As we approached Sally Lake Road, which would lead us in about one-half mile to Hudson Woods, David shouted out, “An Owl!”  I looked in my rear-view mirror and I saw a Barred Owl perched on the FM 521 road sign that we had just passed.  You never know what you will see on a Sierra Club outing.

We pulled into the parking lot and there was Alan.  The other five of us piled out and said our “Hellos” and then prepared for our morning hike on this summer morning.  We waited a few minutes to see if anyone would join us, but no dice!  Over twenty people had signed up but apparently the summer heat kept them away.  Well as the old saying goes, “Only the strong survive” and we had really good hikers.

Besides Alan, there was Gary, Nancy, Taylor, David, and myself.  We walked the boardwalk and came to a small pier that jutted into Scoby Lake.  From this pier we heard bullfrogs, startled by our appearance, give out their short “eeeeh” call as they leaped into the water.  In the distance, using binoculars, we saw Common Moorhens and Little Blue Herons.  Ducks flushed in the distance.

We began our hike of about two and one-half miles by ducking under numerous webs that held Golden Orb Weaver Spiders, impressive by their one inch body length.  These females were waiting for the much smaller males, about 1/5th the size, to approach to mate.  Unfortunately for the male spiders, they often became dinner for the hungry female.  Giving your life for sex, I just don't know!

As we walked along the shaded trail that followed Scoby Lake for about one-half mile, we noticed many Pecan, Hackberry, Live Oak, Water Oak, and other trees that were draped with Spanish Moss.  We flushed an egret and surprised several Gulf Coast Ribbon Snakes as we walked along.  Unfortunately, mosquitoes buzzed along beside us as the females attempted to land to remove our precious blood.  Talk about Nature's vampires!

We soon came to a power-line right-of-way (ROW), walked about 100 yards along it, and then began hiking along a trail that paralleled Oyster Creek.  Switchcane and Frost Weed lined the trail and tall, large, native Pecan trees soared overhead dressed with hanging grape, greenbriar, and trumpet vines.  After we walked about 200 yards we came to some orange flagging.  David and I had flagged this location the week before to mark a special surprise for everyone.

We followed the orange flagging down into the floodplain of Oyster Creek and soon saw a large tree.  As we approached everyone began to realize how large it was.  We admired its girth and then Alan took a photo of us all standing and sitting at its feet.  This is the largest Live Oak I have found at Hudson Woods.  A Pileated Woodpecker arrived and disappeared in an instant on the opposite side of Oyster Creek.  We also noted the American Elm and Green Ash trees nearby before we climbed out of the floodplain, retraced our steps back across the power-line ROW, and began to hike through additional forest.

Soon we passed hog wallows (I had seen a hog early on the hike) and blooming Turks's Cap, Frost Weed, and Trumpet Vine.  We stepped gingerly as we hiked to avoid crushing baby Gulf Coast Toads and Southern Leopard Frogs.  Northern Cardinals made their “pretty, pretty, pretty” call in the woods.  We finally made it to the road and after about a half hour walk, with American Crows “cawing” us goodbye, we arrived back at the parking lot.  We were hot and sweaty but cooled down quickly in our air conditioned vehicles.

In about 15 minutes we drove to Lake Jackson.  We stopped at a Chinese restaurant for a good buffet lunch and cooled down even more.  After lunch, in about five minutes, we drove to Sea Center, parked,  and walked inside the air conditioned visitor center just before one o'clock.

We just missed the fish hatchery tour but asked the woman at the front desk if there we could join another tour soon.  She disappeared for a few minutes and soon the six of us and a group of six other people were off and walking as we learned about how Texas Parks and Wildlife Department raised hundreds of thousands of Red Drum, Spotted Weakfish, and Southern Flounder to replenish our Upper Texas Coast bays and estuaries at the Sea Center fish hatchery.

After our fish hatchery tour we walked, sat, and watched fish swim in the many aquariums in the visitor center which displayed fish from the Gulf of Mexico and Galveston and other bays.  Finally, we walked the boardwalk over the freshwater and brackish water marshes that had been created to educate people about where all the fish that we love to fish and eat come from.

It was a great trip and we slowly drove, via FM 521 (Almeda Road in Houston), back to our Nation's fourth largest city.  Even in the summer there are adventures in Nature that you can enjoy while keeping cool.

Brandt Mannchen

July 10, 2016