It’s looking more and more like our hike at Lake Somerville State Park two weekends ago is going to be our last hike for a good while. Last weekend we had camping reservations at a state park just an hour from here on the west side of Houston but opted to cancel due to the […]
Spotted Tussock Moth (Lophocampa maculata)
As we walked around Skagway and then over to Yakutania Point to go for a hike in the afternoon, we noticed a ton of these wooly bear like caterpillars. They were everywhere! I didn’t identify them until I got home a few months ago and put them into iNaturalist. A more northern and western species, […]
Texas Spring
If there’s one thing we can count in in spring here in Texas it is that the bluebonnets and paintbrushes will continue to rise out of the soil and bloom. The sandyland bluebonnets (Lupinus subcarnosus) were the species blooming on our trip over to Lake Somerville State Park last weekend. Only a few paintbrushes (Castilleja […]
Exploring Skagway, Alaska
If you are anything like me right now you are probably a bundle of nerves. My friend Eliana posted a photo the other day from some travel around Alaska—they emerged from the YK Delta and saw what was going on and had no urge to return to Florida immediately—so they took a trip to Kodiak. […]
Lepidopterans & Sunshine at Lake Somerville State Park
Yesterday I wanted to get out and do some hiking and thought it would be nice to head west to Lake Somerville State Park. We haven’t been there since I was pregnant with Forest in May 2014! Not for lack of interest, though. Every time we checked into going we would find the state park […]
Signs of Spring – Huntsville State Park
Camping two weekends ago at Huntsville State Park was pretty fantastic. The weather was gorgeous for late February and everywhere the signs were out that spring was coming and there was no stopping it. On Saturday we took a 7 mile hike around the lake and got to see what was blooming or beginning to […]
White Pass and Yukon Route Railway
We arrived in Skagway, AK and had approximately 12 hours to do what we wanted. Our first thing on the agenda was to take the White Pass and Yukon Route Railway up to the Canadian border, cross it, and then turn around and come back down to Skagway. I’ve gotta say, all that made me […]
A Fluttering Question
It seems the lepidopterans are ready, they are beginning to emerge from their various states of overwintering and become a little more active. We were camping at Huntsville State Park last weekend and we noticed several species out flying but I wasn’t able to get photos of any but this question mark, Polygonia interrogationis. The […]
Flora, Fungi, and Fauna along the Florida Trail in Bronson State Forest
Let’s wrap up my Florida trip with this final post from my hike at Bronson State Forest. Sand Heath, Ceratiola ericoides Rosemary scrub habitats in Florida are considered to be a particularly endangered habitat. It thrives in sandy, old inland dune habitats and prefers to have a good burn once in a while—and well, you […]
Raptor Leftovers
Every now and then a hike gets you a glimpse of something wild and interesting. In some areas maybe you get to encounter a large mammal—a bear, maybe a panther or bobcat. Sometimes you just get really cool animal interactions like the time we watched a bald eagle steal a fish from an osprey on […]
