Texas is so big!! It’s not likely we will ever get to all four corners and destinations between, so we were glad to have the opportunity to stop off in San Antonio for a brief visit on our way to Livingston. Escapees, the RV club we belong to is headquartered in Livingston, a small town about 75 miles northeast of Houston. We spent a few weeks at Rainbow’s End (the name of the RV park) in November 2007 when we first retired (see blog entry http://beckylaine.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html for details). We decided to stop here again this year on our way to Michigan, and arrived on April 1st. Rainbow’s End is a nice place to just kick back and relax, or to become involved with the many daily activities sponsored by Escapees. There are a few recreational spots in the area as well. We’ve been doing a little of each – kicking back, and recreating!
Double Lake Recreation Area is in nearby Coldspring and offers a little of everything including camping, picnicking, hiking, and biking. Dan and I took advantage of one very beautiful Spring day to ride the 8-mile mountain bike trail that meanders around the lake. I love the trail – it’s through the woods, so definitely “off road”, but it’s not so rugged that I can’t enjoy it. There are enough roots, sharp turns, and changes in trail conditions to make it interesting (meaning I have to pay attention!), and the ups and downs are very gentle. But the trail doesn’t hang out over steep drop offs nor are there big boulders to negotiate, or creek crossings. My kind of trail! (Dan may have wished for something a little more challenging…)
Double Lake Recreation Area is in nearby Coldspring and offers a little of everything including camping, picnicking, hiking, and biking. Dan and I took advantage of one very beautiful Spring day to ride the 8-mile mountain bike trail that meanders around the lake. I love the trail – it’s through the woods, so definitely “off road”, but it’s not so rugged that I can’t enjoy it. There are enough roots, sharp turns, and changes in trail conditions to make it interesting (meaning I have to pay attention!), and the ups and downs are very gentle. But the trail doesn’t hang out over steep drop offs nor are there big boulders to negotiate, or creek crossings. My kind of trail! (Dan may have wished for something a little more challenging…)
Yesterday we drove to Big Thicket National Preserve near Dallardsville for a day hike. The preserve was established to protect a complex biological diversity of life forms, including virgin pine and cypress forest, hardwood forest, meadow and black water swamp. What is so extraordinary is not the rarity or abundance of the life forms found here, but how many species coexist. From the Big Thicket website: “Major North American biological influences bump up against each other here: southeastern swamps, Appalachians, eastern forests, central plains, and southwest deserts. Bogs sit near arid sandhills. Eastern bluebirds nest near roadrunners. There are 85 tree species, more than 60 shrubs, and nearly 1,000 other flowering plants, including 26 ferns and allies, 20 orchids and four of North America's five type of insect-eating plants. Nearly 300 kinds of birds live here or migrate through. Fifty reptile species include a small, rarely seen population of alligators. Amphibious frogs and toads abound.” Big Thicket covers 97,000 acres, so we surely only saw a glimpse of all the preserve has to offer. But we did hear a symphony of insects and birds, and the bright yellow wild daisies abounded. We didn’t see any of the four carnivorous plants that can be found here (and only five species can be found in the entire United States) – that probably explains all the bugs! There was evidence of Hurricane Ike (September 2008) along the trail, with tree tops snapped off, and some totally down.
(Pictures on this post are from Big Thicket)
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