Day Trips

Texas swamps in the winter are almost bug free, but are still teeming with activity. From an abundance of migratory birds making their winterhomes in the thick forests to American alligators sunning themselves on muddy riverbanks, there is a lot going on in the soggy lowlands. Mosquitoes are the only thing missing.

“Summer is our slow season because of all the insects,” says Karen Whitecotton, a ranger at Brazos Bend State Park.

Pick any sunny day between December and March and you’ll find the wetland nature preserves to be exciting places with unusual flora and fauna. Brazos Bend State Park and Palmetto State Park are unique among the hundreds of wildlife refuges in Texas.

About an hour southwest of Houston, Brazos Bend State Park outside of Richmond preserves one of the wildest sections of the Gulf Coast. The nearly 5,000 acres of coastal plains were once a cattle ranch, but now are covered with a mixture of a dense forest draped with Spanish moss and grasslands dotted with small ponds.

The park has almost 100 campsites, including screened shelters and RV sites. Most of the nearly 20 miles of trails are bike- and stroller-friendly. The abundant pathways provide easy access to spot or avoid one of the more than 300 alligators in the park that are 6-feet-long or more. Smaller gators are too numerous to count. This is not a park where you would want to go swimming, even if the rules allowed it. Besides reptiles, the half-dozen lakes in the park attract the more than 270 species of birds and an occasional bald eagle, deer, rabbit, or raccoon.

One of the most unique features in the park is the 36-inch telescope at the George Observatory operated by the Houston Museum of Natural Science. The observatory is open to the public on Saturdays from 3 to 10pm. For information on special star party events, call 979/553-3400. For more information about Brazos Bend, call the park at 979/553-5101.

East meets west in Palmetto State Park between Luling and Gonzales. At one time much of the eastern portion of the state had bogs that supported the fan-shaped dwarf palmetto (Sabal minor) plants that give the park its name. The swamp along the San Marcos River is more indicative of river systems of eastern Texas and Louisiana than the rolling hills of Central Texas.

At the turn of the century, the unusual swamp with its thermal springs and mud volcanoes fed by natural gas was a major draw to visitors. The lush landscape of palms, native flowers, and dense forest might have been lost had the Civilian Conservation Corps not installed a well to provide supplementary water after the water table was lowered by the pumping of underground water and oil.

The CCC of the Thirties also built in the park a beautiful, red sandstone refectory in the national parks style. With only 18 campsites and another 20 picnic slots, the 269-acre park is popular with tubers who ride the horseshoe-bend in the river entirely in the park. The 14-mile trip downriver from the Luling bridge to the park is popular with canoeists and fishermen.

The park may only have three miles of hiking trails, but they are some of the most scenic paths in this part of the state. At only one-third of a mile, the Palmetto Trail meanders through a thick stand of palmettos and is not to be missed, even on a short visit to the park. Some of the trails in the park are subject to flooding, so it is best to check at the ranger station before venturing out.

Palmetto State Park is about six miles south of Luling. The local ranger can be contacted at 830/672-3266. To make camping reservations in any state park or for more information about a park, call 389-4800 or go to www.tpwd.state.tx.us.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service maintains 15 national wildlife refuges in Texas with many along the coastal lowlands. For more information about these public nature areas, call the Mid-Coast NWR Complex at 979/849-6062 or point your browser to southwest.fws.gov/refuges/txrefuges.html.

This article appears in December 24 • 2004.