Zach, Shabree and I left early yesterday morning for another
letterboxing adventure. First we went to Goose Island to try to find
the Silver Eagle's Big Tree letterbox that we couldn't find before.
This time, after re-reading the clues and being better prepared, we
found it without any problem. It is alive and well. We even found a
hitchhiker there! ;) The kids once again read the statistics on the
Big Tree and explored around the other large oak trees on the
property. We didn't see any snakes this time, but Zach and Shabree
had fun watching the many ant lions in action. The first of the
showers that continued intermitently all day caught us there.
Still on Goose Island, we drove to the old Lamar Cemetery, where we
explored and read the old tombstones, as well as took compass
readings and letterboxed.
The town of Lamar was established in 1838, and a one acre parcel of
land was set aside for a cemetery. It was 16 years until the first
person was buried there. That person was Patrick O'Conner, who was a
direct descendent of Roderick O'Connor, the last king of Ireland.
Ironically, O'Connor was sent west for his health, but died only
hours after arriving in Lamar. Eventually, the town ceased to exist,
and the cemetery fell to disuse, and was completely lost in the
dense growth of brush. However, it has been restored since the
1960's and has a historical marker now. It is a very interesting
place, representing many more stories in the history of South Texas.
I wanted to get some photos there, but another shower made us
abandon that idea, and so left Goose Island and drove on to the
Aransas Wildlife Refuge near Tivoli. We stopped in the Wildlife
Interpretative Center, where I bought a yearly pass, this time, and
we looked all around the museum exhibits, picked up some brochures,
and bought a few things in the gift shop. Zachary selected a
portfolio of endangered species cards, while Shabree got a really
cute poster of a baby bobcat. I got two postcards for my album. The
park ranger marked changes on the maps that they gave us. Two trails
are being closed down the Butterfly Trail that I had hoped to see
that day and then the other half of the looped Hog Lake Trail that I
had mentioned in last week. It is the part of the trail where
Funhog's Whooping Crane letterbox is placed. :(
Leaving the Center, we drove on towards the trails. First we parked
at the Bay Overlook, and followed that trail through the very large
canopy of a huge oak tree, and on to the dune `cliffs' over the bay.
The view was quite beautiful. Then we went back under the oak canopy
to read the information about the Civilian Conservation Corps work
in the Refuge during the late 1930's, and relax on the bench for
awhile. After that, we got back in the car and drove to the Jones
Lake viewing area, but walking out to the pier, were disappointed
not to see any alligators. We did see a loudly calling duck fly in,
though.
Next we drove down the side road to the Dagger Point Trail, and
walked only a little way down the overgrown woodsy trail before
turning back and going back to the beginning point where we went the
other way to the wooden overlook. Again there was a beautiful
panoramic view of San Antonio Bay.
Then we returned to our van and drove back to the main road and on
to the Big Tree Trail. Parking and crossing the road to the
trailhead, we started on the longest hike of the day, where we hoped
to find Silver Eagle's Aransas Whooper letterbox. It was really hot,
and that, combined with the intermittent showers all day, had
Zachary and Shabree ready to get back in the car and drive somewhere
to eat, before we had hiked very far. However, we persevered. I was
surprised at the amount of true moss the bright green fuzzy kind
that was growing so profusely on the north side of most of the trees
along the trail. There was still quite a bit of storm damage from
Hurricane Claudette on the trail. The trail was through thick woods,
and there were several large limbs broken over the path, that we had
to step over. The park service had many of them partially cut into
more manageable pieces and some cut wood stacked along the trail. We
still didn't find the `Aransas Whooper', but did see one place that
looked like it could be the one mentioned in the clues. However it
was completely blocked by the bushy top of a huge fallen tree, so we
couldn't check it out further. We returned to the van very hot and
sweaty, to leave the Refuge until the weather gets cooler, and the
broken limbs are cleared away.
This time, since we were there in the late morning, over noon and
the early afternoon, we didn't see as many animals as we did last
week. We only saw 3 does, quite a few birds, and a lot of really
beautiful butterflies of various kinds.
I received word that the nature trail in La Bahia State Park is
going to be open again, with damages repaired, by this weekend, so
unless the weather is bad, (Tropical Storm Grace), I'll probably
head there next Saturday.

Busy Bee
P15 F5