Baytown Bert & Jared see a "sick" sight

Banging my Foots on the Trail

I guess I’m the proverbial glutton for self-abuse. Only a week has gone by and I’ve went hiking again and I blasted off like I was a spring chicken after working a shift at the Chemical Plant that pays my bills.

I blame Brazos Bend State Park, its wildlife and the Staff that maintains this great Park for drawing me back so soon, plus the fact that American alligator breeding season is in full heat. If you want to see gators, now is the time to go where they live.

I made the hour and twenty minute drive from Baytown to the Needville, Texas State Park (BBSP) and pulled in the Ranger station right about 8am. I was greeted by a friendly Hispanic Ranger and I attempted in my meager Spanish to ask about mosquitoes. She instantly warmed up to me and told me in Spanish that zancudos were no problemos right now due to the dry weather.

I parked in the first lot, next to the bathroom facilities and made my way down the short Prairie Trail towards the 40 Acre Lake.

Right off the bat I noticed two large alligators lounging close to the bank. This was a big change from a week ago when the alligators were more sluggish. This morning they were alert and numerous times during the day I witnessed them sliding along or moving towards me as I walked the trails.

They tell me they’ve never had a serious incident in the park concerning alligators, but warning signs are posted and during breeding season, the gators move all over the place. This is important to note, as one could be directly on the trail, or lying beside it in deep grass. When in doubt, keep to the middle of the well-maintained trail.

Since the park was for the most part devoid of people and it was early morning, my head turned back and forth like a pendulum, as I walked, but I was confident and cool and I was steadily hiking, looking and taking photographs and videos to post on the web.

I was having the time of my life and the best part was I knew it as I was doing it.

All the State Parks have online maps and also in the park you are visiting. I grabbed one at the Ranger station and they are printed on 8X14 paper and quite rugged. Each time I’ve hiked, I used mine extensively (with sweaty hands) and they hold up very well.

This day I plotted what I figured to be about 12 miles, using a series of trails and visit part of the park I did not hike the week before. The only problem I encountered was getting from one trail to the next across the park and not having a to-scale map to gauge the distance. This hike grew as I walked it and even though I kept on a steady pace, it turned into a 14 miler by trails end.

I shot 11 videos for posting on youtube and if you subject yourself to them in the order I shot them by following my web pages, you will see how beat down I became by the last one. I had foolishly run out of water, even though I took what should have been enough, my feet were sore and I was dehydrated. Live and learn you say? Not likely, as this wasn’t my first rodeo…but, I am okay and next time I’ll bring a hydration pack instead of my lumber pack, which only carries 32ounces of water.

What got me down was the temperature and rising humidity. Up until then, I’ve been hiking with cool temperatures and 78 degrees while hiking 14 miles and carrying 20-pounds of gear multiplied the stress factor. That and the five and a half hours of strenuous hiking.

Anyway, my photos are posted here along with the many videos.

All feedback on http://www.youtube.com and ratings will be posted and appreciated.

Baytown Bert has a Gator moment!

BB Hikes the Brazos Bend SP Trails

I’m fresh off the Pedernales Falls State Park camp-out; my coat still has the faint scent of wood smoke and I decided I just had to go check out another set of trails. I’ve got a fever and the only prescription is more trail-hiking, to plagiarize Christopher Walken’s famous line.

Now I have reservations for a 4 day campout at McKinney Falls State Park in three weeks and since there is a burn ban in effect there, I’m cancelling it and going back to Pedernales Falls, where they will let you have a campfire. Anyway, even though I have a trip planned, I still want to go hiking and I want to do it anytime I get the chance, so here is how it all went down this week.

Back about ten years ago, my bride and I drove through BBSP (Brazos Bend State Park) and basically stayed in the car and visited whatever was viewable from the front seat – hardly the best way to see nature and this was my meager memory of the Park. However, we now have the Internet at our fingertips and the great State of Texas’ website people have gone way out of their way to attract campers, hikers and day-trippers. Maps, photos, scads of information and even videos of the park grace their well-built web pages.

I downloaded a park map and a separate trail map of BBSP so I could plan out a good 10-mile hike and then I enlisted the fellowship of my son, Nick and nephew, Andy Tallant. These two mid-20’s fellows made for some good company and a lot of trail humor to boot and we all benefited from pounding our feet on the trails.

Now, I’m in Baytown and according to Google Maps, BBSP is about 70+ miles from my house, but Houston traffic had a tail-wind and we arrived exactly one hour after leaving the house. My goal was to arrive at 9am and we did. I stopped at the main gate and flashed my Texas State Park Pass ($60 once a year and well worth it), which allowed me and my trail mates free access, so to speak.

Nick, Andy and I wore semi-warm clothes, as it was 50-degrees F and both young men wore water bladder packs, as we wanted to make sure we did not get dehydrated. I wore my excellent High Sierra Ridgeline Lumbar / Waist Pack w/2 water bottles. I like to eat sunflower seeds when I hike and we each took a couple Nature Valley Sweet & Salty Nut granola bars for an energy fix. A 10 miler was planned and 2.5 mph is about all a person can do if stopping to “smell the roses”. Our hike took about 4.5 hours and we felt a bit pooped afterward and real hungry.

This Park is really an amazing place for wildlife viewing, more so than any place I’ve hiked. We saw many American alligators, a wide variety of waterfowl, logs loaded with turtles and even a river otter. The park is not a zoo by definition, but we were able to see such a wide variety of wildlife that it felt like we were observing tame animals. I had no idea we were in for such a visual treat. I’m used to seeing wildlife high-tail it for the horizon, not ignoring me and this was fantastic and really added to our outdoor experience.

Both of my trail companions remarked that this would be an excellent place to bring a lady friend instead of “just going to the movies”, or sitting in front of an Xbox 360. There are camp sites, screened shelters, excellent bathroom and shower facilities available and picnic areas for park visitors.

One two occasions, I peaked over an obstacle to spy the American bittern, the only time in my life that I have been this close to this normally secretive bird. Blue-wing teal swam in groups and alligators lounged along the trail – so beware. One time Nick spotted a large gator covered with green pollen, not 40 feet off the trail. While we looked at it, Andy spotted an even larger cousin right behind us, just 30 feet off the trail. The Park’s web site warns us 30 feet is as close as we dare to get to these large carnivorous lizards, as they can cover the first 30 feet of ground at 30 miles per hour.

Great park, great time and I will be going back in April during the alligator breeding season, so stay tuned. Here are my photos.