Ned and Genie Fritz started the annual Texas Buckeye walks in the ’80s. As they aged out of the walk, Jim Flood continued them until Covid.
When Kristi Kerr Leonard realized the trail’s overgrown condition on the Ned & Genie Fritz Texas Buckeye Trail, she organized teams and tackled more than a year of restoration before resuming the walks in 2023.
Kristi and Amy Martin stepped back from their organizing efforts in January 2026 for health reasons. So a new generation of trail stewards stepped in, making 2026 a transitional year.
So when a cool day arrived during the March heat wave, Amy called a last-minute weekday Texas Buckeye Walk so that annual public tradition could be on record for 2026.
Lyn Ambercrombie, Kathryn Yingling, and Shaima Hakimi stepped up. Enjoy this photo tour of the walk. Photos by Amy, Shaima, and Johnny Wise, who preceded us on a walk with his kids. We all enjoyed a great meal at the Bonton Farms cafe afterward.
Photos by Lyn Ambercrombie, Shaima Hakimi, Amy Martin, and Johnny Wise.
The walk group: Lyn Ambercrombie, Kathryn Yingling, Amy Martin, Shaima Hakimi
We ran into Christine Switzer and Wild + Free East Dallas, an entirely fabulous kids nature group.
Off we went down the paved trail (which does not lead to the buckeyes) toward the soft-surface buckeye trailhead.
Fun wood ear fungi.
We were delighted to find blooming buckeyes on the lead-in trail to the buckeye grove.
We made it to Eileen’s Glen, in fabulous shape after serious privet management work last fall (though much work left to do). Thanks to Trinity Prairie Co. for clearing the privet twice and Trinity Coalition for paying for it both times. And thanks to Brett Johnson and Christopher Morris of Dallas Parks & Recreation for making it all possible.
A few buckeye trees were bounteous with blooms.
Butterflies were everywhere, including these big eastern swallowtails.
Love it when they bloom at eye level.
Shaima comes in for a sniff.
Shaima catching the tall skinny buckeye bedecked in blossoms.
The blossoms!
A uncharacteristically compact buckeye
Such a fuzzy flower.
A baby buckeye, probably in its 2nd or 3rd year.
Heading down the trail along the Trinity looking for Ned, the ancient bur oak.
Eileen’s Glen once looked like this. There are dozens of buckeyes lost in all that privet.
Drawing close to Ned, we pull aside some privet to reveal possibly the finest buckeye specimen yet.
Ned, showing his missing top half. He’s showing green at the very top, so another year of gathering strength awaits.
Sending good energy for Ned for his continuing restoration.
