Thursday, October 29, 2015

Brazos Bend Nature Walk | Spillway Trail

Continuing our nature walk, John and I left the Elm Lake Loop Trail and headed to 40 Acre Lake by way of the Spillway Trail.


Alligator-Spillway Trail-Brazos Bend State Park-Needville, Texas

Do you see what we saw in the water?


Close Up of Alligator-Spillway Trail-Brazos Bend State Park-Needville, Texas

Yes, it's another large gator! His head is exposed and you can see his body just below the surface. The trail is much higher than the water level here, so I felt safe to take all the pictures I wanted.


Tree Arch-Spillway Trail-Brazos Bend State Park-Needville, Texas

The trees along the spillway create a perfect leafy arch over the trail. It was a pleasant walk through the woods.


High Water Mark-Spillway Trail-Brazos Bend State Park-Needville, Texas

The Brazos River flooded earlier this year and the park was closed for a time until the water receded. See how the lower portion of these tree trunks are dark? I'm guessing that's from the high water.


Out of the Woods-Spilway Trail-Brazos Bend State Park-Needville, Texas

And then the scenery changes--out of the swampy woods and onto the open plain. 


Field of Flowers-Spilway Trail-Brazos Bend State Park-Needville, Texas

A golden blanket of swamp sunflowers covered the field nearly as far as my eye could see. It was impressive!

The closer we got to 40 Acre Lake, the more alligators we saw. In one small area there were at least 20. 

That was also impressive, but...

Swamp Sunflowers-Spilway Trail-Brazos Bend State Park-Needville, Texas

I like flowers better...so no more pictures of the alligators.

To be continued...

4 comments:

  1. I'll take flowers over gators, too.

    The dark section on the trees definitely looks like a high-water line to me. That was a lot of water!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It sure was a lot of water! The park is in the flood plain and it had to be closed for over a month.

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  2. Oh wow...I would have missed the gator if you hadn't point him out...yikes! What a beautiful park....loving all of those yellow flowers :) Happy Thursday !!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You have to develop an eye for gators. I've been in a kayak and paddled right past one and didn't even know it until my husband, not wanting to frighten me at the time, later asked if I had seen it.

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