Entering Different Woods: The Nature Trail at Big Thicket National Forest

 

Big Thicket National Preserve

 

 

Date: April 27, 2025

Place: Big Thicket National Preserve, Kountze, Texas

Coordinates: 30.458339, -94.386935

Length: 1.1 miles

Level: easy 

 

 

On November 2024 we had a lovely family vacation in the southeast. As much as Pappa Quail enjoyed it, he was also conscious to the fact that it wasn't the optimal season for birding. Already on our way back to California he started envisioning a trip back to that area, but in the spring, in time for the bird migration. As things turned out, it was only me and him that would go, and our destination was southeast Texas, in the Beaumont area. This trip gave us also a chance to see again good friends of ours that moved to Texas a few years back, before the pandemic. They drove from Dallas and met us for dinner after we landed in Houston. Over dinner we made plans fro the following day, and in the morning we all met at the visitor center of Big Thicket National Preserve and went on a short walk on the local Nature Trail. 

Our hike as captured by my GPS

 

We barely made it to the trailhead sign when Pappa Quail stopped and pointed his camera at a nearby tree. e had spotted a green anole lizard there. The lizard moved away slowly, being very attentive of us as we admired its brilliant beauty. 

Green Anole

Still by the trailhead, a small mud tube caught my attention. It was made by an animal but I don't know which one. 

We entered the forest on a broad, easily walkable trail. The forest was beautiful, spacious and airy, and didn't resemble a thicket at all. It was only in subsequent hikes that I learned how variable the Big Thicket forest actually was. 

Nature Trail

We came upon a couple of puddles on the hike. I don't know when was the last rain there, but it must have been recent enough. 

The trees near the trailhead were broad-leaf species, but after we walked a bit deeper we saw more and more pine groves in between. 

Pine Trees

The pine groves were more specious and filtered more sunlight through their needles. The ample light reaching the forest floor supported a nice layer of undergrowth bushes and young trees. 

We walked slowly, chatting with our friends and enjoying our precious time together. Having our attention on one another , we probably missed some of the smaller wildlife. Occasionally however, we did get to see a lizard, like that one that pretended to be a flake of tree bark. 

Lizard

Both Pappa Quail and me regularly looked up to the sky. Pappa Quail was looking for the birds, and I was admiring the forest canopy. 

Nature Trail

On the ground below were also interesting things, such as wildflowers. Most of the wildflowers, not surprisingly, I was unfamiliar with. 

Yellow Star Grass, Hypoxis hirsuta

For most of the wildflowers, although unfamiliar species, I could at least group within a family. It was easier with representative of families that have distinct features, such as the aster family. 

Bitterweed, Helenium amarum

Other wildflowers I found harder to even group to a family, even if said family had species growing in California as well. 

Helmet Skullcap, Scutellaria integrifolia

There were parts of the forest that were really sparse but I wouldn't exactly call them clearings. It seemed like at some point the adult trees were removed, either by fire or by human saws, or some other reasons. Many of bushes and younger trees were coming up in the open areas, so I suppose in a few decades the forest will have grown thick again. 

Nature Trail

We turned onto a much wider trail that was in fact, a dirt road. Along the road grew other interesting plants, such as a whitetop sedge. The only other time I've seen a whitetop sedge before was at El Yunque National Forest. I don't know if it was the same species, though. 

Sandswamp Whitetop Sedge, Rhynchospora latifolia 

There weren't too many wildflowers blooming along the trail but pretty much all those I've seen there were new to me. 

Maryland Milkwort,Seneya mariana

I recognized a mimosa plant and immediately touched it to see if it was the sensitive plant. It was not- it's leaflets remained unbent.  

Catclaw Briar, Mimosa nuttallii

We reached a true forest clearing - an open area flanked with trees. The clearing didn't grow anything taller than an adult human's knees. There was a short boardwalk there and an elevated observation deck - an indication that at least sometimes this clearing would be flooded

The clearing wasn't flooded now. In fact, it was pretty dry. Besides the elevated deck there were some plants that looked like they belonged in a moister habitat. 

I was scanning the forest clearing for wildflowers but saw none. Then Pappa Quail called me over - he did see a wildflower there, blooming right below the observation deck. It was an little Spiranthes orchid!  

Marsh Ladies' Tresses, Spiranthes odorata

The orchid was certainly a nice highlight but the flower that really got my attention was the arrowhead that I saw when we started back down the trail. I didn't know at the time that later that day I'd see many more of its relatives.  

Grass-leaved Arrowhead, Sagittaria graminea

We walked back down the same trail we came on, and just before making the turn from the dirt road to the fot path I detected a quick movement in the dry pine needles near the junction. It was a thin, elegant lizard. I took a photo and called Pappa Quail to take a close up photo with his stronger lens, but by the time he came over the lizard was gone. 

Six-lined Racerunner Lizard

We paces quickly back through the forest, step by step moving from the pines back to the broadleaf trees. 

When exploring a new part of the country even the grasses look uinque. I actually have no idea if this grass was a Texas native grass, but I thought it was pretty. 

Grass

We didn't really see any birds on this short nature walk. They were present all right - we did hear them all over, but they hid in the trees. We did see sapsucker-drilled trees. 

Our forest hike on our Texas trip was a nice walk with friends in a forest that was pretty, but nit the type I'd fly all the way from California to see. That part of the forest I'll get to see two days later on a different hike. 

Fleabane, Erigeron sp. 

We decided to go on a second hike in a different part of the forest preserve, looking for something more unique, so after getting back to the parking area we drove off to the north side of Big Thicket National Preserve to hike the Pitcher Plant Trail.