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…

The final post for Mission Tejas State Park! A few little morsels between photos but a write-up at the end! Indigo Milk Cap, Lactarius indigo: I was so excited to see this! The state park had shared a photo on social media a few days prior to our hike of this cool mushroom and I had seen someone else share their find in Ohio, so I put it on my bucket list to see one of these. We kept our eyes peeled for them but it was Chris who found them in an early morning hike before Forest and I got out of the tent. We went back later to…

Hidden away on the Olen Matchett Trail near a remote corner at the front of Mission Tejas State Park are a set of old CCC tubs. Constructed when the CCC workers had set up camp to construct the state park, the tubs are a few feet downhill from a spring. Before our dinner the night we stayed at the state park we made one last hike to see what this interestingly labeled point on the state park map meant. At a slope behind the top of a hill we found the set of tubs. The spring was at the top, the clean rinsing tub in the middle, and the bathing…

Salvia azurea Liatris elegans Passiflora lutea Oak mistletoe, Phoradendron leucarpum, I think! American Pokeweed, Phytolacca americana Texas Bull Nettle, Cnidoscolus texanus Black walnut, Juglans nigra Before we arrived at the state park that last weekend in October, Chris had noted that there was some kind of trail run going on in the park. I was a little surprised considering the park isn’t huge, but after looking at the park map and seeing that it was adjacent to a Davy Crockett National Forest tract I knew that there was much more here to be explored. The park was very busy when we checked in and we were unable to get to…

*Photos are from my phone, sorry for the sketchy quality* Planning Thanksgiving campouts can be tricky. Is it going to be too cold? Rainy? Sunny and cold is one thing, rainy and cold is another. A few months ago we sat down and made our camping reservations for the year, which you have to do because reservations at popular state parks fill up months in advance, and Chris pinpointed that he really wanted to go the Davis Mountains State Park in Fort Davis. For those unfamiliar with just how big Texas is, this drive from our house to the state park is akin to driving from Washington DC to Portland,…

October felt a million months long. So long that this trip to Lake Livingston State Park feels like it happened about three months ago and not four weeks ago. We only stayed a night and cut our trip short Sunday morning as I wrote about here that Forest had had a rough night from being sick. And I completely forgot I had already somewhat explained here, in that post I referenced, about tagging monarchs. Seriously, October was long. Because we only camped one night we weren’t able to get a site in the Piney Shores Loop, which has had renovations in the last few years and is where we’ve stayed…

I have a new obsession: iNaturalist. I signed up the spring of 2016 when I had my iPhone 4 but didn’t stick to using it because I didn’t enjoy trying to update sightings via the phone. I deleted the app and then kind of forgot about it until I had a conversation with someone who uses it. So, I took a new look at it but this time used the desktop interface online instead. And I’m in love! Mostly I’m trying to (slowly) backlog some photos and I’m not getting very far but I’m trying. The good thing is you can import from Flickr which is perfect because just about…

Previous posts for this park: +Campsite Scenes +The Slough and Forest Trails | Martin Dies State Park +The Wildlife and Island Trails | Martin Dies State Park The first campout for the season didn’t start off quite on the right foot. Rain was predicted for at least Sunday but we ended up having a little of it on Saturday while we were setting up camp. We drove over early on Saturday morning and were making it a long weekend with Monday off. The last time we were at the park we had stayed at campsite 218 across from Gum Slough. I remember liking that little circle because there was no…

In early September we hit up our spot in Sam Houston National Forest for our annual family photos with Forest. The photo session, as it was last year, went very quickly with many grumpy faces all around. Actually, Chris and I weren’t as grumpy as last year, just Forest. He’s been better about taking photos the last few months so I expected it to be easier this year than last. Nope, not easier. We made it quick and then moved the car a quarter mile back down the road to the intersection of the Lone Star Hiking Trail so we could do a short hike. The hike was indeed short…