Monday, January 28, 2013

Goose Island State Park…

2013-01-21 Rockport Port A 056

2013-01-21 Rockport Port A 055A short 10 to 15 minutes drive from our RV park just over the Capano Causeway is Goose Island State Park. Goose Island State Park is located on Aransas Bay and is known more for its fishing than for its beaching or swimming. In fact there is no swimming area demarcated in the park. One of the benefits of us having purchased the Annual State Park pass is that not only do we get free entry to the park (normally $5.00 per person entry) but we also don’t need a fishing license to fish in the park.  Texas Parks and Wildlife allows anyone visiting a state park
to fish anywhere inside the boundaries of that park without a license. A license even for us as a state resident is nearly $50.00.

2013-01-21 Rockport Port A 058Goose Island State Park allows RV camping and there are some nice spots right on the water if that is your cup of tea… no sewage but they do have 50 amp service and a dump station. They also have a huge lighted fishing pier that drew my attention. I noticed as we walked out on the pier that there were some people catching a few sheepshead and most were using live shrimp. I was going to try fishing with artificial lures. After many casts of various lures I proclaimed all the fish in Aransas Bay safe from me for the rest of the day… Not a single bite…Sharon, it seemed, was just happy to be beside the ocean once again.  She happily read a new book while I was fishing taking occasional breaks to use binoculars to observe the shore birds or boats passing by.  Despite my bad luck in catching a fish dinner, we both were glad we came to visit the park on this beautiful crisp sunny day.

2013-01-21 Rockport Port A 065Upon leaving the pier and heading back toward the exit we saw and decided to drive the inland loop of RV sites..  The RV sites in this loop were quite different than the waterside sites in that they were tucked into the trees affording much more privacy and spaciousness, Within this loop we stumbled upon a parking area alongside a nature trail we chose to investigate. Although we did not encounter many birds to identify, we did enjoy the walk through the wooded area hearing the sea breeze rushing through the trees loosening a few dead leaves that floated down around us as we walked reminding us it is still wintertime even in these mild temperatures.

2013-01-21 Rockport Port A 067Our next destination near Goose Island State Park was the Big Tree. This massive Live Oak tree is said to be over 1,000 years old and measures over 38 feet in circumference. I am not real sure how they determined this tree to be that old since the only way to age the tree is to count the tree rings of the trunk… but I will take their word for it. No matter how old it is this tree has a lot of character and no doubt has “seen” a lot of history. While looking at the tree I saw a pair of whooping cranes flying over the adjacent pasture. These endangered species are making a nice rebound thanks to the efforts of conservationists protecting not only the birds but their habitat as well. We plan a future visit to their coastal home near here at Aransas Wildlife Refuge.

13 comments:

  1. Glad you saw the big tree. A trip to goose Island would it be complete without seeing the tree.

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  2. Glad you saw the big tree. A trip to goose Island would it be complete without seeing the tree.

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  3. That is a nice area and like you said how do they figure the age of the tree. We have seen the whooping cranes a few times, hanging out in the adjacent pasture us well.

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  4. I'll have to check out this park when I visit my daughter next month.

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  5. That first photograph is stunning. It almost looks like a heron's head out into the water. Hope you gave that gorgeous tree a hug. Really want to see this park. Thanks

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  6. Isn't the big tree cool. We visited the park last year and though the sites on the after look inviting we were told it is very windy out there so not sure if we'd like it.

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  7. Too bad you got "skunked" fishing, but it is still fun anyway.

    The whooping cranes spend part of their summer in Saskatchewan, close to our home town.

    That old oak tree sure is impressive ...

    Take care ... Tnt

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  8. What a neat park ... we'll definitely get the annual pass when we get out that way next year ... that first picture reminds me of the silhouette of a GHB.

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  9. Hey guys, that is where my friends from Tennessee are staying at Goose Island State park. Hope to see you all in the next week or two. Certainly before you leave!!

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  10. Looks like the place your dad took us back in '72. We were skunked then too!

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  11. Thanks for the tip on fishing in a state park!

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  12. Hubby's family did an annual pilgrimage to Goose Island State Park when he was a kid. . .he has all sorts of tales about it!

    When we took our kiddos there, the racoons enjoyed our goodies almost as much as we did. . .great times!

    Have a pic of all the kiddos, nieces and nephews in front of the oak tree. . .they still talk about it!

    Enjoy,

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  13. The "good" fishing on the GISP pier is under the lights at night with plastic jig tails. I like white with red paddle tail.

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