Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

About 25 miles north of Goose Island is the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge — a 115,000 acre refuge located on a peninsula jutting out into San Antonio Bay. The refuge is known as a wintering spot for whooping cranes and has a number of walks through the oak scrub and through the marshy areas.

We took a number of the recommended hikes:

• Heron Flats: This is supposed to be a loop, but currently is out and back because of a trail closure. We saw roseata spoonbills, white and blue heron, egrets, little blue heron, lots of ducks and hawks, and a couple of alligators.
• Bay Overlook: Not much of a hike, but a nice view up and down the coast. The walk in takes you under an incredibly large live oak. Did spot a couple of hawks(?) falcons (?).
• Dagger Point: This trail was a bit of a disappointment. The part of the trail along the bay is closed because of cliff erosion, and we started the more interior loop but found it to be too overgrown to be pleasant.
• Jones Lake Overlook: Not really a hike, but a platform to see the lake and wildlife. The lake is full of ducks (merganser and others) and we saw 8 sunbathing-alligators without looking too hard.
• Big Tree Trail: An extremely pleasant walk under densely-packed, gnarled oaks with a stop at a platform overlooking the marsh and bay. Along the way is the “Big Tree” — a tree that is estimated to have sprouted in 1540 — about the time of Coronado’s explorations.
• Observation towers: There are two observation towers — 20 feet and 40 feet. The forty foot tower (handicapped accessible) gives a 360-degree view of the marsh and bay. With binoculars we could see many heron, ducks, and pelicans as well as two whooping cranes. Not the most exciting spotting, but we can say we have seen them.

On our way back out of the park we saw one armadillo grazing on the roadside and caught a fleeting glimpse of a wild boar racing through an opening in the woods.

Our trip back to Goose Island was uneventful, although very windy — 30-mile-per-hour gusts. The same storm that is about to bring the east coast record snows dropped the temperature here and brought sun and blue skies. We took a walk on the fishing pier at the state park, but could hardly keep our hats on. As the tide was relatively low there was a number of plover who were picking through the shells on the beaches, and we spotted one large jelly fish washed up with shrimp in its belly. All of the beaches here are primarily shells and gravel — not sand.

-- Janet (text) and David (photos)