Airfield Falls

 Over this past weekend, I wanted to find a new place to take my dog on walks. I am not from Fort Worth, so I did a basic google search, and Airfield Falls was one of the top results. Airfield Falls is about a fifteen-minute drive from TCU and borders a U.S. Air Force base. Hence, the name Airfield Falls. The military base was built in 1941 specifically to produce B-24 bombers. The base was then named after a Medal of Honor Recipient until its name changed in 1994 to what it is currently called – the Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base. As you entered the park, a giant C-9 jet was displayed, as shown in the picture below. Along one side of the walkway are plagues and other displays that give a history of the park, the air force base, and what is being done to preserve the water and the waterfall. There is a little pavilion past the C-9 jet display with benches for visitors. This pavilion is the site of the former house of the Air Force Commander who presided over the base. The pavilion incorporates some remnants of the residence in its construction.

If you keep following the path, it will take you over a bridge that crosses the trinity river and out onto another path. As you can tell from the picture below, the water is not that deep and unmoving. You can see the bottom of the water and the reflection of the trees and other foliage around it. I had to walk down the path to take this picture. This picture reminds me a lot of growing up at my house in New Jersey. We had a stream that snaked around the entire edge of my house, and growing up, my brother and I would always be back there either trying to catch frogs or building a bridge from one end to the other using sticks and fallen down branches. The stream was about the same width and shared many similarities with the trinity river in this picture.

Just off the path sat what looked like a stone bench and doorframe just the edge of the woods. It seems very out of place because it does not overlook anything and sits by itself. It leaves many things unanswered because there are other benches throughout the trail that were handmade and purposely laid out for visitors. It was as if the stones were there before the trees and the paths around them came to be. It reminds me of Stonehedge because it just seems out of place.

The next few pictures are from the waterfall section of the park. Airfield falls is home to Tarrant County’s largest natural waterfall, but in the first photo below, only a few pockets of water cascade down the rock. The water did not seem to be moving at all. I did some research and found that most of Tarrant County is in a drought, partially because of our sweltering summer. Looking back at the picture, it is incredible to believe this is a natural waterfall. Along the left side of the waterfall lay stacked stones, and even the shape and structure of the waterfall make it appear anything but natural. From the two photos, the water appears green, but it is also shallow enough for visitors to see the bottom of the river. In the last photo, I am standing on another bridge that crosses the river, and you see the stones stacked along the side of the river, which gives it a lot more character. The stones look as if they are sedimentary limestone shaped over the years.

Throughout my time at TCU, I had never even heard of Airfield falls, let alone ventured to this portion of the trinity river. Even after telling my friends about it, none of them had heard about it. When I was going through the park, all my dog wanted to do was run and splash in the water. People were with their families having picnics, others were on walks like me, some were running or biking, and others were leisurely hanging out at the various trails’ benches. What caught me off guard was how quiet the park was. Yes, you could hear the chatter from people nearby, but there was no sound of car engines nearby, no sound of cars zooming past, no honking, no distant commotion. Whatever you heard as you walked the trails was happening within the park and not from the outside world. A lot has been going on in my personal life that distracts me from what matters. But for the hour that I was at Airfield falls, I could just be me. No judgment from the people around me, no distractions, and to be present, and sometimes I forget to be present.