Let’s switch gears just a bit and return to mid-March and east Texas at Huntsville State Park. We took a three-day weekend and headed off an hour north of the house to this state park. It’s one of my favorites and so easily accessible off of I-45—and it’s huge, in addition to being adjacent to Sam Houston National Forest. I’m lumping all of our hikes together into one post because I didn’t take a ton of photos. And I’m surprised I barely took any photos at our campsite. We were in the Raven Hill camping area at campsite 21 which backed up to a wooded area separating the other loop…

Sand Phacelia, Phacelia patuliflora Texas Ragwort, Senecio ampullaceus Shepherd’s-Purse, Capsella bursa-pastoris Texas bluebonnet, Lupinus texensis Western Tansy Mustard, Descurainia pinnata Texas Paintbrush, Castilleja indivisa Texas Toadflax, Nuttallanthus texanus Texas Ragwort, Senecio ampullaceus Selaginella corallina We arrived to Inks Lake State Park in late February on an early Friday afternoon. Being as it was Friday, the park itself was rather quiet at first, before the Austin weekend crowd arrived. There were some folks already set up in their RVs, trailers, and tents but otherwise it was a quiet situation. Our campsite was tucked away on a quiet loop towards the back of the park next to a fishing pier and cleaning…

Coral Berry, Symphoricarpos orbiculatus Ten petal anemone, Anemone berlandieri Forest took the following photos: In early February we made a our first camping trip since Thanksgiving. Bad weather had thwarted a couple of reservations before then and it appeared that bad weather was going to thwart this one. I know I’ve mentioned here before that it is one thing to be on a backpacking trip and having to hike all day and make progress and it is another to be camping with a kid and have to be able to entertain him while camping even if the weather is bad–I’d rather stay home and entertain a kid with all of…

Our major hike at SLRSP was the Fawn Trail. We’d hiked a bit of this trail before the last time we were here when we’d connected it to the West Canyon Loop Trail. For the first portion of the trail it more or less follows the contour of a creek bed. Of course we took time to stop and inspect holes for potential wildlife… And there were interesting hunting blinds to inspect. Christmas Cholla, Cylindropuntia leptocaulis Our first find was this interesting antique can, a relic from the property’s ranch days. Cartilage Lichen, Ramalina celastri Slender Orange-Bush lichen, Teloschistes exilis Ruffle Lichens, Parmotrema sp. The vegetation along the creek opened…

Our trip to DFW after Christmas was chilly as per usual, though certainly no tenuous drive across Tarrant county as roads were icing like last year! We had one day where Chris and I were itching to get a hike in, to feel some movement, and so we went over to Tandy Hills for a short jaunt through the park. Zoe was game to go with us so we left Forest with Grayson under the eye of my Mom so they could play together for a bit. Being as it was winter, not a lot was going on. There have been several fires there recently, not for a controlled burn,…

As per usual, snippets of interesting information is interspersed in the photos and the main write up is at the end! Milkweed seeds blown in the wind. Cottonwoods + Blue Sky A caterpilllar in the tiger moth family—maybe a salt marsh moth? Cactus wren (Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus) nest Nylon Hedgehog Cactus, Echinocereus chloranthus Havard’s Century Plant, Agave havardiana Texas Brown Tarantula, Aphonopelma hentzi — not alive! I’m equal parts sad and also glad it wasn’t alive when we encountered it. Yes, still working on the giant spider phobia. Little Nipple Cactus, Mammillaria meiacantha Texas Mountain Laurel, Dermatophyllum (formerly Sophora) secundiflorum Ornate Tree Lizard, Urosaurus ornatus Tree Cholla, Cylindropuntia imbricata On the…

I’m going to skip ahead a bit as I edit photos of our time at Davis Mountains State Park and go straight to our first hike on the Indian Lodge Trail on our first full day at the park. I’ll be putting together other posts about our campsite, trips to the bird blinds, wildlife, and sunsets at the overlook on Skyline Drive separately. Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay, Aphelocoma woodhouseii We drove over to the trailhead and parked in the parking area behind the lodge. A scrubjay was perched in some trees nearby so we took the opportunity to get a few photos before we started. I had been calling these scrub jays…

Ephedra sp. I put a guess up on iNaturalist and my guess was wrong—I figured it would be—but someone with more insect knowledge suggested Darkling Beetles, Family Tenebrionidae. Maybe I’ll investigate further soon. I’m fairly certain this is Eaton’s Lipfern, Myriopteris rufa. Nylon Hedgehog Cactus, Echinocereus chloranthus Echinocereus coccineus ssp. transpecosensis Star Cloak Fern, Notholaena standleyi Mitre Peak–We came to Fort Davis from Alpine via Tx 118 and this peak was a stunner from the road as we drove by and I noticed a sign for a county park (I believe) as we passed by. I had wished we’d had time to stop in and thought we might make a…