Knob Hill Trail

I've had great success with hiking books covering the Denver and Crested Butte areas. Taryn was thoughtful enough to get me Best Hikes Near Dallas/Fort Worth for Christmas. And with clear, warm conditions today, the kids and I went off to do one fairly close to home -- the Knob Creek Trail in Roanoke.

The trail is popular with mountain bikers, who we weren't interested in dodging.  So we quickly diverted to a hiker-only path that led pretty directly to Denton Creek.

It may be warmer here than in Colorado, but it's still winter.  So the trees here are just as bare of foliage.

Even with the leaves fallen, there's still a good amount of green in the form of vines, grass and algae.  Zak and Taryn crossed the creek on some logs, which I wasn't interested in attempting with muddy boots and carrying camera gear.

This shot reminds me a lot of the cover of the Into the Woods soundtrack, which I find an interesting coincidence since we just saw the movie on Saturday.  The movie is pretty good, for what that's worth.

I didn't expect to see a rope swing over the creek.  The water must be deeper than it looks, or the creek must rise quite a bit in the summer.  Or maybe both.

It took me a while to figure out that this sign originally read "RIFLES AND PISTOLS PROHIBITED."  Texans clearly have a strong sense of irony.

Dead prairie plants aren't devoid of character.  Quite the contrary.

All in all, a decent hike.  It was more of an exploration than a hike, but that just made it even more fun. :)