Hiking the Wisconsin Dells

Every time we mention Wisconsin, people ask if we've been to The Dells. No. From what I could tell, it was just water parks and hotels. Well, this time I decided to figure out what attracted people to this area before they turned it into the Water Park Capital of America's Midwest. We found a lovely Boondockers Welcome site on nice stretch of land. The birding here and along the fields was really good.

It was time to figure out what the Wisconsin Dells had to offer in regards to natural beauty. I found the Chapel Gorge Trail, a two mile trail thru forest that finally drops down to a beach with views of the surrounding cliffs.

This turned out to be a very enjoyable hike.

Back in town, the view of the water from the main street was nice.

It's a touristy town, so in addition to places like Ripley's Believe it or Not, you have strange sights like this.

We had planned to meet our friend Dawn and her children at Mirror Lake State Park for the day, however they weren't able to make it. Instead we found a boat ramp for the kids to fish from and just relaxed. 

Fishing in Wisconsin.

Birding Texas {South Llano River SP}

I met a friend of Nicole's at the Biggest Week in 2017 and have been following her on Facebook ever since. She posts amazing photos of birds with great information attached. I was surprised to see she posted from High Island just days before we arrived. Unfortunately we would just miss her. THEN she posted about her visit to a Texas state park with birding blinds. I looked it up and it happened to be right along our path! Amazingly there was a campsite available so I booked it and we headed to South Llano River State Park in Hill Country. 

We arrived with only an hour of light left. As I was helping Daddy back into the campsite, a Painted Bunting (above) was calling from the tree next to me! Wow! Journey grabbed her borrowed camera, (Thanks Alice!) and the three of us walked to the blind that was closest to us (a 5 minute walk). A blind is like an open room with no door and one side made of glass. This allows you to quietly sit and watch birds, and even photograph them without disturbing them. Food and water are on the other side of the glass to draw the birds in. 

The kids were SO EXCITED to see the birds this close! Hummingbirds were all around and White-winged Doves posed nicely. Asher wanted so badly to take photos, so he borrowed my camera. There was so much excitement in the kids' voices as they would call out, "Hummingbird on the feeder! The Titmouse is on the water feature! Sparrow on the rocks!" My heart was overjoyed!

 

Black-crested Titmouse after a bath.

Summer Tanager

Black-chinned Hummingbird

As the light was fading we went to check out a different area where Asher could fish and saw four armadillos out looking for dinner! They were not shy either!

He caught a nice-sized gar!

We heard some Lark Sparrows in these trees. Journey was able to snap a few photos.

The next morning I woke early to hit the trails and all four blinds. The Golden-cheeked Warbler nests in this area, and only travels between here and Mexico, so this was my best chance of seeing one. After watching from the Agarita Blind for a bit, I started up aptly-named the Golden-cheeked Warbler trail, where I did, in fact, find not one, but two! I also found a rare Golden-winged Warbler which was very exciting. Such a striking bird, but sadly, no photos. It was a longer hike than I had expected. When we left the park at noon, I had walked nearly 9 miles! 

I was delighted to get a photo of this gorgeous Golden-fronted Woodpecker at the blind!

Blue Grosbeak (above)        Black-throated Sparrow (below)

After my hike, I went to find my family at the river where Asher was fishing. The kids were eager to go visit the birding blinds again, so that's where we went. We briefly visited the two closest to the campground, then I took them to the Agarita blind where I had seen the biggest variety and lots of buntings. They were most amused with the cardinal who was molting his head feathers.

Indigo Bunting (above)         Northern Cardinal in molt (below)

 

Yellow-breasted Chat (above)   Woodhouse's Scrub Jay (below)

On our way out of the park, we made a five minute stop to the fourth blind. We didn't see anything new, but glad we had a chance to see it. The birding blinds definitely make this park extra special. We'll definitely return!

Roadtrip 2022: Heading West {Sea Rim State Park}

This trip was originally planned for Spring 2020 in our overlanding trailer, but of course all travel plans were cancelled, our Jeep was totaled and our overlanding trailer was off on its own adventures. Finally, two years later, on April 16, we loaded up our 30ft Grand Design Imagine travel trailer and hit the road for the summer. Our main destinations are Yosemite National Park, Las Vegas, and our last two states: Minnesota and North Dakota. First stop: Tallahassee. We arrived just before Easter and enjoyed a delicious dinner with family. Next was an overnight stop at a Boondockers Welcome a few blocks from the beach in Mississippi. A perfect location for an evening walk to the beach so Asher could fish in a new state while I looked for birds. 

 

We went back in the morning for another try at it, before pressing west. Asher has become quite the fisherman. He won a fishing contest last fall for which he was awarded the $200 rod and reel that he now uses. He had expressed an interest in fishing in each state along our path. We had not planned to stop in Louisiana, but to honor his challenge, I scouted out locations along our route and found Lake Charles. Asher fished and I birded while Journey soaked up some rays. 

 

That evening we arrived at our campsite in Texas, where not only could he fish from our campsite, but he delighted in the fact that he had just fished THREE states in ONE day! 

Sea Rim State Park is in the southeast edge of Texas along the Gulf of Mexico. I love watching him fish from the comfort of our couch! You can see the Gulf in the distance from our campsite.

While he didn't catch any fish, he did catch a large, beautiful Blue Crab! That's when we found out crabbing is a huge sport at Sea Rim State Park. Not only is it allowed, but the rangers will gladly lend you supplies (string and a net- just add chicken) and teach you how to catch them! 

Asher found this Banded Watersnake, while crabbing. He came to get me so I could take photos.

Asher spent the next day catching dinner for the family. At high tide the crabs will come from the ocean into the smaller pools to catch their own dinner, some would instead become ours. To keep them they must be at least 5 inches "horn to horn" and not bearing eggs.

Journey found actual quicksand, and I found myself warning, "Don't play in the quicksand, unless one of us is right by you!" Ahhh, words we never thought we'd say....

Dinner is served: spaghetti with Blue Crabs.

This is a great location for birding! While the boardwalk trail over the marsh was lost to hurricanes, birds congregate on the ruins in huge numbers. I found many birds including a KING RAIL in our campsite, quite a few nighthawks, plus a Whimbrel (lifer) flew in while we were crabbing! I will explain more in the next post.