The Salato Wildlife Center hosts a number of wild animals native to the Eastern US, as well as two distinct hiking trails. The Habitrail is the shorter trail of the two.
The following description is taken from the KDFW Salato website:The Pea Ridge Loop Trail is marked by white blazes. From the beginning of the trail where it branches off of HabiTrek back to this same point, it is a 2.41 mile hike. If you start your hike at the Picnic Shelter Access, it is a 3.17 mile hike. Pea Ridge begins with an easy walk through successional cedar forest, crosses a ridgetop, then descends among mature oak-maple-hickory forest to a small pond. At this point you may choose to go left or right on the "loop". For new hikers unfamiliar with the terminology, a "loop trail" is really a large circle. If you choose to go left, you will eventually come back out on the right, and vice-versa. If you choose the trail to the right the trail follows the bank of the pond, then ascends a steep hill, crossing a wagon road to the left, and climbing to another ridgetop and a junction with the Warbler Ridge Trail. Warbler Ridge is marked with blue blazes. The Pea Ridge Trail proceeds straight ahead and descends steeply along several switchbacks, then ascends again past a number of large rock piles to an old wagon road. We think these rock piles were created to prevent the rushing torrents of flood waters from eroding the agricultural fields that were once here. The trail turns left at the top of the hill and follows the wagon trail for several yards, then crosses an old rock fence and descends gradually through a mossy-floored cedar forest and follows another rock wall. As the forest changes back to mature hardwoods, keep your eyes open for owls! We've spotted several in this area. The trail now turns sharply to the right along a rocky old wagon road, then turns left and gradually cuts across a steep incline toward an ephemeral stream below. It crosses the stream, then climbs back up the hill to rejoin the opposite side of the Warbler Ridge Trail. Turn right to continue on the Pea Ridge Trail and follow it through mixed oak-hickory-buckeye forest with a view of a rocky streambed below. Keep your eyes open for deer and turkey! They love this section! Very soon the trail will come out on the dam at the pond where you chose to take the right-hand trail of the loop. Turn right, cross the dam, and follow the trail back up the hill and along the ridgetop back to rejoin HabiTrek. You've done it! You may shorten your hike by cutting across the Warbler Ridge Trail (0.32 miles) and returning to Salato that way, or you may do a "crazy-8" to lengthen the hike by crossing Warbler Ridge before continuing on the back section of Pea Ridge, then crossing it again to return. In this way you can cover the entire trail without missing any of it! The Warbler Ridge Trail is a short, easy hike that intersects the Pea Ridge Loop. It follows an old rock wall past a few remaining old growth oaks, a small mineral lick, and an old chimney estimated to pre-date the Civil War. Two "ephemeral pools" may be found near the chimney, providing temporary habitat to insects and amphibians following rainfall and snowmelt. Remember: look, but don't harass or try to collect the creatures you may find there!
Rules of Use for Hiking Trails at the Salato Wildlife Education Center
- Open dawn to dusk (may be closed periodically for special events, or for safety)
- Hike at your own risk
- Children must be accompanied by an adult
- Stay on marked trails
- No pets
- If you pack it in, pack it out!
- No camping or campfires
- No hunting, trapping, or fishing
- No collecting of plants, animals, artifacts, or other materials
Cache is placed with permission of Salato staff.