Finishing up Day 6 of the Southeast Texas Loop

This afternoon I visited Big Thicket National Preserve and hiked the Kirby Nature Trail. The Trail is an Interpretive Trail with 27 Interpretive Stations that winds through a variety of East Texas terrain including slopes, sloughs and along Village Creek. 

Here are the images from that hike:

I had stopped at the Super 8 in Kountze Tx and left most of my bike gear in my room -

I started at the Visitor's Center.

And then rode down to the Kirby Nature Trailhead and locked up my bike...

And then took off down the trail -

I studied the Interpretive Guide that I had picked up at the Trailhead and found the description for each station very informative and easy to understand.

The trail had raised boardwalks over many of the low areas.....

and sloughs with huge Old Growth Cypress Trees.....

This combination of Piney Woods, Flooded Sloughs and Sloped Are kept the hike interesting...

but there were still signs of the 10's of thousands of trees that were downed during Hurricane Rita...

The "top" of the Kirby Nature Trail boundaried Village Creek and a bridge crosses Village Creek on the way to the Sandhill Loop and the rest of the Turkey Creek Trail.

I took the Outer Loop of the Kirby Nature Trail back...

and arrived back at the trailhead and took a closer look at the Preserve Map.... there looks to be 6 different units so you could spend a lot of time exploring Big Thicket National Preserve.

Archer Fullingim, a well-known Texas writer, described the Big Thicket as the "Holy Ghost Thicket" for its mythical and spiritual qualities.... there are things that live in this stretch of East Texas Forest.... that live nowhere else.... who knows...when you visit, you may even catch a glimpse of

BIGFOOT!