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 […]
Pedernales River Explorations Part II
Palafoxia callosa Cooperia drummondii Pluchea white mist flower—not sure, one of these three–> Ageratum, Conoclinium, Eupatorium I couldn’t find a white version in my Texas wildflowers book(s). Senna lindheimeriana While Chris fishes along the Pedernales, I usually take time to poke around the fringes of the rocks to see what plants or invertebrate wildlife may […]
Pedernales River Explorations
Pedernales Falls State Park is one of those state parks you wish was in your backyard. A park that you could easily pop into on a weekday after work or for a good weekend adventure. In some ways, mostly in its size, definitely not in its habitat, it reminds me a bit of Jonathan Dickinson […]
Juniper and Fern Hammock Springs
*Lots of photos, write-up and videos at the end!* #*(&#$*(& Air potato Palamedes swallowtails After our paddle on the Juniper Run, we had nothing else on the agenda so we opted to hang out at the Juniper Springs pool itself and take a walk over to its sister spring, Fern Hammock springs. I had forgotten […]
The 88 Store & The Florida Trail
After we left Astor Park and from visiting the Bartram Tree we continued west down SR 40 through Ocala National Forest. We had thought about going down to Alexander Springs at first but with the rain showers it didn’t seem like an ideal thing to do. Instead, Chris looked at the GPS and opted to […]
Overnight on the Four Notch Loop/Lone Star Trail
Last weekend we made it happen—we got out and did our second backpacking trip with Forest. If you remember last year’s trip, well, we intended to make another trip much sooner than we did. But finally, we made it out and did another overnight with Forest. Now, Forest loves to hike and camp and any […]
Along the Lone Star Trail | Four Notch Section
Over the weekend we got out and stretched our legs a bit on the Lone Star Trail. Chris picked a trail head near Coldspring, NE of I-45. The drive there wasn’t too bad and I want to come back to this section to complete the loop trail here. It would make an excellent day hike […]
January Camping at Lake Livingston State Park
Unlike last year, this time around there was no burst of caterpillars for spring, no thunderstorm to attempt to obliterate our tent, and the freshly poured concrete for the campsite driveway showed signs of aging from the last year. More importantly, the woods were still brown and leafless for the most part—no coloring of green […]
Nopales Ridge Trail | Lake Brownwood State Park
Ah, let’s flash back to Thanksgiving of 2017 once more to wrap up our hiking adventures there, shall we? We haven’t ventured out much so far this year, though I do have some photos to process for one night of camping a couple of weekends ago. I’m hoping that in a few short weeks the […]
The Council Bluff and Texas Oak Trails | Lake Brownwood State Park
It was brisk when we set off on the Council Bluff Trail the day after Thanksgiving. Forest was on foot, something becoming more common these days, but Chris wore the toddler carrying pack just in case. Sometimes Forest is more adventurous and can finish an entire hike but other times he starts slowing day and […]
