Travel & Places
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Scenes from TX-17 | Silent Sunday
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Around Camp | Davis Mountains State Park
Our campsite, 41, was not wide but it was spaced so that there was quite a bit of room on either side of us that we weren’t abutting the next campsites. I think the downside to this space was there was really only one spot for the tent which did happen to be closer to one of the campsites. That got frustrating one evening when we were in bed early (because dark and cold!) and the RV next to us decided to bring out a projector screen and watch a movie outside. Ooh boy. Some day I’m going to have a ranty post about campground quiet hours and how I…
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The View from Skyline Drive | Davis Mountains State Park
There are two ways to get to the main Scenic Overlook at Davis Mountains State Park: by car via Skyline Drive or by foot via the Skyline Trail. The trail itself is about 2.6 miles one way with the main overlook, I’m estimating, around halfway or just a bit more than that. We went the easy route, via truck, every evening. Most evenings we went for sunset, though there was one day, possibly the first day, where we arrived earlier and had a lot of daylight left to scope out the scenery below. The views were magnificent! The overlook was a popular place at sunset with many people bringing chairs…
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Seep Loop Trail | Davis Mountains State Park
As with the Limpia Creek Trail, this trail in the state park is on the north side of the highway. I should have mentioned in the post yesterday that you will have to get the combination to the lock to open the gate over there and check in and out of the trail at the park office when you go for your hike. This trail is not on the trail map for the park but it is on the general facility map for the park and is about 1.25 miles round trip. It is very easy going, sloping gently down to Limpia Creek where it crosses/kind of follows the creek.…
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Limpia Creek Trail | Davis Mountains State Park
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…
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The McDonald Observatory
One afternoon during our stay at Davis Mountains State Park we took a short side trip over to the
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Indian Lodge Trail | Davis Mountains State Park
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…
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Clayton’s Overlook Trail | Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center
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…
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A Peek Into The Chihuahuan Desert Botanical Gardens
New Mexico Agave, Agave neomexicana Now that’s a deer/antelope/sheep fence! Cowpen daisy, Verbesina encelioides Queen butterfly Tree cholla, Opuntia imbricata Beaked yucca, Yucca thompsoniana Finally I’m starting these west Texas posts! It was after lunch when we arrived close to Fort Davis and the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute and Botanical Gardens. Chris had found the place in his scouting for other things do in the region and the admission for that day was half price, I believe. Just a day or two before there had been a presentation and book signing with an author on plants for the region and Chris was bummed to have missed it. That didn’t stop…
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Bushwhacking in Sam Houston National Forest
In mid-October Chris mentioned that he wanted to go look for a particular rare plant, Bartonia texana, aka Texas screwstem. It is frequently on the list of protected plants we survey for but here’s the kicker, the photos available for this plant are few and not many people see this plant. It also doesn’t have visible vegetation on it throughout most of the year, sending a flower spike up only when it is time to bloom. Luckily, it also fits a particular habitat niche so you would only come across it in certain locations, and these locations aren’t places most people are going to be trekking to. So, it really…