

There is nothing more relaxing than sitting in a chair or swing on your patio, deck or porch and watching butterflies make a graceful trip around your yard.

Even in today’s hectic times, all seems right with the world as a butterfly pauses to sip some nectar or relax on a warm rock.

Janet Winter loves her wild birds and delights in providing helpful resources and unique products for feathered friends at WildBirdGoodies.com. She is a web designer, travel agent and writer on many topics including wild birds, babies and pampered dogs.

Known previously as Town Lake, Lady Bird Lake is actually the portion of the Colorado River that runs through the center of Austin, dammed on either end to create a peaceful waterway with plenty of boating opportunities. The Town Lake Corridor, surrounding the water, is full of hike and bike trails, parklands, sports fields, music and festival locations - with views of the Austin skyline competing with the serenity of river’s vistas.

The Town Lake Corridor includes both north and south banks of Lady Bird Lake, bounded by Cesar Chavez to the north, and the appropriately named Riverside to the south, with Tom Miller Dam marking the western boundary, and the Colorado River Park to the east. Within this huge, rambling area, you will find over ten miles of some of the most popular and scenic hike and bike trails located in Austin. Wildly popular, the trails are shared by runners and walkers, bikers and strollers, dogs and people alike. The 8 miles that flank the river are wide, level, shady, and have trail markers, water fountains and benches scattered along the way.

Boating on Lady Bird Lake is perennially popular both for sporting teams and for recreational boaters. No motors are permitted, allowing visitors to enjoy a relaxing day rowing, canoeing, kayaking or peddle boating. The Rowing Dock is a Town Lake Austin Parks and Recreation concession where visitors can rent boats by the hour. They also offer camps, private lessons, classes and memberships.

No visit to Town Lake would be complete without a pilgrimage to the Steve Ray Vaughan Memorial Statue, located on the south side of the River. Mounted by the City of Austin in 1994, the homage to the late great Texas blues guitarist is directly adjacent to Auditorium Shores, not coincidentally one of Austin’s most popular periodic outdoor music venues. Vaughan played Auditorium shores during his abbreviated career, and it remains a top stage, featuring local and national acts.

Town Lake Park boasts 17 ball fields for baseball, football, soccer and rugby, and volleyball, and on its western perimeter adjoins Zilker Park, making this easily the biggest recreational area in the city. Its proximity to downtown Austin means that many dining options can be found within blocks on either side of the water, including the “restaurant row” located on Barton Springs Road. Austin’s perennial favorites such as the Shady Grove, Austin Java, Chuy’s and the Green Mesquite join relative newcomers including P.Terry’s Burger Stand, and Flip Happy Crepes - located in a shining silver Airstream trailer. The popular South Congress and South First dining and shopping areas are in walking distance as well.

On July 26, 2007, the Austin City Council passed a resolution authorizing the renaming of Town Lake to Lady Bird Lake in honor of Lady Bird Johnson, the former First Lady of the United States and a long-time resident of the Austin area. Although Johnson had declined the honor of having the lake renamed for her during her life, her legacy as a proponent of nature and beauty endures after her passing.

Ki lives and works in Austin. He runs a map based Austin MLS search on his site along with detailed information about Austin real estate. His website also has updated info on mortgage interest rates.

There are countless numbers of bodies of water in the world. They range from babbling brooks, which are streams of fresh water that flow above ground, to lakes to extremely large and vast oceans, such as the Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and the largest body of water in the world, the Pacific Ocean. Each body of water is significant in its own way. These bodies of water are used as sources of drinking water or leisurely activities, such as swimming, boating, fishing, and more. This discusses the top 5 largest natural bodies of water found in North America.

Lake Superior, located on the border of Canada and North America, is the largest of the five Great Lakes of North America. This lake is the largest freshwater lake not only in the United States but also in the world by surface area. Bordered by Wisconsin and Michigan in the south and Ontario, Canada and Minnesota in the north, this lake boasts a surface area of 31,820 square miles. Its average depth is 482 feet; its deepest is 1,332 feet. Lake Superior houses several islands, the biggest being Isle Royale, which contains smaller islands within smaller lakes. Due to its vast size, it mimics the behavior and climate of the sea, regulating temperatures during the summer and winter.

The second largest body of water is Lake Huron, one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Its surface area measures at 23,010 square miles, which makes it the third largest fresh water lake on earth. The average depth is 195 feet; its deepest is 750 feet. Originally named La Mer Douce, meaning the fresh-water sea, Lake Huron is named after the Huron people who lived in the area when the French explorers discovered the land.

The third largest body of water is Lake Michigan, which is also one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the only one of the five lakes that is entirely within the United States border, surrounded by the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana. With a surface area of 22,400 square miles, its average depth is 279 feet and its deepest is 923 feet. The state of Michigan and the lake itself is believed to have come from mishigami, meaning great water in Ojibwa Indian.

The fourth largest body of water is Great Bear Lake, Canada’s largest lake. With an average depth of 235 feet and a maximum depth of 1,463 feet, its surface area measures at 12,028 square miles. From November to July, Great Bear Lake is completely covered in ice.

Finally, the fifth largest body of water is Great Slave Lake, also located in Canada. It covers 11,000 square miles with the maximum depth at 615 feet and an average depth of 105 feet. Like Great Bear Lake, it is frozen for about eight months out of the year. Prior to the construction of highways around the lakes in 1967, goods were transported by semi-trailer trucks that traveled on the thick ice.

Rachel Yoshida is a writer of many topics, visit some of her sites, like
Chicago Water Damage Restoration and Boston Water Damage Restoration.