On Sunday morning (July 19th) I met my friend and fellow veteran, John Purnell, at Jack White Park for a run/walk.  This park was 'new' for me, even though it's been here for several years.  I've lived in San Antonio for over 20 years and have driven by this road a lot and never knew this park was here until John told me about it.  So for this run/walk I went 'exploring' in it and took a few photos along the way.

This park is part of the Salado Creek Greenway trails system.  San Antonio over the past several years has been developing and improving its off-road hike-and-bike trails and getting lots of different trail systems connected to each other.  John told me ir you did this entire trail one way,  this particular trail goes for about 18 miles, all the way down to Pecan Valley Park, passing a golf course along the way, the trails near Wheatley Heights Stadium complex, and going through the trails in Martin Luther King park too.  So you can get a REALLY long run or bike ride on this trail system.

I did a run/walk on this trail, ending up with 4.3 miles.  John kept me company on his bike until my first walk break and then he went back to the trail-head to meet a friend who was coming out and they would meet up with me later on the trail.

When you start at the trailhead in Jack White Park - which also happens to be the HQ location of the San Antonio Park Police - the first thing you come to is this memorial for Officer D. Rivers who was in a cycle accident and was killed when he came off his bike and his head hit this tree.  Wow, that is awful; my heart goes out to his family.

This is a very peaceful trail with lots of shade trees along the way and a mix of asphalt and cement paved trails.

If you want even more additional mileage, this park's trails connect with this other park's trails.

Nice mile markers along the way, with mileage listed, and a 'trail location' on the marker in case of emergency, so you can report your trail location  to 911

Trail runs along Salado Creek, and gives you some views of the creek along the way

There are a few inclines along the way, but nothing you can really call a hill

This golf course that borders the park was my turn-around point - just a tad over 2 miles from where I started

I don't know what these purple flowers are, but they were in a lot of places along the trail, adding a bit of color to the greenery along the trail

On the way back to the trailhead where I started and the shade trees were very much appreciated now that the morning was progressing and it was getting a bit warmer out there.

As I was taking this photo below, this cyclist went zipping past me and hit one of the wood pieces in the middle of the trail with his tire and 'zig-zagged" a bit - for a second or two there I thought he was gonna bite the dust , but he made it okay - so I stopped and took some time to kick this debris off to the side to clear the trail.  I'd feel really guilty if I hadn't and then read or heard later that someone had taken a fall at this spot and gotten injured.

This is annoying too...littering is one of my pet peeves!  I don't get why folks are too lazy to carry their trash out and want to spoil the natural beauty of these trails.  I had a little under a mile to go so I picked this up and carried it back with me to dispose of it.  Just a little bit after this I met John and his friend going out doing their walk and John jokingly told me he was glad I'd picked it up, it saved him from carrying it back.  lol.   I will say this, though - this was the only piece of trash I saw on my whole route, so the park service does a heckuva job keeping this area really clean.

OK, I didn't get this...you pass under this highway/road bridge, which also has a separate covered thingy you go through...why?  The only thing I could think of is for protection if people throw stuff off the bridge - and I sure hope THAT isn't it - or maybe when it rains heavily there is some kind of 'waterfall effect' from the bridge onto the trail, so this other covering thingy protects the trail and its users from that.  The way it's slanted, it seems like that would be for water run-off, so I think that's probably it.

Back to the highway underpass - this is Interstate 35 area near Fort Sam Houston - so almost done now.   As I got to the underpass part of the trail a big ole truck was zipping along the highway above

You get a couple more views of the creek as you do this last part of the trail that takes you back to the trailhead

And right before you finish, you have to climb a bit to get back to the trailhead; you can't really call this a hill - unless you live in Houston - but it is the longest incline I saw and did on the trail.

I finished and got some water and did a bit of a cooldown walk.  John soon got back with his friend and friend's son - and my apologies, I know John told me their names, but they've gone right out of my head now.  The son, by the way, is one of 3 triplets. We 3 veterans - two retired Marines and me, the "noncombatant"  retired Air Force guy - enjoyed our post exercise swapping 'retired old farts' war stories.  A very pleasant run/walk and a very pleasant fellowship afterwards.

John (red shirt), and his friend and friend's son - who apparently is the only one of the 3 triplets who likes to run and so keeps his Dad company on these outings.  Three really great people.  I've known John for several years and he is a great guy and also has his own running business, Purnell Racing.   It was a real pleasure to meet John's friend and his son too, both very friendly and outgoing.  Looking forward to seeing them again sometime.

This park must be one of the best kept secrets in San Antonio because it is very little used.  My whole outing I saw only one other runner and 3 cyclists.  I thought this is really crazy because this is a really beautiful park with great trails.  Attention San Antonio area runners, you want a nice peaceful area for a run, this is it!  Definitely worth your while to give it a try!

Great pics.  Thanks for sharing!