The Bastrop State Park is a quick 20-minute drive from my home.  I love to visit the park, picnicking, cooking on the grill or hiking and running the trails.  My memories are peppered with hours spent in the park.

In September 2011 a roaring fire swept through Bastrop County in Central Texas.  The fiery inferno didn’t spare the state park. The resulting devastation affected ninety-six percent of the park as firefighters struggled to extinguish the blaze.   Ultimately, it charred 32,000 acres.

The recovery has been amazing and the many volunteers who work tirelessly to revitalize it are inspiring.

Last Sunday, we arrived at the park for our first visit of the new year. As I tightened my laces, my spirit stirred.  The sandy trail, flowed beneath my sneakers, grabbing  for traction, keeping me sure-footed as  I navigated the rocky trail.

The rustle of the dry leaves falling from the trees whispered, reminiscent of a Texas rattlesnake.

Fallen trees lay tangled, a jigsaw of trunks etched on the ground by spring flooding.  We passed a young hiker garbed in a pink dress and knee high cowboy boots.  She grasped her father’s hand wide eyed as her brother warned us “to watch out for those ants up ahead”.  He punctuated his words with his walking stick, the stick twice his size.

Regal pine trees crooned a melody, their branches, the wind’s violin.  Small white flowers sprinkled across our path an embryo that would soon be plump juicy berries, ripe and tart.

Trudging up slopes I flew down the other side, shedding inhibitions.  I felt free to stumble, laugh, fall and get back up to do it again.  Leaping mud puddles in a single bound, I conquered makeshift bridges and eluded poisonous tendrils of vines alongside the trail.

Fire damage and destruction faded.  Sparks of green climbed over and under fallen and damaged trees.

Seven miles of fun later, wonderfully spent but also energized, I sat.  Warmed by the sun, I enjoyed the song of a bird, the notes carried on the breeze.  Marveling at the unexpected joy of a soul unburdened, my soul and body were restored.  What a precious gift!