Kirby Nature Trail
November 14, 2010
It is my baby girls birthday today. I got up and cooked her what she requested for breakfast which was Jimmy Dean Sausage Cheese Balls. After we finished breakfast we decided to head to Village Creek State Park for a hike. The ranger at Martin Dies Jr State Park said the Village Creek Park was a really good one. We had bought three camo back packs for the kids to use as Science packs, I figure it would work out better for longer walks. They transferred all their Science stuff over and was ready to go. We drove towards Beaumont and come across a road sign that says "Big Thicket Visitors Information Station" I request, "Honey, stop there so we can maybe get some more info on hiking trails around here," so we pull in. Stewart and I get out and go in. The lady was very nice and helpful. Apparently there is some kind of informational video class going on because she had to change out the videos for some people, that is interesting for a future visit. She tells us that there is a small 2 mile hiking trail right up the road that was free and gave us a map to it. So we go and take a look. It had a nice parking lot and a neat little Log cabin at the trail head along with water fountain and port-a-potties. "Y'all wanna do this one?", I ask my group. "Sure!" was the eager reply. We gear up and head out. There was a beautiful old Live Oak tree in the yard of the trail head cabin so of course we had to get a picture. We figure this tree has to be a couple hundred years old to be this big and beautifully branched.
First thing Anna does when we get on the boardwalk is walk on the edge and slip off taking Adam down with her. They both get back up and dust off. No one was hurt but Anna got a grass stain on the knee of her new jeans and we still have to go to Beaumont to shop. I scold her a little bit because she was not careful. A few feet later we find a sign that say "Caution: Wet Boardwalks are Slippery" "yeah, ya think?" was my response, now they tell us. So Anna poses by the sign with her grass stain.
The boardwalks are very pretty with the fall leaves littering the way. Stewart and I had bought "hiking sticks" which were designed to be used for a more complete workout by using them like ski poles but we wanted to use the for hiking sticks. Stewart's pole was not extended enough and I picked on him about walking with it like it was his "pimp daddy" cane. So I take a quick picture of him and then adjust it to be more of a hiking stick. I honestly think I prefer Austin's cane hiking stick but I will use the one we bought. Austin was trying to get a leaf of some sort off a tree by the boardwalk. It was just out of his reach, he tried and tried almost falling off a couple times. I was primed and ready to get a picture of the "fall" but he never fell. The Stewart picks the same kind of leaf off of a tree that was closer and asked "Umm, is this what you are wanting?" We all laugh, poor Austin after all his hard work.
My little Birthday girl rock star grabs Austin's hiking stick and jumps on a stump and starts singing, "La la la, oh yeah!" We look at trees and moss growing on them and different kinds of bark. Stewart makes me take a quick picture withe the kids before trekking on.
Along the trail we see (numbers correspond with pictures):
(1) I had a hard time identifying this one because I needed to "lift up its skirt" to see more and didn't because I didn't want to disturb it
(2) a pile of slimy mushrooms that I can't identify but we called it the "scat" mushrooms jokingly
(3) Bearded Tooth
(4) Grass Spider's Web (it is a nice side view)
(5) these little shelf mushrooms appear to have algae growing on them
(6)Turkey Tail (Adam totally "called" this one, "Mom, look it looks like a turkey's tail.")
(1) holes bored in a tree by a Sapsucker
(2) Yellow House Plant Mushroom (maybe)
(3) Austin Spotted a wonderful array of Soil Layers in the root system of a fallen tree
(4) A beautifully colored Holly Tree
(5) a pretty white mushroom the kids said it looked like a flower. I looked up Fungi Cycle thought that was cool
(6) a cocoon Anna found, no telling what came out of it
Adam was trying to use a Holly leaf to cut the pretty yellow leaves we see on a bush.
We walked and read all the cool little signs they had saying what kind of tree was represented.
Anna found a funny tree branch nub that looked like a saddle, so of course she had to "ride" her horse. Adam was worried that it would start raining so he decided to cover his head with his back pack.
We came across this creek bed that was dried up, but within its banks was the most beautiful huge Cypress Trees. We walked down into the creek and got to see them up close. It was an awesome opportunity. The "knees" of the big tree was taller than Stewart's head. We had read from an earlier hike that the "knee" could have been used to obtain food or air for the tree above the water line. We noticed that at the base of the tree the knees grew into it making the big bottoms. So maybe they help with stability while in the water. I wish there was a way to tell how old these trees were. GOD is awesome. Just to see the mighty works of his hand is enough to make your soul smile. This was the high light of our hike. The kids played around the knees and climbed the big trunk. We found a gray tree frog here, perched on a Cypress knee. Anna petted the little frog, saying "Aww your a cute little frog aren't you?" Yay, my girl is not a girly girl and is not scared of frogs. She is right in the big middle of it all, just like I was as a kid.
(1) a lovely Gray Tree Frog on a Cypress Knee
(2) I looked everywhere trying to find this little Caterpillar and could not get a positive ID but I thought it was beautiful
(3)these holes in this tree Stewart says is probably from Flying Squirrels
(4) a young Bald Cypress Tree
We go on in to Beaumont and take Anna out to eat at Brazos Cattle Co. Then we swing by a couple clothes stores for me and then out to Toys-R-Us so the kids could spend their money they received from Pops & Mawmaw Husband for their birthday. The only kid that found a toy was Adam, he bought a Bionicle.
We decided on our way out of Beaumont that we would go by the Village Creek State Park since it was where we was suppose to hike today. I figured we could at least drive it so we can see what they have for next time. We get our Pass approved and go on in to have a look. They have a play ground that we let the kids play at for a few minutes while Stewart and I look at the map.
This park has several loops to walk, even a mini trail for little kids. We walk the mini trail and it has foot prints in cement and info signs of different kinds of animals scattered along the trail. It was exciting and interactive for the kids. Adam really liked it because he got to see a beaver foot print and a bob cat track. Austin would run ahead and cover the sign and we would guess what the foot print was. Anna had to blow the dirt out of some of the track so we could see them better.
We go and look at the creek, it has amazing white sand on the bank on the other side. Adam said, "Mom, is that snow?" I laugh and say, "I wish, but no, just really white sand." He says, "I wish too, cuz then I could build a snow man." I ask the family if they are up to taking on a trail, but only a small one because it would be dark soon. They surprisingly are up for it. My family are such troopers. We actually ended up taking four trails but just pieces of each that made a small loop of only a half mile. The park seems well equipped with picnic tables and a rocked walking trail for part of it, also walk in camping sites.
We see some hog tracks, I am getting to where I can tell between them and deer tracks pretty well. It starts to sprinkle and Anna says, "Ahhh hurry up we are going to get struck by lighting!" I tell her it is not lighting silly. She still plays the drama out a bit. Adam asks me how do I know there is no lightning in this rain. I tell him I know what the different clouds look like and these clouds did not look like storm clouds. I tell Anna, "Dodge those rain drops girl!" So she runs in a zig zag pattern pretending to dodge them. Adam has his pack back up on his head. I stop and take a picture of a pretty tree that is very colorful and Stewart takes the camera from me again. I look at some white flowers on a bush and he gets a picture of me. "You look like you are studying that pretty hard!" He laughs. I swipe my camera back. The kids are urging us to hurry, the rain is no fun to them at all. They are still chattering about lightning. I snap a picture of a very unimpressed Austin trudging on in the sprinkling rain. In no time we are back to the car. Anna hollers, "Hurry daddy unlock the car. Lightning!" Silly, silly children, I almost think they wish it was lightning so they could have a thrill of being scared.
